Rafe's past statements

[Ralph]

I have been wondering how many of the things RJ (the new one ?) has said in the past have been seen to be true (or at least Aes Sedai true) in the show. 

 

I know he has said book readers will know immediately who the Dragon is, yet people think it may have changed. 

 

Has anything else he said turned out differently from how we expected? 

 

1. I have plans for both of these [Prologue, and prequel scenes from New Spring], but you'll unfortunately have to wait for the show to see :)

[Any ideas?] 

 

2. I really like Logain and plan to not only retain, but expand, his role in series.

[We know this is true] 

 

3. Question: Will @BillyZane be reprising his role as Ishmael ?
Rafe Judkins: NO.

[We know this is true] 

 

4. Question: How much badassery do you think we can expect from the Mat vs Gawyn & Galad fight?
Rafe Judkins: I mean this question answers itself, doesn't it? ? (ie. badassery, obviously)

[Seems to say the fight will be in there. Do we know which season, which episode?] 

 

5. Rest assured, there will be pillow friends out the wazoo.

[We know there are already more than in the books.]

 

6. I only want to use flashbacks when they help elucidate our characters' stories. 

I think that flashbacks are a great way to learn more about a character

 

7. Tam and Rand in the Westwood, Winternight, Tarwin's Gap, Toman Head, Egwene being leased. [Five scenes he is most excited to adapt.] 

[Seems clear they are all in there? Unless it changed afterwards]

 

8. I mean let's all be honest, I'm gonna be condensing in the latter middle section of books ?

 

9. Question: With the importance of Padan Fain to the series, do you plan to disguise his "true-self" in the show better than his introduction in the book for those who haven't yet read the series?
Rafe Judkins: Yessir!

[Did he manage this?]

 

10. there are already aspects of EoTW that I plan to use in different seasons

 

11. [Consistency of accents] Yes and no. It’ll be somewhat actor dependent but I’d like to find at least as much consistency as GoT has

 

12. Let’s just say I’m much more interested in polyamory than polygamy. And maybe give me a little more credit than assuming I’m gonna gut that entire story and ruin everything off a one word answer? ?

 

13. We lose a lot of Cenn Buie, and I like his grumpy old manness.

 

14. Ding ding ding. This is a big part of things I want to add. [things that happened off camera in the books] 

 

15. Not looking to cut major plot lines, more reshuffle/repurpose/etc. Again, will try to include as much as I can, but will always cut things that don’t tell us more about character

 

16. I do have a plan for this! [highlighting/emphasising/cutting/condensing some of the Forsaken] 

 

17. Most I’m just excited about, terror comes in for things like Rands journey through Rhuidean. I hope I can do it justice.

 

18. can't WAIT to see a whole bunch of warrior gingers ?

 

19. Efforts will be made [to cast Rand tall and ginger] 

 

20. I would like the show to feel very different than other fantasy things we’ve seen before

 

21.  I love tel’aran’rhiod and want it to be on the show in a big way

 

22. Question: Are there any characters that will be left out, or any two characters combined into a single character?
Rafe Judkins: I will try to avoid this if I can. I think the bigness of the world adds so much.

 

23. The hardest [character to write] so far is Nynaeve.

 

24. Question: Hello Rafe, Do you anticipate Season 1 taking up eye of the world and season 2 being The Great Hunt?
Rafe Judkins: Yes and no

 

25. Question: Who are your favorite and least favorite characters from the series?
Rafe Judkins: Faile. But I promise she’ll be awesome on the show

 

26. Question: Will there be braid tugging and dress smoothing?
Rafe Judkins: Less than the books

 

27. I can’t wait to write Dumai’s Wells

 

28. Lots of storytellers and cool visuals in the lore. 

 

29. Question: before and after each book, there are snippets of prophecy or song or poetry or the like. would those be integrated into the show in some way, or left out?
Rafe Judkins: Some will be integrated!

 

30. I love seeing more of the inner workings of the AES Sedai and awardee [Warders??] 

 

31. Question: are egwenes dreamers dreams going to be shown or just talked about?
Rafe Judkins: Shown hopefully

 

32. Trollocs will only be as sexualized as you make them on viewing.

[!!!]

 

33. Question: Are you going to merge Min and Elayne?
Judkins: Hell no

 

34. Question: Will we have to wait till season 2 to see any Aiel? (Other than Rand)
Judkins: Nope. And the one you see will shock you. Haha. Amazon shouldn't let me be on here when I've been cooped up for a week.

 

35. Question: Will we see the prologue from the Eye of the World on screen in season 1
Judkins: You will hear that phrase

 

36. Question: Please tell me you've cut Narg!!
Judkins: Never!!

 

37. Question: Will min, elayne, and aviendha have to be combined into a single character?
Judkins: Girl you crazy. I'm not going to combing huge characters like that. Maybe sometimes a minor character folded into a more major one to make better use of our cast but nothing nutso

 

38. Question: What influences were used in designing the travel and daily wear for the EM5 but also Moiraine and Lan, considering how they are described while on the road but how they also appear when in a city setting? Rough hewn wools, linens, silk(s), leather (for the warders, etc.)
Judkins: In my mind, Moiraine and Lan have spent the better part of their time together on the road, and the EF5 grew up in a place where knowing how to survive in the wilds was a necessity, so they are all incredibly practical with what they wear and travel with...
... and when they’re in a city and not needing to leave soon, you could see different looks from them.

