Wheel of Time in the Media

[Glory]

I thought it might be nice to have a media thread - 

Just a couple of articles to start. 

Wheel of Time adds new cast member

Tableread

YouTube Video by Nae'blis on "what we know so far" (contains book spoilers)

[SVNBob]

Per Tor.com, the writers are already working on season 2, before Amazon makes any announcement about there being a season 2.

https://www.tor.com/2019/11/14/it-looks-like-the-wheel-of-time-writers-are-already-working-on-season-2/

[Danny Franks]

Hopefully this is just because Amazon really like the dailies they've been seeing, and the scripts they've got, and not just because they're trying to compete with HBO's GoT prequel, and Netflix's The Witcher.

I don't know quite how they're going to pace all this, but I'd want the climax of book two to be the end of a second season. It's a real high point for the series, in the early books.

[Glory]

MORE CASTING!

Thom! Padan Fain! Loial!  Logain!

https://variety.com/2019/tv/news/wheel-of-time-series-amazon-alvaro-morte-hammed-animashaun-alexandre-willaume-johann-myers-1203424343/

[DearEvette]

43 minutes ago, Glory said:

MORE CASTING!

Thom! Padan Fain! Loial!  Logain!

https://variety.com/2019/tv/news/wheel-of-time-series-amazon-alvaro-morte-hammed-animashaun-alexandre-willaume-johann-myers-1203424343/

Oh man, those look ... really good.  I mean, they look like I think they should look like.

After the main cast was first announced, I was most curious about Lan.  Very happy about that casting as well.  Now I am curious about Elaida

[DoctorAtomic]

I hope Logain's stache falls off when he's gentled. 

He looks good though. 

[Glory]

18 hours ago, DearEvette said:

Oh man, those look ... really good.  I mean, they look like I think they should look like.

After the main cast was first announced, I was most curious about Lan.  Very happy about that casting as well.  Now I am curious about Elaida

Yes, they all look amazing! 

I wasn't sure if they were going to do Loial so I'm excited to see how he turns out. I have such a vivid picture of him in my mind. 

[DoctorAtomic]

I really don't recognize any of these actors, and I think that's a positive. People are going to have a picture of what they think the characters look like and casting someone reasonably well known might just prove distracting. 

To flip it though, if they decide to go with just a voice for the Dark One, I think it should be someone well known because you can really chew it up. 

[Danny Franks]

So Loial is going to be in the adaptation. Interesting. I had been wondering whether they'd cut him, given his SFX-heavy appearance and the fact that he doesn't really do a whole lot that can't be farmed out to other characters.

The actor has a very distinctive face, to put it kindly, and I can see how he could be made up to look like an Ogier.

Fain's actor looks like he does creepy very well, so that will fit. I don't know about the guy playing Thom (another character I wasn't sure would survive the adaptation), but if they're making him a bit more rugged and handsome, I can understand it.

Who are we waiting on now? Min, Elayne, Galad, Gawyn, Morgase and Elaida? I'm still holding out hope that they get Ken Watanabe as Lord Agelmar.

[DoctorAtomic]

I imagined Loial was more of an expository character. Plus if they make all the '4th age' quotes like as title cards, you can have everyone seeing he's being the 'historian of the end of the age'. The stedding itself is important. I also think much of his plot could be cut beyond just that.

Wasn't he important with regards to knowledge of the Ways?

How did they know how to count ages?

[DearEvette]

11 hours ago, Danny Franks said:

The actor has a very distinctive face, to put it kindly, and I can see how he could be made up to look like an Ogier.

Oh, I agree.  I also looked him up and from the photos I've seen (he's mostly a theatre actor) he seems to be tall/imposing.  He basically towers over everyone else in the photos.  So Maybe he was cast as Loial because of size as well.

[SVNBob]

More casting news.

On 12/6/2019 at 5:48 AM, Danny Franks said:

Who are we waiting on now? Min, Elayne, Galad, Gawyn, Morgase and Elaida?

None of these, but an important figure nonetheless:  Alanna and her two Warders (although it seems they changed the name of one.)

 

[Anduin]

Filming shut down. Coronavirus. No word on when it'll pick up again. Adam Whitehead thinks they have enough material for a shorter season, unless trouble hits the postproduction facilities.

[rove4]

On 12/24/2019 at 2:28 AM, SVNBob said:

More casting news.

None of these, but an important figure nonetheless:  Alanna and her two Warders (although it seems they changed the name of one.)

 

Hmmmm, I've just finished reading the first two books in the series...well, like a month ago so maybe some of the details are already getting fuzzy but I don't recall these characters.  I can see forgetting some Warders' names but seems like an Aes Sedai would stand out more.  I just don't remember Alanna.  

