Adam Whitehead is Dragonmount's TV blogger. Adam has been writing about film and television, The Wheel of Time, and other genre fiction for over fifteen years. Be sure to check out his websites, The Wertzone and Atlas of Ice and Fire (including The Wheel of Time Atlas!) as well as his Patreon.

The Wheel of Time appears to be the latest TV production to sadly be impacted by the spreading coronavirus pandemic. Sony TV have now confirmed that production of The Wheel of Time is indefinitely suspended.

The Czech Republic, where production for the series is based, began clamping down on the outbreak earlier this week, closing schools and restricting large gatherings of people. This led to Disney cancelling a one-week filming stint for their Marvel show The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, which will instead film those scenes elsewhere. On Thursday this was followed by the news that Wheel of Time’s sister-show, Carnival Row (shooting at Barrandov Studios in Prague), would shut down roughly halfway through the shoot for its second season.

This morning the Czech government announced draconian measures to control the outbreak. They have sealed their borders to travellers from other countries affected by the virus, including the UK where numerous Wheel of Time cast and crewmembers are based. The situation with citizens from those countries already in Prague and other Czech cities is unclear, but it appears that flights out of the country are not affected so far.

Based on some crew posts on social media, The Wheel of Time is gearing up for the shutdown from the end of today. Given the status of other filming projects in Prague and the measures introduced by the Czech government, it was hard to see how it could continue.

Filming on the first season began on 16 September and was due to run until at least early May, meaning the bulk of the filming for the season was complete. Looking at the turnaround of directors and when they were in Prague, it also looks like the season was shooting in approximate chronological order. This means that, even if the series cannot be remounted in the next few months to complete the final scenes, it should hopefully be possible to air a truncated, shorter season (assuming, of course, that the coronavirus outbreak does not impact on post-production facilities in the United States and elsewhere), with the remaining material held back for a second season.

Of course, the situation remains very fluid and estimates for the time of the pandemic range from months to a couple of years, which would have a much bigger impact on the timescale for the series (and, of course, everything else).

So, the news is unfortunate, but the team at Amazon Prime Video have amassed a huge amount of material over six months of filming (so far) and hopefully we will get to see that at some point.

In other news (and there is some!), to celebrate International Women’s Day last week, The Wheel of Time TV show’s resident book advisor and expert Sarah Nakamura tweeted out thanks and respect to the cast and crew who are working on the show, including several actresses who’d previously been rumoured to be appearing but not confirmed. This message was widely retweeted and liked by others involved in the production, so we can take it as confirmation these actresses will indeed be appearing, although not in which roles.

Helena Westerman’s involvement has been unofficially known for some time: she appeared in the table read video released a few months ago and her own account has been following and retweeting Wheel of Time news for a few months. Westerman is a young British actress who has been appearing on stage and in short films for a few years. She also has credits as a producer and writer of theatre material and short films, and is co-director of the Rascal Theatre.

Juliet Howland is an actress and composer, best-known for roles in Colditz, Skins and Doctors. According to some rumours, she will be playing the relatively small role of Natti Cauthon, mother of Mat Cauthon, but this is not yet confirmed.

Naana Agyei-Ampadu is an actress whose previous credits include the TV show GameFace and the film Ready Player One. Ampadu was also seen in the table read video.

Lolita Chakrabarti is an English actress and writer. A graduate of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), she has appeared in Criminal, Rviera, The Casual Vacancy, Intruders, Bodies, Hustle, Extras, Silent Witness and a regular character on The Bill.

In additional news, Priyanka Bose, who is playing Alanna, confirmed that she wrapped filming and headed home for the season before the shutdown.

The shutdown may also impact the show’s premiere date. Amazon has remained tight-lipped on when the show could air, with projections being divided between an optimistic view that the series could air at the tail end of 2020 and a possibly more realistic one that the show could air in the first few months of 2021. Netflix’s The Witcher wrapped shooting on 29 May 2019 and was on air in December 2019, but The Wheel of Time is being shot by a different company with likely different (and probably more elaborate) post-production requirements, so this is not a precedent. A recent interview with Rosamund Pike (who plays Moiraine and is an executive producer on the series) seemed to be leaning on the 2021 date as well, but this has not been confirmed by Amazon. Still, it may be wiser to temper expectations of a release any sooner, especially given the delay to filming. It may even be possible that the show will air sooner if the season is indeed not remounted and they go with the material that is already completed, but this is highly speculative.

As always, Dragonmount will keep you informed about developments as they happen on our Dragonmount TV page. Please also let us know your thoughts. Whilst the news is disappointing, I’m sure everyone will join us in agreeing that the health and wellbeing of the cast and crew of the show, and of the residents of the country hosting filming, must be paramount.

To stress, this is a developing story and we will continue to cover it as more news emerges.

Adam Whitehead is Dragonmount's TV blogger. Adam has been writing about film and television, The Wheel of Time, and other genre fiction for over fifteen years. Be sure to check out his websites, The Wertzone and Atlas of Ice and Fire (including The Wheel of Time Atlas!) as well as his Patreon.

It appears that we now have our full roster of Wheel of Time directors!

Ciaran Donnelly recently confirmed that he’s working on the show and his agency updated his CV to show that he’s working on the Season 1 “finale,” although that may actually be the last two episodes (Amazon have declined to confirm so far, as with most things about the project). That would fill up the last gap on the schedule.

All the evidence is pointing towards the first season of The Wheel of Time having eight episodes in total, with four directors tackling two episodes apiece. First up is Uta Briesewitz who is handling Leavetaking and Shadow’s Waiting, followed by Wayne Yip with A Place of Safety and The Dragon Reborn, then Salli Richardson Whitfield with Blood Calls Blood and The Flame of Tar Valon. Ciaran Donnelly will be helming the last two episodes whose titles have not yet been confirmed.

Television directors are notable in that they have far less power than in film, where they are the primary creative force. In television, directors are needed more to film in accordance with the “house style” which will be laid down in the first episode by the writers, producers and the director of the first episode (in this case, Uta Briesewitz). The job of all the directors who come after is to fit into that style and into the challenging filming schedule. That’s not to say they can’t bring their own filming styles and ideas to the party, but they have less room to be improvisational. But the choice of directors is still an important one for a TV show, and almost every show has a cadre of preferred directors the producers want to use as much as possible because their vision for the show adheres closest to that of the showrunners: think of Miguel Sapochnik on Game of Thrones, Jack Bender on Lost, David Nutter on The X-Files or Michael Rymer on Battlestar Galactica.

So, who are our directors?

Uta Briesewitz is a German film-maker who started off as a cinematographer, planning the photography and lighting of each scene in conjunction with the director. After small-scale films and TV shows, she got her big break in 2002 when she was recruited by David Simon to work on his HBO masterpiece, The Wire. She established the photography aesthetic of the whole show, resulting in its mix of documentary-style film-making with more dynamic dramatic moments.

She continued to work with HBO on shows including John from Cincinnati, Hung and True Blood. HBO also gave her a first break at directing, with an opportunity to direct episodes of Hung. She subsequently directed episodes of Weeds, Orange is the New Black, The 100, Jessica Jones, Iron Fist, The Defenders, The Deuce, This is Us, Altered Carbon, Westworld and Stranger Things, building up a strong rep in the process. Her work on the Season 2 Westworld episode “Kiksuya” has been particularly praised.

Briesewitz also has a producer’s credit on The Wheel of Time, which is standard practice for the director of the first episode since they are also intimately involved in casting the main actors and establishing the look and feel of the whole show which will be adhered to for years to come.

