The Wheel of Time Will Be Adapted as a TV Series

[wheeloftimetv]

Narg would rather watch this ;)

[Elgee]

LMAO! I'd watch that too

[wheeloftimetv]

Looks like we might not have to wait years to see some WoT on our screens. Some people have just filmed a short FAN film and are editing it now. Hopefully we all get to see it. http://www.wheeloftime.tv/2017/06/new-wheel-of-time-fan-film-in-works.html

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]

Won't the estate try to block that?

[wheeloftimetv]

Why? They didn't with the last one.

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]

The last one? Show me please?

[wheeloftimetv]

It's linked in the post, or just google flight from shadow.

[Occams whiskey bottle]

So i was digging around the internet for any clue on what network was going to carry The Wheel of Time, and stumbled upon this set of articles...

 

http://money.cnn.com/2014/03/20/technology/sony-tv-powers/index.html

 

 

 

Joining streaming television services like Netflix and Amazon, Sony's PlayStation Network has commissioned its first original TV series.

The company said Wednesday that it had ordered 10 one-hour episodes of "Powers," a drama based on the comic book series of the same name. It will be produced by one of Sony PlayStation's corporate sisters, the Sony Pictures Television studio.

 

My question is this...If Sony Playstation Network is going to start developing original content would that include The Wheel of Time? If so, then would I have to buy a Playstation and join their network to watch it? I really hope not because that would suck. I don't play video games, and don't plan on investing in one just to watch one show where there is no promise of being produced start to finish. Do you guys think that this would be a likelihood, or do you think they would develop the show and sell it to another network?

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]

I do t understand any of this except the part where the writer says you don't need a PlayStation to watch PlayStation vue... but also it won't work on iOS. You probably will understand better.

 

https://cordcuttingadventure.wordpress.com/2016/03/19/playstation-vue-without-owning-a-playstation/

[Orderofolde]

Just checking in to see if anyone has heard anything?  I know it is a slow process but I am curious to see what stage they are at, if pre-production has started, etc.

[wheeloftimetv]

Nope, still in limbo until they do a deal with a network/distributor.

[Orderofolde]

Nope, still in limbo until they do a deal with a network/distr

Thanks

[szilard]

I really hope that they will not listen to some fans, who would be very happy if the first books/seasons would take place in a forest. Iirc, there are at least two forests mentioned in the books. I thought we are now beyond this kind of cutting corners. Ok, in these days, when the most forums are dried up, even the smallest conversation is very precious, but do not give them bad ideas.


One more thing. I was sent a few pictures of GOT this afternoon, and I had to ask the sender that who are these people, because I had no idea that 30+ years old actors are playing the teens.

As I'm getting older even people in their thirties look 'young' to me, but I'd like to see 20-22 yo actors for starters. (And they could go high as 26-27 in the final season, so no big difference.) If, and that is a big if, the first season will be a success, then maybe they could film all the acting scenes in 2-3 years, and the post production could take years after that. Of course, this means very,very meticulous planning, and paying big money upfront. Just an idea.

From another point of view, our heroes are getting so many strikes from life that inevitable that they look older. I don't know.

[szilard]

Would you watch it "without any music"?

I mean there would be zero (cheesy) background music, except the voices of Moi and Mierin, Thom's flute, dancing in the inns etc.

Is it possible to making this kind of decision, or in these days there has to be some tunes on the tv speakers?

[Occams whiskey bottle]

Bummer that there isn't any other leaks or rumors circulating about this adaption yet. Hope it isn't a dead project sitting on the back shelf of some studio executives office.

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]

Would you watch it "without any music"?

 

I mean there would be zero (cheesy) background music, except the voices of Moi and Mierin, Thom's flute, dancing in the inns etc.

 

Is it possible to making this kind of decision, or in these days there has to be some tunes on the tv speakers?

watch legosi’s dracula and the first frankenstein, before they really knew how to handle talkies and didn’t use background music.

 

now watch the bride of frankenstein, just a little later but with so much more knowledge of the media. lovely background music. not in your face or overpowering, but it makes the whole experience better.

 

there needs to be background music, it’s just unpleasant without it.

[Ryrin]

 

Would you watch it "without any music"?

 

I mean there would be zero (cheesy) background music, except the voices of Moi and Mierin, Thom's flute, dancing in the inns etc.

 

Is it possible to making this kind of decision, or in these days there has to be some tunes on the tv speakers?

watch legosi’s dracula and the first frankenstein, before they really knew how to handle talkies and didn’t use background music.

 

now watch the bride of frankenstein, just a little later but with so much more knowledge of the media. lovely background music. not in your face or overpowering, but it makes the whole experience better.

 

there needs to be background music, it’s just unpleasant without it.

 

 

Agree.