[DoctorAtomic]

She's around a lot. That's not surprising she was cast. 

[Black Knight]

As the discussion has drifted from Alanna's casting to more general speculation of how the show will adapt the books, I have moved several posts to the brand-new Book to Show thread. Speculate away there!

[Anduin]

Adam Whitehead has good news. Essentially, the Czech Republic is getting back to life. Filming can resume. However, the cast and crew need to be extracted first. But like I said about LOTR, Jeff Bezos is the world's richest person. He could arrange private cars and private planes for cast and crew.

[DoctorAtomic]

I don't know if I'm behind, but my FB feed is showing a bunch of casting news. 

[DearEvette]

Oh man, I just saw they cast Sophie Okenodo as Siuan Sanche  Eep!!!

Also Kae Alexander as Min.  Not familiar with her, but she looks like she could be Min.

[Danny Franks]

I like the Suian casting. Sophie Okonedo looks ageless anyway, and she has a regal quality that fits Suian. 

Not convinced about Kae Alexander. She just doesn't seem like Min to me. In my mind, someone like Rosabell Laurenti Sayers was the perfect choice.

So of the major characters who are introduced in book one, we're just waiting for Elayne and her family. I like the diversity in the casting of the show, but I feel like they need to stick to the book versions as closely as possible, with the Trakands, for various canon reasons.

[DoctorAtomic]

That's a fair. Elayne certainly has a look. 

Sophie Okenodo is a heavy hitter. I was way impressed. 

And I guess our discussion about whether Min is going to be in it or not is over. 

[DearEvette]

9 hours ago, Danny Franks said:

So of the major characters who are introduced in book one, we're just waiting for Elayne and her family. I like the diversity in the casting of the show, but I feel like they need to stick to the book versions as closely as possible, with the Trakands, for various canon reasons.

I do agree with this.  Elayne's appearance (and the other Trakands) --- having that red-gold-blonde hair , blue eyes --  is as specific to her look and character as Egwene having a braid in the early books.

[DoctorAtomic]

Well, we need our braid tugging.

 

[Anduin]

From Insta comes our first look!

 

[DoctorAtomic]

All the Changes Coming to The Wheel of Time Television Series

I very much object to 'less braid tugging', but otherwise, these seem like practicalities in adopting a 70 gajillion page series to television. I'm hardly a purist, however. 

[Anduin]

On 9/29/2020 at 12:35 AM, DoctorAtomic said:

All the Changes Coming to The Wheel of Time Television Series

I very much object to 'less braid tugging', but otherwise, these seem like practicalities in adopting a 70 gajillion page series to television. I'm hardly a purist, however. 

Recent photos of Zoe Robins show she has dreadlocks. Maybe she'll tug one of those instead? Or maybe she's changed her hairstyle.

[Black Knight]

There'll probably be one actress tugging once early on as a nod to readers of the books, and that'll be it. No actress wants to have her performance burdened with a tic that's not even true to life. It was cartoonish even in the books, where people only read about it instead of seeing it, and wouldn't work at all on TV.

No surprise that Rand/Elayne/Min/Aviendha will be polyamory instead of polygamy. I wonder if they'll only do that by involving the women with each other, or if any of the women will be allowed to have an outside male lover. Or they could do both, by having Elayne and Aviendha be more than friends, while Min has another male love interest. She was always kinda the fourth one in the quad.

[DoctorAtomic]

2 hours ago, Black Knight said:

I wonder if they'll only do that by involving the women with each other, or if any of the women will be allowed to have an outside male lover.

You have the women Aiel having a bunch of husbands, so you can cover that aspect. I'd be wondering who Elayne and Av would be hooking up with. 

Oh, you do have the Greens getting down with male Warders, so you can have that early on too. 

[Anduin]

10 hours ago, Black Knight said:

There'll probably be one actress tugging once early on as a nod to readers of the books, and that'll be it. No actress wants to have her performance burdened with a tic that's not even true to life. It was cartoonish even in the books, where people only read about it instead of seeing it, and wouldn't work at all on TV.

Yeah, having to copy someone else's body language is probably fun for a bodyswap episode, or a biopic movie, but not for a whole series.

Given we got a teaser a few weeks back, I hope there's more news soon. Maybe there is news, but I'm not obsessive about tracking down like LOTR. Apparently filming has resumed, so that's a good sign.

[Danny Franks]

15 hours ago, Black Knight said:

No surprise that Rand/Elayne/Min/Aviendha will be polyamory instead of polygamy. I wonder if they'll only do that by involving the women with each other, or if any of the women will be allowed to have an outside male lover. Or they could do both, by having Elayne and Aviendha be more than friends, while Min has another male love interest. She was always kinda the fourth one in the quad.