Wayne Yip is a British director who started his career in music videos in the mid-2000s. He then worked on short films for several years, winning a BAFTA Award in 2007. He moved into television in 2010 with Coming Up, Secret Diary of a Call Girl and Utopia. He began branching into filming for both British and American productions, and in recent years has worked on Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency, Preacher, Cloak & Dagger, Doctor Who, Into the Badlands, Doom Patrol and Hunters.

Yip has gained a reputation for working fast and reliably at a high level. In 2019 alone he directed eleven episodes on seven different shows, including the very challenging Into the Badlands which has extensive visual effects, martial arts and sword-fighting set pieces in every single episode.

Salli Richardson-Whitfield is best-known as an actress. She started her career in the early 1990s in TV shows such as Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Stargate SG-1, CSI: Miami and House. Her best-known role was as a series regular in Eureka (aka A Town Called Eureka outside the US) from 2006 to 2012. More recently she’s appeared in shows like Criminal Minds, NCIS, Castle and Black Lightning.

She moved into directing in 2011 with the short film Grace. Since then she has directed episodes of Eureka, Scandal, Lethal Weapon, Agents of SHIELD, Luke Cage, Black Lightning, The Punisher, The Magicians, American Gods, Doom Patrol and Altered Carbon. Like Yip she’s gained a reputation for working fast and effectively, with more than a dozen episodes of television shot last year alone.

Irishman Ciaran Donnelly is the most experienced of the four directors, beginning his career in the 1990s with short films before moving into TV movies at the end of the decade. His TV work includes Cold Feet, Spooks, Donovan, The Tudors (which he work on with Maria Doyle Kennedy), Camelot, Once Upon a Time, Vikings, Krypton and Altered Carbon.

See more about what our team thinks of the Season 1 directors on The Wheel of Time Community Show on YouTube. 

We also now have confirmation that the composer for the show will be David Buckley. Buckley is a British composer now based in the USA. He has worked as a composer on films including Jason Bourne and Angel Has Fallen; TV series including The Good Wife, The Good Fight, Killing Lincoln and The Gifted; and video games including Metal Gear Solid 4, Call of Duty: Ghosts and Batman: Arkham Knight.

You can listen to a selection of Buckley’s work on Spotify.

Please let us know what you think of the creatives discussed today. Have you seen or heard any of their work? Any suggestions for directors for Season 2? As usual and until next time, peace.

Adam Whitehead is Dragonmount's TV blogger. Adam has been writing about film and television, The Wheel of Time, and other genre fiction for over fifteen years. Be sure to check out his websites, The Wertzone and Atlas of Ice and Fire (including The Wheel of Time Atlas!) as well as his Patreon. Please note this article contains very mild spoilers for The Wheel of Time novels.

Official glimpses of filming on The Wheel of Time TV show have been few and far between so far. Amazon has surrounded filming with an aura of secrecy and the only shots have been leaked photos snapped by eager fans. We’ve so far not published these out of respect for the production team’s wishes. However, there have been signs of this being relaxed somewhat in recent weeks. This week, the production even released a behind-the-scenes shot of the first day of filming.

This shot is impressive, showing a significant amount of work has been done on building a chunk of the village for real. At least five fairly big buildings have been constructed, one of them presumably standing in for the Winespring Inn. What appears to have been an artificial tree has also been added to the location. Curiously, the village’s infamous Green is not present and the tree is standing somewhat incongruously by itself, but perhaps more greenery will be added in post-production. The lack of thatched roofs suggests that Cenn Buie has a different profession, or perhaps there are buildings elsewhere with thatched roofs.

We know that the first scene shot for the series was Padan Fain arriving in Emond’s Field, the largest town in the Two Rivers, so it’s a good bet that this show shows us what Emond’s Field will look like on the show.

A covered wagon and horses can be seen behind the tree, which is likely Padan Fain’s wagon, with a group of actors visible in dressing gowns. Also visible are the dolly tracks which will be used by cameras to take sweeping shots of the location. 

A few weeks ago, they also released the first shot of filming, showing Josha Stradowski as Rand al’Thor against a dramatic mountain backdrop. It’s a fair bet this is from early in the story, when our initial band of heroes are fleeing the Two Rivers for their lives with the Mountains of Mist dramatically looming in the background.

We’ve heard reports over the shooting period that the team has been filming in snowy locations. This of course contrasts with The Eye of the World, which mostly runs through spring and the snows have melted (apart from on the mountains in the background, of course). Avoiding snow during shooting has been impossible, since the filming period started in September and has run straight through the winter in Slovenia and the Czech Republic, where snow is a common occurrence in mountainous regions such as the Sudetes and the eastern Alps.

My suspicion is that the show will eliminate some of the snowfall in post-production or, more likely, will explain that the snowfall has lingered longer than normal into the spring.

With filming now more than half-complete and due to wrap in May, it’s interesting to speculate on castmembers who have not yet been confirmed on the series. As of today, we still haven’t had roles such as Elayne, Morgase, Galad, Gawyn, Elyas Machera, Agelmar, the Bornhalds or Min confirmed (among many others). This may indicate they will not appear until later in the season or they have been working but not been announced yet. In addition, we are still unaware of what role Maria Doyle Kennedy will be playing (although she did react coly to the question of if she will be playing Elaida, whilst ignoring all other suggestions; read into that what you will).

On a related note, I’ve also seen some questions recently about why the production has not been casting more North American actors. As of today, the only American actors confirmed on the show are Daniel Henney as Lan and Taylor Napier as Maksim, whilst Jennifer Cheon Garcia is Canadian.

There are a few reasons for this. The first is that this is an international production drawing on the broadest possible casting base. There are several actors from the UK and the Republic of Ireland, but there are also actors from Spain, India, Australia, Denmark and the Netherlands. As such, two actors from the USA is not a massive underrepresentation.

There are also other factors involved. The production is based in Prague and for recurring castmembers (those not in every episode) with other jobs going on, having to travel back and forth from North America to the Czech Republic between filming blocks might be impractical. The studio may also have budgetary restrictions in place limiting how many flights they will pay for; at least one of the reasons why Conan Stevens did not return as Gregor Clegane after Season 1 of Game of Thrones is because the studio was unwilling to pay to fly him back and forth from Northern Ireland to New Zealand, where he was filming The Hobbit trilogy. For actors based in the UK and Ireland, where Prague is only a couple of hours flight away on cheap airlines, this is much less of an issue.

It also depends on the profile of the actor involved. If a major American name expressed a desire to be on the show which would boost its profile, it’s likely that Amazon would pay for that to happen. The Wheel of Time is first and foremost an ensemble piece, less reliant on outright star power beyond the few well-known actors that have been cast already (Kennedy and of course Rosamund Pike as Moiraine).

As always, more news as we get it.

Adam Whitehead is Dragonmount's TV blogger. Adam has been writing about film and television, The Wheel of Time, and other genre fiction for over fifteen years. Be sure to check out his websites, The Wertzone and Atlas of Ice and Fire (including The Wheel of Time Atlas!) as well as his Patreon. Please note this article contains very mild spoilers for The Wheel of Time novels.

We have some new Wheel of Time cast members! And, as is becoming par for the course with this project, we don’t know who they’re playing!

Maria Doyle Kennedy, Katy Fleetwood, Jennifer Cheon Garcia, Daryl McCormack and Peter Franzén have all been announced as joining the cast through a social media blitz of them posing with pictures of their scripts for the Episode 5/6 table read. Of the group, only one confirmed her role: Katy Fleetwood will be playing Liandrin, an Aes Sedai of the Red Ajah who plays a major role in the second novel in the series, The Great Hunt. Jennifer Garcia also added the hashtag “#aessedai” and a blue square to her post, suggesting that she will be playing a member of the Blue Ajah.