[Werthead]

My thoughts on what the Lord of the Rings TV series from Amazon means for Wheel of Time.

 

In short, Amazon was really the best shot for a WoT TV show. If Amazon is going with the better name recognition of Tolkien, it leaves WoT without a really obvious home. I don't believe that AMC will be capable of giving the show the budget it needs, HBO turned down Tolkien because of their commitment to the GoT franchise so they're never going to touch another fantasy series for many years to come, and Showtime have signed up to do the Rothfuss prequel TV show instead. Starz and Hulu I think are a long shot. Netflix might be the only card left on the table, but they've got themselves into some debt issues and are looking for a lot of cheaper shows going forwards (cancelling Sense8 and House of Cards due to their expense) with only one or two expensive tentpoles, which going forwards will be Stranger Things and maybe Altered Carbon (depending on how the first season does).

Edited November 4, 2017 by Werthead

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]

House of cards got cancelled for other reasons too. There’s a vacuum at Netflix, they might look to do WoT frugally, no?

[Werthead]

House of cards got cancelled for other reasons too. There’s a vacuum at Netflix, they might look to do WoT frugally, no?

 

This was the last season of House of Cards anyway, they'd not quite pulled the trigger on it because they've been talking about doing a spin-off and were apparently debating on whether to make it a whole new show or continue it under the same name. This is why the current round of controversy is a slight headache for Netflix rather the major catastrophe it would have been two seasons back.

 

I don't think you can do WoT frugally, at least not do so and do it any justice. It doesn't need $100 million a season from the off, but you can't do it for much less than the $6 million an episode that GoT started with back in 2011, and if you look at the first season now it's painfully obvious how much less money they had. 

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]

Judging by so,e of the people involved, and the late entry into a genre that’s getting stale, I can see it getting a low budget treatment. Some of my favorite shows have been done on amc for bupkis so I could see it being ok that way. I mostly can’t see it happening at all tho.

[mdnyttokr]

Okay, so I have a little (VERY little) bit of information to add.  This is unofficial, and maybe it is already known by many, as it's been a while since I've followed "what is known and not known" about the Wheel of Time TV series.

 

What I can confirm comes from a personal connection that I cannot divulge, which I know makes this post reek of tinfoil-hat smell.  I have a VERY tenuous and indirect connection to... someone at Sony Pictures Television Studios (more of a "I know someone who knows someone"), and that person is bringing this monster of a show to television.  Acknowledging that, you can choose to believe me or not.  This probably isn't even really news.

 

The series is being developed by Sony Pictures TV (we knew that, right?).  There's no cast yet, and to be honest I do not even know how far along they are, but I know they're still early enough in development that no one at Sony is even discussing casting yet, but the feeling is that the show will star mostly unknowns with one or two somewhat recognizable names, but probably not huge stars, unless the show ends up being wildly successful.  But it is absolutely going forward, enough so that some folks at Sony (and people connected to them) are all reading the Wheel of Time, many of them for the first time.  There is at least one extremely high-level executive at Sony who is directly involved in the show's development.  I can't name the person without breaking a confidence, but I do know who the person is and what their position within Sony is, and when I found out who it was, and I saw their track record on other TV shows, I was happily surprised.

 

I can say with some degree of certainty that the folks in charge of the TV show are taking it VERY seriously.  They are all keenly aware of what the series means to its fans.  They might not be able to accomplish everything that fans want to see (some corners are going to have to be cut, considering the medium of television), but they're really trying.  They're moving carefully, and thoughtfully, and the last thing they want is to release the show and have it reviled and denounced by the WoT fan community.  They do feel the pressure to make it something people want to see.  I couldn't begin to guess about when it might be ready for broadcast, but barring some kind of catastrophe, it seems inevitable to my untrained eye that this will be on your TV eventually, and not necessarily as a low-budget affair.  They are also aware of the Red Eagle "Dragonmount" pilot debacle.  They are keeping that in mind as a cautionary tale, to remind them that they can't just release a crap show, slap a WoT sticker on it and call it good.  They do want this to be something special.  They have ambitions for multiple seasons, but at present all their efforts are being directed towards making season 1 something they they can be proud of.

 

I hope this helps.  And I apologize if it does not.

[Rednalloc]

Okay, so I have a little (VERY little) bit of information to add.  This is unofficial, and maybe it is already known by many, as it's been a while since I've followed "what is known and not known" about the Wheel of Time TV series.

 

What I can confirm comes from a personal connection that I cannot divulge, which I know makes this post reek of tinfoil-hat smell.  I have a VERY tenuous and indirect connection to... someone at Sony Pictures Television Studios (more of a "I know someone who knows someone"), and that person is bringing this monster of a show to television.  Acknowledging that, you can choose to believe me or not.  This probably isn't even really news.