My thought on that is to have Min and Elayne get involved with each other while they're in the White Tower, then each be able to more openly discuss the idea of being with Rand, but it's Aviendha and her Aiel customs that bring the solution they need.

I don't know about another male lover. It might fit Min, with her being older and more experienced (though she admits to herself in the books that she's never had sex before) but probably not Elayne and definitely not Aviendha (who said she had never had any interest in men or romance, she just wanted to be a Maiden). What I would do is revise the Aiel customs so that there are brother-husbands as well as sister-wives, because there's no reason why not.

The 'sister-wives have sex too' idea is suggested obliquely in the books, but Jordan never outright says it. There are a couple of occasions where Elayne and Egwene assume that's how it works, and I think Rand observes at one point that Amys and Lian are just as loving with each other as they are with Rhuarc.

[DoctorAtomic]

There's no real plot point to Min being a virgin either. So she could be hooking up while she's at the Carhein library and Rand is popping in and out. I applaud their efforts and am 100% in support, but it's not going to make or break the show for me. 

 

 

[formerlyfreedom]

Just a reminder - this is the topic for media and news about the show; if you want to keep the discussion going on the adaption from the book, the Book to Show topic is the appropriate place. Thanks!

[Anduin]

Audio teaser! I link to this version, because Madeleine Madden confirms it was her. I thought so! Aussie accents are often a lot less broad than the fake ones that appear in foreign TV and movies.

However, I thought everyone would be doing English accents, like fantasy TV and movies have conditioned us to think. Still, it's nice to be wrong in this case. 🙂

[Anduin]

Not good. Word is there's been a second corona outbreak in the Czech Republic, with a second break in filming. On the bright side, Madeleine Madden is back in Oz. Furthermore, the Aussie internal barriers are coming down soon. She may be able to dravel within Australia and find some more work until it's time to head back to Europe.

If the first season isn't properly finished filming, I wonder if Lord of the Rings will be up first. I'd like that. However, I remember way back in 2011. There was a King Arther show, Camelot. It was all right. I watched the first four episodes. But then it had a break. In that break were the first two episodes of Game of Thrones. Made Camelot look pretty bad in comparison. I didn't finish ep 5.

Maybe the editors will do some magic, and/or the director will remotely get Rosamund Pike to stand in front of a green screen and deliver some exposition. But Britain isn't going well either. Possibly Madden, or Zoe Robins in New Zealand.

[DoctorAtomic]

Amazon's Wheel of Time Will Take a Blended Approach to the Series' Many Stories

That's about all there is to the article. I tend to agree though. I have a feeling a massive amount (rightly) is going to be excised from the books to make a coherent television program. 

[Danny Franks]

On 12/3/2020 at 5:20 PM, DoctorAtomic said:

Amazon's Wheel of Time Will Take a Blended Approach to the Series' Many Stories

That's about all there is to the article. I tend to agree though. I have a feeling a massive amount (rightly) is going to be excised from the books to make a coherent television program. 

There's a lot that can be taken out, but also stuff that can be added for more context - for example, Moiraine's POV in the Two Rivers, Lan's POV as he gets to know Nynaeve etc. Being introduced to the Aiel in the Waste before they cross the Dragonwall would be interesting too, and seeing more of the Darkfriends' and Black Ajah's POV.

There are some bits of the first book that can be changed because they're not consistent with the rest of the series - Moiraine using a staff, for example - but if they cut out Rand meeting the Trakands (who haven't had any casting announcements yet) I'll be quite annoyed.

[DoctorAtomic]

I had a good laugh on the WOT FB page where that was posted - everyone was like, 'oh yeah, they have to get rid of a lot'. No one really is a 'purist', like refusing to watch because Bombadil was cut out or somethine. One post was like, 'oh just get rid of the Whitecloaks entirely'. 

[Humbugged]

 

[DoctorAtomic]

That's not how she sounded in my head, but nbd. I doubt any of them will. I kind of hope Mat and Ny do because they swear so much. 

[Anduin]

Madeline Madden is on a plane! I suspect she's heading back for filming WOT. But here's the thing. She's been home for five months. I know that because she made a post about being released from quarantine back then. I wonder if all filming has been stopped in that period, or if small units did a bit here and there. Neither Rafe Judkins or Rosamund Pike have said anything. I don't follow the other cast and crew on social media. Anyone else?