The rest of the actors have not disclosed their roles, so it may be fun to speculate on whom they might be playing.

The big coup of the announcements is Maria Doyle Kennedy. A veteran Irish singer and actress, Kennedy is probably best-known for playing Catherine of Aragon on Showtime’s The Tudors and Mrs. S. on Orphan Black. She’s also had recurring roles on Dexter and Outlander. As arguably the highest-profile casting since Rosamund Pike, she’ll presumably be playing a relatively major role. She’s actually been my personal favourite fancast for about a decade for the role of Elaida do Avriny a’Roihan, Aes Sedai of the Red Ajah and Court Advisor to Queen Morgase of Andor. Kennedy has mostly played positive characters, so seeing her as a villain would be an interesting change of pace.

An alternative is Siuan Sanche, the Amyrlin Seat, the leader of the Aes Sedai. Again, Kennedy would be excellent in this role but I think it would be a shame if they lost the idea of Siuan and Moiraine as contemporaries. Kennedy is fifteen years older than Rosamund Pike, but it’s possible they may be considering a change so it’s more of a mentor relationship, which could work.

The final possibility to my mind is Verin Mathwin, Aes Sedai of the Brown Ajah and a font of information about the world. I think this is somewhat less likely due to the fact that Verin’s importance in the series tends to ebb and flow and she’d likely vanish for long periods of the story, which would risk losing Kennedy from the series in later seasons (although again this could be changed). Siuan and Elaida remain fairly important throughout the duration of the series and would be meatier roles for Kennedy, although there’s no arguing she’d play the hell of the culmination of Verin’s arc in The Gathering Storm.

Jennifer Garcia has done a lot of work in the Arrowverse for The CW and has also appeared in Fringe, Lucifer and The 100. Assuming she’s playing an Aes Sedai of the Blue Ajah, there are several strong possibilities. The most obvious is, if Maria Kennedy is not playing her, Siuan Sanche. Garcia is much closer to Rosamund Pike’s age which works for them being contemporaries. Other alternatives would be Leane Sharif, Siuan’s second-in-command as Keeper of the Chronicles; Anaiya Carel, a senior Blue Ajah sister (and the rumoured secret leader of the Blue Ajah); or Sheriam Bayanar, the Mistress of Novices.

Daryl McCormack is an up-and-coming Irish actor who recently starred in the fifth season of Peaky Blinders. His other credits include Vikings and Fair City. McCormack’s casting was actually leaked several months ago, suggesting that he may actually be appearing in the series before the fifth or sixth episode and they just chose to announce him at this point. His potential roles are fairly numerous but could include Galadedrid Damodred, the adopted eldest son of Queen Morgase of Andor; Aram of the Tinkers (given credence by reports that the Tinker wagon scenes have already been filmed); Dain Bornhald of the Children of the Light; or one of the Aes Sedai Warders for the previously announced actresses (Verin’s Tomas has the most story material, but Anaiya’s Setagana or Siuan’s Alric are other possibilities). Another possibility is that they’ve decided to cast unusually young for the roles of Elyas Machera (McCormack’s piercing eyes would be useful in this role), Lord Ingtar Shinowa of Shienar; or Captain Bayle Domon.

Peter Franzén is a Finnish actor best-known for his long-running role as King Harald Finehair on Vikings. There are quite a few possibilities for him, including the aforementioned Elyas Machera, Lord Ingtar Shinowa or Captain Bayle Domon. A fan-favourite suggestion seems to be Lord Gareth Bryne, the Captain-General of the armies of Andor. Lord Geofram Bornhald of the Children of the Light is another solid possibility. Raen of the Tinkers is another, although given that Franzén is much closer in age to McCormack (if he’s picked for Aram), they could change the relationship to father and son rather than grandfather. Mordeth could be another possibility, since we know the production is visiting Shadar Logoth. Lord Agelmar Jagad of Shienar is also a reasonable possibility.

For both McCormack and Franzén there is also the possibility of one of the Forsaken: Ba’alzamon, Aginor and Balthamel are all potential candidates.

Of course, guessing is difficult when we don’t know how many episodes there are in the first season (there are unconfirmed reports of eight, but Amazon have not yet confirmed) and how many books will be tackled per season, which is something we can speculate about another time.

As usual, we’ll bring you further news as it appears.

Four actors announced their involvement in the upcoming Wheel of Time TV show via social media today. 

As of this time, Amazon hasn't officially confirmed their involvement, although Rafe Judkins, the showrunner, "liked" each of their social media posts. That, combined with the coordinated timing, and the obvious scripts visible in each of their hands, ensures that this is more than a rumor.

• Kate Fleetwood will play Liandrin Guirale of the Red Ajah.
• Jennifer Cheon Garcia will play an unspecified Aes Sedai.
• Daryl McCormack has an unspecified role.
• Maria Doyle Kennedy will play an unspecified role (most likely an Aes Sedai).

These actors all posted photos of themselves holding copies of the scripts for episodes 105 and 106. The cast had gathered together for a table read.

In addition to those four actors, other previously-confirmed actors Madeleine Madden (Egwene), Hammed Animashaun (Lioal), and Priyanka Bose (Allana Sedai) also posted photos of themselves holding copies of the script for those episodes. 

Tell us what you think of these casting announcements in the comments! Which characters do you think the 3 actors with unspecified roles will play?

Deadline.com announced today, via an exclusive article that Amazon Studios confirmed to us, that the roles of Alanna Mosvani and two of her warders, Ihvon and Maksim, have been cast for the upcoming Wheel of Time TV show. 

Alanna Mosvani will be played by Priyanka Bose. 

Ihvon will be played by Emmanuel Imani. 

Maksim will be played by Taylor Napier. 

In the books, Alanna is an Aes Sedai of the Green Ajah who has a significant, and sometimes controversial, role in the story. She's first introduced at the beginning of book 2, The Great Hunt. Interestingly, in the books, Alanna has two warders, Ihvon and Owein.  Of those warders, Owein has the lesser role and is only mentioned a few time before dying.  It seems he's been replaced by a character named Maksim. It's unknown if these are intended to be the same character, or if Maksim is a replacement for Owein with the intention of having a larger role. 

From the Deadline article:

Quote

[Alanna is] renowned for both her kindness and her temper. And instead of having one Warder like Moiraine, she has two — Ihvon (Imani) and Maksim (Napier). The three of them have a complicated relationship built on love, sex and respect that welds them into a fearsome force in battle.

• Priyanka Bose IMDB entry
• Emmanuel Imani IMDB entry
• Taylor Napier IMDB entry

Adam Whitehead is Dragonmount's TV blogger. Adam has been writing about film and television, The Wheel of Time, and other genre fiction for over fifteen years. Be sure to check out his websites, The Wertzone and Atlas of Ice and Fire (including The Wheel of Time Atlas!) as well as his Patreon. Please note this article contains very mild spoilers for The Wheel of Time novels.

To everyone’s relief, Amazon have confirmed that four important characters from the Wheel of Time novels will be in the TV series: Loial, Logain, Padan Fain and Thom Merrilin have made the cut!

The actors playing them will probably be not hugely familiar to audiences. Alvaro Morte (Logain) has appeared primarily in Spanish film and television whilst Hammad Animashaun (Loial) is a relative newcomer. Johann Myers, who is playing Padan Fain, has had a longer career and will be familiar to British viewers from series such as State of Play, Black Mirror and Luther.