 

39. We're approaching this as an adaptation of the entire series, not just each book individually, so hopefully Season One will feel more like the entire book series of Wheel of Time than it does like Eye of the World. With that in mind -- no Moiraine staff. Let chaos ensue, ha.

 

40. Question: How difficult was it to change or leave out characters from the books for screen adaptation
Judkins: Sometimes very difficult, obviously. People who drive the story or shed light on our characters' back stories or the world of the show always will be more likely to make an appearance. But some people are there in glimpses or subtle nods just for our enjoyment. Some extras were named as characters and given things / looks from the books, so keep your eyes peeled

 

41. We've tackled the wind in the Pilot in, what I think at least, ha is an unexpected but rewarding way. Excited to see what you all think of it.

 

42. Question: Are there some major characters that appear in the first book that won't appear in the first season?
Judkins: Yes. And some of them are still slated to appear in later seasons (again, approaching the adaptation of the series, not just each book individually). A few of these characters I bet you already expect this for, and one, at least, I think will surprise you.

 

43. Never fear, multi colored cloak is still in existence, but different than you imagine. Isis (our costume designer) nailed it.

 

44. I can confirm here officially that the kesiera will appear in the show. I can also confirm I correctly spelled kesiera on my first try, but I did google it to double-check.

 

45. Question: What character that didn't appear in S1 & does appear in S2 are you most excited about?
Judkins: Starts with an EL

 

46. Question: Will we see the actual weaves or just the end result of channeling?
Judkins: You're gonna see it all if you're a woman who can channel

 

47. Will we see Narg? ??
Judkins: Yep

 

48. Best thing about Wheel of Time is the world keeps getting bigger and deeper. And we've gotta deliver on that in the show

 

49. Question: @rafejudkins can we expect to see any of the Forsaken in s1?
Judkins: It depends on how much you know about the Forsaken.

 

50. Question: Will The World of Dreams be in the show?
Judkins: How could you do the show without it?

 

51. Question: How much will Season 1 cover? Book 1 or spread acrosss [sic] several? Looks amazing!!!
Judkins: Season One will cover Book One, plus some of Book Two and even Book Three. But also not all of Book One, as some of it is in Season Two. Cryptic enough?

 

52. Question: What is the show going to be rated? Will people be able to watch it with their teenagers?
Judkins: People should certainly be able to watch with their teenagers.

 

 

I have missed out some that seem repetitive, and merged some. 

 

Sorry didn't realise how many it would be! 

 

From https://wot-prime.fandom.com/wiki/Rafe_Judkins/Quotes

 

These also interesting - 

 

When the books came out they felt so blazingly fresh and different and new, so we want that same thing to be true of the show, and if you see us leaning away from certain elements in the books, often times it's because audiences have now seen them before!
Unfortunately sometimes even in cases where the book-to-screen adaptations are from books that cribbed it from WoT! ha

 

What's really important to me is that when we're diverging from the books, that we KNOW we're doing it. So, every piece of production design from shoes to swords to the White Tower itself begins with pages of quotes from the books about that place/thing...
The designer then takes it from there to build something that makes sense in our world, with our production concerns, our cast, our aesthetic, etc. But at the end of the day, it all stems from that first document and it's something we can always go back to

 

 

Edited November 17, 2021 by Ralph

[DaddyFinn]

5 hours ago, Ralph said:

17. Most I’m just excited about, terror comes in for things like Rands journey through Rhuidean. I hope I can do it justice.

 

5 hours ago, Ralph said:

21.  I love tel’aran’rhiod and want it to be on the show in a big way

 

5 hours ago, Ralph said:

25. Question: Who are your favorite and least favorite characters from the series?
Rafe Judkins: Faile. But I promise she’ll be awesome on the show

 

5 hours ago, Ralph said:

27. I can’t wait to write Dumai’s Wells

 

These stood out to me. I really hope these will happen gloriously.

[mogi68]

Where is the Billy Zane question from? I searched that fandom.wiki page and it wasn't on there.

Kind of bummed, I thought he would be a good Ishamael with a proper script and director. Plus his initials fit ?(BZ = Ba'alzamon!)

[Ralph]

2 hours ago, mogi68 said:

Where is the Billy Zane question from? I searched that fandom.wiki page and it wasn't on there.

Kind of bummed, I thought he would be a good Ishamael with a proper script and director. Plus his initials fit ?(BZ = Ba'alzamon!)

 

10th question there, in the first section

[mogi68]

18 hours ago, Ralph said:

 

10th question there, in the first section

Ahh i'm an idiot - I searched with a space in the name lol

Thanks for posting!