[AnimeMania]

Czech Republic Touts Production Return: ‘Wheel Of Time’, ‘Carnival Row’, ‘Dangerous Liaisons’, ‘The Gray Man’ Among Host Of Shoots

This suggests that they are almost finished filming the first Season and then will immediately start to film the 2nd Season.

[AnimeMania]

REPORT: Amazon's Wheel of Time Wraps Filming on Season 1

First season is a wrap.

It is possible that the show might air sometime in November-December when a new edition of The Wheel of Time books is scheduled to be released.

[DoctorAtomic]

That would be smart. You'd want new viewers to pick up the books. Well, it should be interesting. 

[Danny Franks]

I believe I read something the other day that suggested a November release was being planned. The hype for this series is very, very... non-existent at the moment.

I hope Amazon go on a publicity spree over the next few months because, while this will be a very different show to Game of Thrones, it should still be seen as a flagship show for the Prime streaming service.

One problem they're going to have is a distinct lack of sex in the early books. It's almost expected now that these prestige shows will be packed with boobs, bums and bonking, but unless the show makes some significant changes, there won't be any sex until season four or five.

I've been listening to The Wheel Weaves podcast, hosted by a husband and wife, one of whom is a big fan of the books and the other is a new reader, and it's great fun. But one thing it's made very clear - Robert Jordan was stolen from as much as he stole from Tolkien. Dani, the new reader, is constantly noticing things that GRRM used, and that JK Rowling used. Ideas taken almost wholesale and recycled. I know GRRM has been very upfront about how much of an influence Robert Jordan was, but Rowling certainly hasn't.

[Anduin]

30 minutes ago, Danny Franks said:

One problem they're going to have is a distinct lack of sex in the early books. It's almost expected now that these prestige shows will be packed with boobs, bums and bonking, but unless the show makes some significant changes, there won't be any sex until season four or five.

I want the story to be told how the story should be told. If that means no nudity, I'm fine with that. Look at the Mandalorian. Not only did Pascal not get naked, he was completely armoured the whole time. I don't remember even a fanservice character. And everyone raved about the show.

My biggest concern, from what little I've read, the women feel... odd. Not in any way I can place, but odd nonetheless. I want them to feel normal, if that makes any sense.

[Danny Franks]

1 hour ago, Anduin said:

I want the story to be told how the story should be told. If that means no nudity, I'm fine with that. Look at the Mandalorian. Not only did Pascal not get naked, he was completely armoured the whole time. I don't remember even a fanservice character. And everyone raved about the show.

My biggest concern, from what little I've read, the women feel... odd. Not in any way I can place, but odd nonetheless. I want them to feel normal, if that makes any sense.

I'm fine with no sex (there's bags of non-sexual nudity in the books, because Jordan definitely had his kinks, most of which can be cut from the show) but it still makes the marketing of the show that much more challenging, especially if people start comparing it to bad recent fantasy shows like The Shannara Chronicles or Cursed.

People often call out Robert Jordan's women, but I rarely see any issues with them. People often really reach to try and claim all his female characters are samey and shallow and badly written, but they usually just focus on one or two and then try to say every woman in the series is like that. I've seen him accused of writing all women as simpering idiots, of writing them as overbearing bullies, as know-it-alls and fools, gossips and secret keepers. So I don't know, I find it tough to give much credence to so many disparate arguments. 

I tend to focus on the fact that Jordan was writing a world where an order of magic-wielding women have effectively ruled for three thousand years, and the members of that order have a tendency to throw their weight around whenever it suits them. That seems to be realistic to me. It doesn't mean Jordan always succeeded in writing them well, but I don't think it's anywhere near as bad as some people insist.

Meanwhile, GRRM gets praised for writing women well but he's the guy who wrote a scene where a thirteen year old girl is raped and enjoys it, so....

Edited May 20, 2021 by Danny Franks

[paulvdb]

Amazon Studios Greenlights Season 2 of World-Spanning Fantasy Series "The Wheel of Time"

[Black Knight]

Gentle Reminder: Talk about how the books will be adapted is better suited for Book to Show: Which Way Will They Go?

 

[SnarkShark]

I just assumed this got  Pandemiced and we'd never see it. 

Instead it got... renewed. 

The Wheel Of Time’ Renewed For Season 2 By Amazon Ahead Of Launch

[Anduin]

36 minutes ago, SnarkShark said:

I just assumed this got  Pandemiced and we'd never see it. 

Instead it got... renewed. 

The Wheel Of Time’ Renewed For Season 2 By Amazon Ahead Of Launch

It's been rough, because of shooting in the Czech Republic, which is having issues. Still, they're getting it done. Also, the nature of effects-driven TV these days means you have to get cracking on the next season early.