Most of the casting speculation for the last few weeks – including our own – has focused on Thom Merrilin. Some fans and commentators even mused if Thom could be cut from the show altogether, or perhaps introduced later on in a different context. Happily, it seems that Rafe Judkins and his team decided they needed the gleeman up front and center, and cast Danish actor Alexandre Willaume in the role. Willaume has appeared in films such as Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets and last year’s Tomb Raider, but is best known for playing Kjartan, one of the main antagonists in the first two seasons of the excellent historical drama The Last Kingdom (well worth catching on Netflix if you haven’t seen it yet). This is appropriate because some twenty years pass between Kjartan’s appearance in the first episode and his last appearance (note: both videos have violence and some strong language) in Season 2, and he is aged up for the role.

This leads to an interesting and wider question about adaptations of the written work. Fans of all franchises appear to be constantly bemused that producers don’t cast actors more precisely based on their book descriptions, sometimes choosing actors of a radically different height, age, appearance or, in some cases, gender. This leads to frustration that the producers “don’t get it” or are “changing things for the sake of it,” and to be fair unsuccessful adaptations like The Shannara Chronicles or Earthsea show that this sometimes happens. In other cases – such as the currently shooting TV series based on Terry Pratchett’s Discworld novels, The Watch – the producers have taken the view that the source material is something they can mix and match to produce something new. This sometimes works (as with Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency) but sometimes doesn’t (like SyFy’s Dresden Files).

Fans of Game of Thrones, particularly fans of the books who kept abreast of the casting news in early and mid-2009 as the show prepared to shoot its pilot, will remember this well. There was widespread dismay when it was announced that Mark Addy had been cast as King Robert Baratheon. Addy was a good ten years older than the character and, whilst Robert was six foot five and a giant of a man, Addy was almost a clear foot shorter. These concerns were eventually alleviated when the show hit the air: Addy received widespread praise for his dramatic, gruff performance. He made you believe he’d once been a powerful, formidable warrior now gone to seed.

The reason for not casting strictly according to the books is mainly practical: if you get down to five or six on an audition shortlist, do you go with the actor who gave the better, more convincing performance or the actor who is exactly the same height as the character in the book but was a less convincing performer? Producers and casting directors will always follow the performance first, the details later. In some cases, they know these details can be taken care of through costuming, or getting the actor some bigger shoes, or (in extremis) they can stand on a box in some takes.

In some other cases the author may give a description of a character in a book without fully thinking through the details: Tyrion Lannister is described as quite ugly in the Song of Ice and Fire novels, but he is also charming, charismatic, witty and good at talking to people and winning them over, all of which would be less convincing on screen if he was actively hideous to look at. The producers decided to the cast the decidedly handsome Peter Dinklage rather than staying true to the books.

In the case of Thom Merrilin, the producers had to balance practical issues with storytelling ones with faithfulness to the book. They were also helped by Robert Jordan’s vagueness over Thom’s age. We are told that Thom has white hair and people express surprise at his spryness “for his age.” Morgase also muses that Thom was “twice her age” at one point in their relationship (The Fires of Heaven), probably – from context – during the year between Taringail’s death and Thom’s departure to help Owyn (984-85 NE). Morgase was 27-28 during that year, so Thom would have been around 54, and thus 70 when the events of The Eye of the World begin in spring 998 NE.

However, The Eye of the World contradicts this by saying that Thom “was in his prime,” which I would submit would not be a descriptor for someone in their mid-to-late fifties. Robert Jordan’s voluminous notes, which he began developing in earnest around the time of A Crown of Swords, also show a later change of heart, noting instead that Thom is 19-20 years older than Morgase. This would have made Thom around 46 during their relationship and about 60 during the events of The Eye of the World.

It may even be that Robert Jordan considered making Thom younger. Thom is physically very capable, still doing tumbling tricks and more than holding his own in battle. Rather memorably, he takes on a Myrddraal in hand-to-hand combat and survives, something not even Lan can boast off (true, the Myrddraal was in a hurry and had no time to stay and fight, but still a notable achievement). Thom is also a big hit with the ladies, having relationships with women not only in their forties, but, in the case of Dena in The Great Hunt, in their twenties. Are there charismatic, handsome men in their sixties who can pull those things off? Sure, but making him even a few years younger does make all of those accomplishments more plausible. It's notable that Team Jordan did not canonise the information in Jordan's notes in The Wheel of Time Companion, perhaps preferring to keep things vague and up to the reader's interpretation.

In this case, the choice of actor is a good one. Willaume turns 47 this month and, as we saw in The Last Kingdom, can be aged up pretty well as required. More importantly, he’s a good actor and I’m sure will bring the required skills and more: he plays guitar and has been a musician in multiple bands. He’s also sung on stage in the Danish musical version of Shrek (he played Donkey), so he has those skills down as well.

Until next time, peace.

Amazon Prime's @WoTonPrime Twitter account announced today that actors have been cast for The Wheel of Time TV show. 

Alvaro Morte as Logain.

Hammed Animashaun as Loial.

Alexandre Willaume as Thom Merrilin.

Johann Myers as Padan Fain.

ALVARO MORTE  (Logain)

Originally from Andalucía, Spain, Álvaro graduated from the Superior School of Dramatic Arts of Córdoba and ECAM (Madrid Film School) with a Bachelor of Dramatic Arts. After finishing his studies in Spain, UTA's Actor Training Department awarded him a scholarship to research interpretation techniques at the University of Tampere (Finland), where he worked as an assistant professor of stage management. Álvaro is an actor with a long resume of experience, but has most recently appeared in La Casa de Papel, Durante la Tormenta El Embarcadero and The Head. He also served as Theater Director for his own company, 300 Pistolas, which was founded in 2012 and brings Spanish classics, such as El Perro del Hortelano, Tres Sombreros de Copa, La Casa de Bernarda Alba and El Lazarillo de Tormes to high school students in the region. His work on El Lazarillo de Tormes was awarded at the Almagro International Classical Theater Festival in 2018. 

HAMMED ANIMASHAUN (Loial)

Hammed recently starred in Fudge Park's feature film The Festival How to Build a Girl. His past television credits include Netflix's critically-acclaimed series Black Mirror as well as BBC's black comedy Flowers. Hammed is currently starring in Master Harold... and the Boys alongside Lucian Msamati at the National Theatre. Other notable theatre credits include the critically-acclaimed production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Bridge Theatre and the National Theatre's sell-out production of Barber Shop Chronicles. Hammed is represented by Lucy Middleweek at Middleweek Newton Talent Management.

ALEXANDRE WILLAUME (Thom Merrilin)

Alexandre Willaume trained at The Danish School of Theatre and has since enjoyed a varied career both on stage and screen. Alexandre’s most recent film credits include Tomb Raider, Valerian and The City of a Thousand Planets, as well as lead roles in both Good Favour and Where Have All the Good Men Gone. Alexandre has played numerous roles in Danish television, including a supporting role in the award-winning show Rita (Series 2 & 3), a guest lead in Those Who Kill and roles in Follow The Money (Series 3) and Below The Surface (Series 1 & 2). Alexandre played series regular Kjartan in The Last Kingdom for two seasons. He has also had roles in Hidden, Deep State and Home Fires. Alexandre has provided voice over work on cartoons such as Batman, Megamind and The Lorax.

JOHANN MYERS (Padan Fain)

Myers’ recent TV roles include Small Axe, Temple, Man Like Mobeen, Guerilla, Snatch, In the Dark, Neil Gaiman's Likely Stories, National Treasure and Murder. His most recent film work includes Undergods, Yardie, The World We Knew, Mary Magdalene and The Lost City of Z. Johann also recently played Elwood in Small Island at the National Theatre. He is represented by Michelle Braidman Associates (UK). 