 

The series is being developed by Sony Pictures TV (we knew that, right?).  There's no cast yet, and to be honest I do not even know how far along they are, but I know they're still early enough in development that no one at Sony is even discussing casting yet, but the feeling is that the show will star mostly unknowns with one or two somewhat recognizable names, but probably not huge stars, unless the show ends up being wildly successful.  But it is absolutely going forward, enough so that some folks at Sony (and people connected to them) are all reading the Wheel of Time, many of them for the first time.  There is at least one extremely high-level executive at Sony who is directly involved in the show's development.  I can't name the person without breaking a confidence, but I do know who the person is and what their position within Sony is, and when I found out who it was, and I saw their track record on other TV shows, I was happily surprised.

 

I can say with some degree of certainty that the folks in charge of the TV show are taking it VERY seriously.  They are all keenly aware of what the series means to its fans.  They might not be able to accomplish everything that fans want to see (some corners are going to have to be cut, considering the medium of television), but they're really trying.  They're moving carefully, and thoughtfully, and the last thing they want is to release the show and have it reviled and denounced by the WoT fan community.  They do feel the pressure to make it something people want to see.  I couldn't begin to guess about when it might be ready for broadcast, but barring some kind of catastrophe, it seems inevitable to my untrained eye that this will be on your TV eventually, and not necessarily as a low-budget affair.  They are also aware of the Red Eagle "Dragonmount" pilot debacle.  They are keeping that in mind as a cautionary tale, to remind them that they can't just release a crap show, slap a WoT sticker on it and call it good.  They do want this to be something special.  They have ambitions for multiple seasons, but at present all their efforts are being directed towards making season 1 something they they can be proud of.

 

I hope this helps.  And I apologize if it does not.

 

 

Well, as you wrote we can't really trust any "I know someone"-information but assuming what you write is legit:

 

It isn't really any news but at least it sounds good that it is taken seriously and people are working on it. As as been said many times before, if it is low-budget they shouldn't bother at all (and by low-budget I mean less than GoT season 1 had). The first season needn't necessarily be hugely expensive (but I believe getting some battles in there, ex. The Fall of Manetheren, The Battle of Tarwin's Gap and/or possibly The Battle of Falme depending on if it is 1 or 2 books, would really help and there is of course some CGI needed for the sparse magic). If it is successful they can always get a bigger budget for when it actually matters (books 4+).

 

Obviously they have to plan one season at a time, that's how tv works, but there is really no way to make season 1 completely self-contained so they shouldn't try, they need to plan the story for the long haul like the books.

 

In the end, whether this show is ever produced or not is up to whether they find someone to pay for and air it. At the moment this is sadly looking doubtful due to so many other shows having beaten WoT to the punch (Kingkiller, LOTR, Shannara, GoT, the Witcher etc.). We can only blame Red Eagle for having sat on the rights for so many years without doing anything productive, making it by far the best selling fantasy series in history to never have been adapted for the screen.

[Guest Lount]

Hey everybody. New user, long time fan.

 

So, this isn't related to any news on the series. Just following the discussion of who could possibly make it if Amazon, hbo, amc, and Netflix are out.

 

With Apple getting into original content, they could be a possibility. Here's an article talking about them getting deeper into original content. And there's a Sony connection with the people they hired to head their original content ;)

 

http://bgr.com/2017/10/11/apple-tv-shows-original-content-amazing-stories/amp/

 

"As you may recall, Jamie Erlicht and Zack Van Amburg — Apple’s TV gurus who formerly worked at Sony — were reportedly given a $1 billion fund to be used for developing, producing, and acquiring original content. That’s certainly more than enough money to get Apple’s TV initiative off the ground. As we covered a few years back, it would cost Apple a tad over $500,000 million to develop and produce a selection of 10 high-quality programs a’la Game of Thrones and House of Cards."

 

Oh, and they aren't afraid to spend money. They just announced a new show that could exceed $10 million per episode:

 

https://www.wsj.com/articles/jennifer-aniston-reese-witherspoon-drama-series-headed-to-apple-1510167626?mod=yahoo_hs&yptr=yahoo

 

Like I said, absolutely not WoT related. But maybe some hope for those disappointed that the big players (hbo, Amazon, Netflix, etc) might be out. I'm sure it's still going to be over a year before we get any news anyways.

[dexterryu]

I don't necessarily think it has to be one of those major networks. With so many of them starting to offer their own streaming services there are more and more players. Even the big 3 (Netflix, Amazon, Hulu) streaming services are aware of this and that's why they are investing in their own programming. TV in general is moving more towards a subscriber model than an advertising model so this could still appeal to a lot of "networks" in order to bolster subscribers.