These actors appear to be talented and well-cast by the KVH Casting Agency in London. Fore more information on The Wheel of Time TV show and cast, visit our TV section.

Tell us what you think of these casting announcements in the comments!

Filming is only two months underway for the first season of Amazon Prime's Wheel of Time TV show, but that isn't stopping the studio and showrunner Rafe Judkins from preparing for season 2. 

Earlier today, Rafe tweeted a photo and a caption showing that the "S2 writers' room" was being prepped. 

Starting the S2 writers’ room on Wheel of Time and the Czech builders didn’t fully grasp how many whiteboards are needed to break an entire season of television. Ha. pic.twitter.com/6nJZIsegmZ

— Rafe Judkins (@rafejudkins) November 13, 2019

Amazon hasn't officially announced that season 2 has been greenlit, but this is a sign that the studio apparently likes what they've seen so far and are feeling confident enough to let Rafe gather his team of writers to prepare for season 2. 

It's not unusual for TV shows to get greenlit for a second season before the first season airs. Netflix's The Witcher, which is set to debut on December 20, just had its second season greenlit today, just a short while before Rafe tweeted his photo. 

This is all a very good sign for The Wheel of Time. It doesn't mean that a second season of episodes have been ordered yet, but it means that everything looks good so far, and the production is moving forward with some level of confidence. 

We'll report more once we have it. In the meantime, be sure to check out out TV section to see everything we know for certain about the show. 

Adam Whitehead is Dragonmount's TV blogger. Adam has been writing about film and television, The Wheel of Time, and other genre fiction for over fifteen years. Be sure to check out his websites, The Wertzone and Atlas of Ice and Fire (including The Wheel of Time Atlas!) as well as his Patreon. Please note this article contains very mild spoilers for The Wheel of Time novels.

How do you transfer a story from the pages of a novel or comic to the TV or film screen? It’s an interesting question, one asked many hundreds of times over the last century or so, and one which has never really gotten a reliable answer. Some films have used the book only as light inspiration, with the same basic premise and maybe some character names but otherwise doing their own thing. This paid off with films like Jaws and The Godfather, but not so much with Shannara or Earthsea. Others have slavishly adapted the source text almost line by line, but this has also backfired with the likes of Zack Snyder’s Watchmen.

It appears that the best way of adapting a book to the screen is to take the story, characters and story and transfer them, but also being aware that a screen story needs to be more streamlined than a novel. Where a novel can sprawl luxuriantly and bring in dozens of new characters at will, a film or TV show can’t afford to do that. Where a novel can pause and delve deep into a character’s internal monologue to show their thoughts and reactions to an event, a visual adaptation can’t do that without resorting to cheesy voiceovers (viewers of David Lynch’s Dune will be aware that this doesn’t really work either).

One approach, favoured by Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens in their adaptation of The Lord of the Rings, is to strip the story down to basic tacks and then rebuild it for the screen. For Rings, they decided first what was the story actually about: clearly, this was the Ring and Frodo’s quest to destroy the Ring in the fires of Mount Doom. That wasn’t enough story to fill a trilogy, so they began with this story as the core and kept adding more elements back in from the book. They needed a major subplot, so just used that from the books: Aragorn leading the people of Rohan and then Gondor into battle and his quest to become king. A primary cast was needed, so the cast from the books was added, with a strong focus on the Fellowship, and subplots for each character. In this way they rebuilt the story using the same ingredients, but being aware of the limitations of the medium. By the time they got to the Scouring of the Shire and Tom Bombadil, they were aware they were exceeding the time limit and budget of each movie and made the painful choice to remove them. They also simplified other elements for time, such as using the Army of the Dead to save Minas Tirith rather than using them to liberate the port of Pelargir and then transport Gondor’s southern army to the battlefield; the latter idea (from the novels) would have required considerable exposition, more time and more money to work on screen.

This process was mostly successful, which makes it more disappointing that for the Hobbit trilogy it was abandoned (due to studio interference requiring three three-hour movies out of the very slim source material, to Jackson’s distress, according to some sources).

A similar process was used for the early seasons of Game of Thrones, although this was complicated by the source material being incomplete. In the case of Thrones, it seemed that the first half of the series, which adapted the first three novels relatively faithfully, was very successful and the latter half, which was based more on very loose outlines and chose to mostly ignore the fourth and fifth books, was much more critically mauled.

For such adaptations there seems to be a thin line between the necessary creativity and invention to transfer a story from one medium to another, and outright hubris where a scriptwriter feels he or she is better than a novelist who has already enthralled millions of readers for decades and starts making changes for changes’ sake and to put his or her stamp on the story. The upcoming Watch TV series, based on Terry Pratchett’s Discworld novels, has been open about using the books as a very loose inspiration for the show, which will feature Pratchett’s characters in dramatically different situations and roles to the novels. It will be interesting to see how both fans and general viewers react to such a reinvention.

How The Wheel of Time handles this remains to be seen, of course.

In other news this week, Amazon decided to confirm what they’d already revealed a few weeks ago, via the table-read for the series: Irish actor Ian McElhatton has been cast in The Wheel of Time. However, they also confirmed what role he will be playing: Tam al’Thor, Rand’s father and all-round good egg, a brave and honourable soldier, devoted husband and father, capable farmer and a skilled swordsman. It’s a nice reversal of roles for McElhatton, who for many years was best-known for playing the devious and sly Roose Bolton on Game of Thrones. McElhatton’s interpretation of the character was different to the novels (where Bolton is more clearly a villainous wrong ‘un, fond of being leeched to take away imagined toxins and treating everyone with disdain), but still a ruthless, amoral power-grabber whose biggest mistake was trusting his psychotic son, Ramsay, with too much power.

McElhatton now gets to play arguably one of the most upstanding, honourable and capable characters in the whole series. It is interesting they went with a known name for the role, as, if true to the books, it may be a couple of seasons before we touch base with the character again. McElhatton’s profile has increased since Game of Thrones, with him being cast in HBO’s critically-lauded mini-series Chernobyl earlier this year and I imagine he could take his career in any direction he chose.

Rafe Judkins did note that his first instinct was not to cast anyone who’d been in Game of Thrones, but he overrode that decision because McElhatton nailed his audition. Given how Thrones used up a sizeable portion of the English-speaking acting talent available in the UK (from where Wheel of Time is drawing a lot of its cast), it’s also unlikely this is the last time we see a doubling up of actors who’ll have been in both productions.

Irish actor Michael McElhatton has been cast as Tam al'Thor for Amazon Prime's upcoming Wheel of Time TV show. This news was announced today as part of November's #WoTWedNesday on Twitter and Instagram. 

Here's his bio, as provided to us by Amazon Studios:

Quote

Michael recently wrapped recurring roles on the second season of TNT’s THE ALIENIST and the second season of the Sky Atlantic/Hulu German series DAS BOOT. He can most recently be seen in the Starz series THE ROOK as well as the HBO/Sky series CHERNOBYL. Michael can next be seen in the upcoming Disney+ feature film TOGO, opposite Willem Dafoe, and the Irish film THE WINTER LAKE. Michael is most notably known for his role of “Roose Bolton” in GAME OF THRONES and “Dr. Philipp Lenard” in GENIUS: EINSTEIN. On the film side, he can be seen in JUSTICE LEAGUE, THE FOREIGNER, THE ZOOKEEPER’S WIFE and others.

Michael was visible in the recent promotional video that Amazon released showing the Table Read of the first episode. Fans quickly noticed him and began speculating on which role he would have. Now we have our answer as we know he'll be playing the stable, kind-hearted father figure to Rand, played by Josha Stradowski.

For more information on the Wheel of Time show, be sure to visit our TV section. 

Adam Whitehead is Dragonmount's TV blogger. Adam has been writing about film and television, The Wheel of Time, and other genre fiction for over fifteen years. Be sure to check out his websites, The Wertzone and Atlas of Ice and Fire (including The Wheel of Time Atlas!) as well as his Patreon. Please note this article contains very mild spoilers for The Wheel of Time novels.

The arrival of the Wheel of Time TV series marks an interesting time for the fandom. The Wheel of Time has always had a passionate and fervent fanbase, ever since The Eye of the World arrived to strong sales in January 1990. It was one of the first epic fantasy series to benefit from the emergence of the Internet, with fans debating theories and swapping plot ideas on CompuServe and in early chat rooms before moving onto forums like Wotmania, Theoryland and, of course, Dragonmount.

For twenty years, fans were able to discuss their ideas, favourite characters and, of course, ships. A few times there were also able to discuss things with Robert Jordan himself, on the old Tor Q&A page and then a blog hosted on Dragonmount before his sad passing in 2007. In more recent years, they have been able to discuss things with Brandon Sanderson and, occasionally, Robert Jordan’s team of editors and advisors.

The Wheel of Time fandom has been traditionally friendly, welcoming and vibrant. Many couples have met through their fandom of the books and children have been born as a result. Other fandoms have splintered off: some of the earliest discussion of series like A Song of Ice and Fire, The Malazan Book of the Fallen and even Harry Potter can be found on ancient, archived Wheel of Time forums before those series acquired their own websites and followers.

The fanbase wound down a little after the final book in the series, A Memory of Light, was published in 2013. The years of theorising and musing came to an end and fans were able to see what they had guessed correctly and what they had not. Some fans have kept up some discussion, such as over the nature of the ending and how much material was in Robert Jordan’s notes and how much had to be created by Brandon and the editors, but for the most part the fandom entered a much quieter state.

Now it stands to be reinvigorated. Amazon’s Wheel of Time television series will bring millions of fresh fans to the series who have never heard the phrases “Aes Sedai,” “One Power” and, of course, “Easing the Badger.” Tor and Orbit will issue the books with new covers to tie in with the TV show, piled high at the front of your local bookstore or even supermarket, probably with some cover quote trying very hard not to mention Game of Thrones as a comparison point. Forums are bracing themselves for thousands, if not tens of thousands, of new members, and working out spoiler policies for newcomers. In some cases, this has already happened with early adopters rushing to read the entire series before the TV show hits (likely in early 2021).

This has happened before. The immense box office and critical success of Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy saw even Tolkien’s supposedly-ubiquitous books sell an extra 50 million copies in just a few years (considerably more by now). When Game of Thrones debuted in 2011, George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire books had sold about 12 million copies. Last year, the books passed 90 million in sales, showing how having a huge TV show based on your books can impact their numbers. TV shows based on Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy and Andrzej Sapkowski’s The Witcher series are due to arrive in the next two months (on HBO and Netflix, respectively), and the publishers of both are readying new tie-in editions of the books.

The Wheel of Time is already one of the biggest-selling epic fantasy series of all time. Its lifetime, worldwide sales are at around 90 million, roughly equal with A Song of Ice and Fire and Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series, so I’d expect the success of the TV show to catapult it over the 100 million line relatively easily. If the show is a success, Wheel of Time merchandise will become as unavoidable as House Stark bumper stickers and poster maps of Middle-earth. The Wheel of Time will go from that topic you keep trying to interest your real-life friends in to the hot show they’re eager to talk about every week (possibly whilst you lament the casting choice for Cenn Buie or the cutting of your favourite minor character).

We can expect new fan art, fanfiction and theories, this time about what or how the TV show is going to change things from the books. This might not quite be as intense as that for Game of Thrones – one benefit of The Wheel of Time already being complete – but it will still breath new life and new energy into the franchise and get the old fandom wheel turning again.

In other news, shooting is ongoing, although there’s been little to hint at what the cast and crew might be up to right now. Madeleine Madden did post a picture of her trailer door on Twitter whilst Daniel Henney (Lan) has been hitting up guitar shops and train stations in Prague on his days off and Josha Stradowski (Rand) has been getting into some classic literature. There’s also been a flurry of casting rumours, which we’re not going to get into until Amazon have confirmed the details.

Until next time, peace.

Adam Whitehead is Dragonmount's TV blogger. Adam has been writing about film and television, The Wheel of Time, and other genre fiction for over fifteen years. Be sure to check out his websites, The Wertzone and Atlas of Ice and Fire (including The Wheel of Time Atlas!) as well as his Patreon. Please note this article contains very mild spoilers for The Wheel of Time novels.

Filming is now well underway on Amazon’s Wheel of Time TV series and for this month’s “WoT Wednesday,” Amazon gave us a special surprise: a clip of the table read for the first two episodes.

For those who are unfamiliar with the process of making television, a table read is held for each episode or, if the season is short enough, the entire season, with all of the actors present. The table-read helps actors learn each other’s voices, get into character and feel comfortable with the dialogue, and also helps the producers make sure they’ve got the timing correct for each episode. This is less crucial for a streaming service than it is for a network show selling adverts, which has to be 44 minutes on the dot, but Amazon still seems to keep things more strictly within a time limit than, say, Netflix or HBO. The table read is also often the first time the actors have read the script, rather memorably in Kit Harington’s case for the final season of Game of Thrones.

The clip is the first time that we get to hear the actors embodying the characters they’ll be playing on the show, confirming that they’re going with a fairly ordinary English accent as the default accent for the Two Rivers, and perhaps all of Andor (as Robert Jordan indicated many years ago). Moiraine also has a somewhat “posh” accent, as you’d expect from a noblewoman and Aes Sedai. Barney Harris gets the biggest laugh as Mat Cauthon, cautioning his friends to be wary of Moiraine as she can “shoot fireballs,” so they should heed her advice. Combined with a line about crossing the river, this seems to confirm that the first two episodes will, between them, cover at least all of the events of Winternight, the battle at Emond’s Field and our main characters’ flight from the Two Rivers by cover of night.

Exactly how much of the book the first episode – which we known has the working title Leavetakings – covers has been fiercely debated, especially as the second episode is called Shadow’s Waiting, suggesting it focuses on events in Shadar Logoth, although some have suggested that Episode 2 ends with the characters reaching the cursed city. Episode 3 is called A Place of Safety, which could be an ironic alternate title for Shadar Logoth itself. Of course, such speculation is not helped by the fact that, as of yet, we don’t know how many episodes there will be in the first season either. We do know there will be at least six, but not how many more than that. A nine-month shoot is more suggestive of ten to twelve episodes, but that remains to be confirmed.

The clip is also interesting in that it gives us a look at some actors who have not been officially announced yet. Immediately recognisable is Irish actor Michael McElhatton, best-known for playing the villainous role of Roose Bolton in Seasons 2-6 of HBO’s Game of Thrones before recently appearing as a Soviet general on Chernobyl. McElhatton is infamous for his menacing stare and voice so could be playing a villainous role, but has also appeared in far more lighthearted and comedic roles. Bearing in mind that the table read is for the first two episodes, the most immediately appropriate casting would be for the role of Padan Fain, the friendly peddler whom, it turns out, is not quite as friendly as first appears. Other likely possibilities would be Tam al’Thor or Thom Merrilin. Less-likely but also possible would be Geofram Bornhald, especially if they introduce him in Baerlon rather than later on, or Ishamael/Ba’alzamon if they get as far as the boys’ first shared nightmare.

Another possibility, that McElhatton might be playing Ishamael in the prologue, is discounted by Rafe Judkins’ Q&A of a year ago where he seemed to be suggesting that the prologue would not appear until later in the series (along with the events of New Spring), and an earlier statement that the first episode opens with Tam and Rand on the road to Emond's Field. The prologue is iconic and not using it to start the show might be considered sacrilegious, but there are at least two good reasons for not doing so. The first is that casting an actor as Lews Therin, using them briefly for one season, and then potentially not using them again for another two or three seasons is bad business practice, since it’s possible the actor will move onto other projects in the meantime and it’s expensive to put an actor under contract to not accept other work. Game of Thrones suffered from this problem, casting Ser Gregor in the first season and then having to use (two!) different actors later on because the original actor had been cast in Peter Jackson’s Hobbit trilogy in the meantime.

More likely, given the show’s determination to make the identity of the Dragon Reborn more of a genuine mystery to TV watchers, is that the segue from Lews Therin to Rand is a bit on the nose and they want to keep things vaguer.

One other actor who has been likely confirmed for the production is British actress Naana Agyei Ampadu, who recently appeared in a recurring role on British sitcom GameFace and in a minor role on the Steven Spielberg movie Ready Player One. Ampadu's casting was announced by her own casting agency on Twitter, who then quickly deleted the tweet, presumably because the release had not been okayed by Amazon.

Dragonmount has asked Amazon if they could confirm McElhatton's and Ampadu's casting in the show, but they declined to comment at this stage.

Tracking down other actors involved in the production is more difficult than you’d think, as several productions are currently shooting in and around Prague. Fear the Walking Dead actor Fernando Rojasbarr seemed a likely candidate, for example, until he revealed on his Instagram that he’s actually shooting a film called Zátopek. The movie Ophelia also wrapped shooting a couple of months ago, with some actors delaying posting any information to social media until recently, which briefly led to speculation that Tom Felton (Harry Potter’s Draco Malfoy) might be in Wheel of Time until the misconception was cleared up (he's not).

That said, northern Irish actor Stuart Graham (Michael Collins, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy) is in Prague at the moment and may be the grey-hair guy briefly glimpsed at the read. A similar age to McElhatton, he could also be a good guess for Thom Merrilin, Tam al’Thor or Padan Fain. Or he might be in town for one of the other projects mentioned above. We'll see if we can get his casting confirmed as well.

As for the shoot itself, which is now about to start it's fourth week (of around 34-37 weeks, with shooting due to conclude in May), production has moved to western Slovenia where the Great Soča Gorge, near the Italian border, is being used to stand in for part of the Two Rivers. The spectacular scenery, with the  eastern Alps as the backdrop, certainly seems to fit the book descriptions. Actors Daniel Henney (Lan) and Josha Stradowski (Rand) shared some pics they'd taken from the shoot via Instagram.Eagle-eyed Wheel of Time fans are now scouring the video for more clues to the identity of the other actors, and we’ll bring you their findings as soon as we can.

Amazon Prime released a new video for #WoTWednesday, their monthly scheduled day to release content related to the upcoming WoT TV show.

On September 10th, the cast and crew of #WOTonPrime got together to read the first episode of The Wheel Of Time. Production is now on its way and we are VERY excited to see this show come to life! #TwitterOfTime, this is for you. pic.twitter.com/FmWA4zeh2r

— The Wheel of Time on Prime (@WoTonPrime) October 2, 2019

Here's a full transcript of the video:

Quote

VOICE OVER

So, The Wheel of Time, Season One. Episode One.

 

MOIRAINE You go back, you'll give them a way to follow us. I can't allow that. Crossing that river would foolish, and you are not a fool.

 

RAND

Come on, do you really think she's any better than what's chasing us?

 

EGWENE

Of course I do.

 

MAT

Til then now. My lady does shoot fireballs, so let's try to stay on her good side now.

 

VOICE OVER And after this, we smash to black. The end of the episode.

Speculation has already begun as to who the other unnamed actors in the video are, and who they might be playing.

We'll have more speculation and info soon, but in the meantime, join the conversation on our forums or social media or the comments below.

Adam Whitehead is Dragonmount's TV blogger. He'll be writing a regular column called Adam's Wheel of Television. Adam has been writing about film and television, The Wheel of Time, and other genre fiction for over fifteen years. Be sure to check out his websites, The Wertzone and Atlas of Ice and Fire (including The Wheel of Time Atlas!) as well as his Patreon.

Please note this article contains very mild spoilers for The Wheel of Time novels.

Principle photography – or “the actual filming” – began today on Amazon Prime’s Wheel of Time television series. The shoot is expected to run through to the end of May 2020, with months of post-production to follow. When we will see the show on air is still open to question, but late 2020 to early 2021 seems reasonable.

Showrunner Rafe Judkins took to social media to both celebrate the news of filming beginning but also commemorate the passing of Robert Jordan, who sadly passed away on this day in 2007 at the age of 58. Robert Jordan had been diagnosed with cardiac amyloidosis, an exceedingly rare blood condition (affecting only one in a million people), and had spent almost two years undergoing experimental treatment. During this time, he had mustered as much energy and creativity as possible to create an outline for the ending of The Wheel of Time in the form of writings, draft chapters, dictation on cassettes and copious notes, which was later used by Brandon Sanderson to deliver an ending to the series.

Whilst millions of Wheel of Time fans worldwide remember Jordan on this day, they also have questions about the television adaptation. Last week, the cast shared their first group photo, taken in Prague on the day of the read-through of the script for the series. Notable by his absence was the actor playing Thom Merrilin, who hasn’t been announced yet. This led to a storm of controversy and online hot takes as people furiously debated if the character would appear in the show or if he’d been cut.

To be fair, a large number of other characters expected to appear in Season 1 also haven’t been announced, even those that Rafe Judkins has confirmed are in the script. According to Judkins’ previous comments, both Tam al’Thor and the false Dragon Logain Ablar will be in the show and neither actor has been confirmed yet. Assuming that Season 1 adapts at least The Eye of the World, we can also reasonably be expecting Min, Elayne, Gawyn, Galad, Elaida, Morgase, Gareth Bryne, Geofram and Dain Bornhald, Jaret Byar, Padan Fain, Agelmar, Ba’alzamon, Basel Gill and Mordeth to be cast. Sure, a few of those characters might be held back until Season 2 to save money (Min, Elayne, Gawyn and Galad have to be front-runners here), but certainly not all of them, and some of them fulfil important plot functions: without Padan Fain or Ba’alzamon, Season 1 doesn’t really have a primary antagonist, and calling the second episode Shadow’s Waiting without including Mordeth would be a bizarre choice.

[See our article "5 WoT Characters likely to have Expanded TV Roles"]

Thom Merrilin’s status on the show is likely to be leaning more towards a recurring role than a regular one. We know that episode two is called Shadow’s Waiting, which implies that the Shadar Logoth adventure will take place in the second or third episode. In the novel, Thom drops out of the story a few chapters later, which means that Thom will be leaving the series less than halfway through the first season (which is expected to run for 8-10 episodes at the lower end).

Hollywood crediting practices can be complicated, but generally speaking, a studio will announce the regular cast for a new show first and with a great deal of fanfare. On this basis we can expect that Barney Harris (Mat), Madeleine Madden (Egwene), Zoe Robbins (Nynaeve), Marcus Rutherford (Perrin) and Josha Stradowski (Rand) will get a billing as series regulars, with Rosamund Pike (Moiraine) and Daniel Henney (Lan) probably getting  the much-coveted “featuring” or “and” credits given to actors with a lot of experience and credits to their name.

The status given to secondary and recurring cast varies dramatically from project to project. In many shows, recurring and guest stars (actors in several episodes of a series but not all, or just one) would not be announced ahead of time at all. For Game of Thrones, HBO were keenly aware of the media and fan interest in the property and announced even relatively minor Season 1 recurring characters like Lysa Arryn and Ser Hugh of the Vale with a surprising degree of fanfare back in 2010. It’s unclear which route Amazon will take, although I suspect their marketing plans to announce something new about the series every month means we will get some more news before the show launches.

This does lead back to a bigger question though: is Thom even going to be in the series at all?

For fans, cutting Thom is unthinkable. He shows up near the start of The Eye of the World and is a useful font of knowledge and information for the young characters (and exposition for readers) about the wider world, especially useful given Moiraine’s secretive nature. He has his own secrets, which in time give us more information about the Aes Sedai, the Red Ajah and the royal family of Andor, not to mention his involvement in the Cairhienin civil war in the second book. In the third book he reluctantly teams up with Mat Cauthon once again and then remains an active part of the story until the very end. As one of the original “seven samurai” who sets out from the Two Rivers at the start of The Eye of the World (with Nynaeve “making the eight,” so to speak, when she catches up with them in Baerlon), Thom is an iconic character from the books and, for many fans, cutting him should be as ridiculous an idea as dropping Legolas from the Fellowship of the Ring.

That said, once the initial anger passes, an argument could be made that Thom doesn’t do a huge amount. He provides a fair bit of exposition, sure, but that could be provided through other characters, such as a more garrulous Moiraine. He spends entire books of The Wheel of Time as a background character, and even sits out the eighth book altogether. He does have some more important things to do at the end of the series, but for some readers these can come a bit out of left field and other characters could perform the same tasks.

That’s not so say that I honestly expect them to cut Thom as a character, but when it comes to the core cast, he’s arguably the most disposable. They could also split the difference and keep Thom, but not introduce him until the TV show reaches the events of The Great Hunt or even The Dragon Reborn. With shooting now underway, I wouldn't be surprised to see leaks and more hints getting out about other castmembers, so we may find out if Thom is in the show, one way or another, soon.

As ever, we will find out in time.

I recently wrote about the 5 Things to Expect from the Wheel of Time TV show, and one of those “things” was expanded roles for minor characters from the books. We’re going to lean into that idea a bit further here and explore which characters I anticipate will seemingly be more important on TV than they were in Robert Jordan’s books.

First, the same disclaimer from last time: although I’ve been in touch with some folks at Amazon and from the production, I have no official association with the show. In the early 2010’s I was a consultant to the producers who were seeking to adapt The Eye of the World into a feature film. I helped them and their writers come up with story ideas, and helped pitch those ideas to various other executives. A long time ago I was an independent filmmaker, but today, I write books, among other things. And, of course, I’ve been closely tied to the WoT franchise for 20+ years. So if you’re asking, “Why are your ideas anything more than random speculation?”, well, I like to think I’ve seen enough to have a good instinct for this stuff by now. (Also, I haven’t been wrong yet with my 5 Things to Expect!) 

But who knows, maybe I’ll be off this time. ?

Adaptations, by their very nature, require change. And most of the time, it begins with the characters. The jury is completely out on how Rafe Judkins and his team will adapt the 7 characters who’ve been cast so far: Rand, Egwene, Perrin, Nynaeve, Mat, Lan, and Moiraine. All of those characters are most certainly going to change, and because their roles are so big (especially the Two Rivers 5), it’s practically impossible to predict what the team will do with them. 

So let’s focus on 5 secondary characters from the series that should have a bigger presence on TV than they did in the early books. I’m going on the assumption that season 1 will focus almost exclusively on the story events from The Eye of the World, with maybe some flashbacks or glimpses of later books in order to establish key ideas.  (For my reasoning on this, see my 5 Things to Expect… article).

(Book spoilers below!)

Logain

This is an easy one. We know Logain will have an expanded role because Rafe said so during a Twitter Q&A in September 2018:

The question is, how will his role be expanded? My hunch is that Rafe and his team showcase Logain as a terrifying example of what happens when you’re a man who channels saidin. The first book hints at this, but I fully expect the show to try and horrify us (and Rand) so that we really understand what a terrible thing it is to channel. I would not be surprised if we see him in chains, see him being beat up by the Red Ajah (Elaida!), and probably gentled on screen. Violently.  We don’t see Logain’s gentling happen in the books. We just meet him later after the deed is done. But come on, wouldn’t it be cool to see on screen?

“But he gets gentled in Tar Valon!” you say. “And the characters don’t go to Tar Valon!” 

Yes, that’s all true… in the books. But in this TV adaptation, there’s no reason Logain can’t be gentled in Caemlyn, and no reason Rand and his friends can’t visit Tar Valon instead. 

Episode 4 of the first season is titled, “The Dragon Reborn.” Good titles usually contain multiple meanings. If I were a betting man, I think we’ll see a lot of Logain in that episode.

Elaida

Elaida becomes one of the primary antagonists in the book series, and she has a very convenient cameo role in the first book. Not only that, but she steals the show and anchors one of the best scenes in the entire series is chapter 40 where she secretly whispers her Foretelling to Rand. 

She’s too good of a character to only use for a single scene, especially if the producers want to convince a talented actress to portray her for many seasons going forward. I fully expect Elaida to not only be in every season, but for her to be groomed as one of the show’s primary recurring villains. 

She also makes a great antagonist to Moiraine and to ….

Siuan

Count on the Amyrlin Seat herself, Siuan Sanche, to be present in this TV series from the get-go. It’s easy to establish her connection with Moiraine at any point.  Perhaps Moiraine sends her friend (and boss) a pigeon carrying a message to the White Tower. Or maybe Siuan is part of the caravan that gentles Logain, so we see her in that context. 

Whatever or however it works out, Siuan is Moiraine’s lifeline to the White Tower, and that’s an interesting story to explore in a TV adaptation. 

Having Siuan more present in the show would give us ample opportunity to see her square off with Elaida. It would establish their rivalry early on, setting up a much more powerful smackdown when Elaida stages her coup in a later season.

Finally, let’s not overlook the fact that episode 6 of the first season is rumored to be titled “The Flame of Tar Valon.”

Elyas

Of all the characters on my short list, this is the one I’m most shaky on. I could see the writers going in either direction with Elyas. On one hand, they could just cut him entirely from the show. There are plenty of other ways for Perrin to find the wolves and establish a connection to them.  Elyas could also maintain his brief cameo role in the books (and really, the series). But in the end, I think he’s just too interesting of a character to not expand for the show. Just as Logain represents a worst-case scenario for Rand, Elyas could be that same thing for Perrin. 

It’s a toss-up, but I expect we’ll see Elyas have an enlarged role, at least for the duration of season 1. The best odds are that he  first shows up in episode 3, “A Place of Safety,” which is the name of the chapter where he first appears in the book. I doubt we’ll see him beyond a full first season though. Perhaps he makes a great character to sacrifice in a noble, on-screen death?

Yes, I’m aware that he doesn’t die in the first book, but he also disappears for many books. It’s hard to convince an actor to show up, play a role, and vanish for multiple seasons before bringing him back. I feel like this could be a situation where the producers need to either decide if they can use him to his full potential for a single season, or greatly expand him across multiple connectives seasons. 

Geofram Bornhald

My favorite surprise character to likely get an expanded role for the TV show is  Bornhald (senior). He’s a Lord Captain of the Children of the Light, aka the Whitecloaks, aka Randland’s equivalent of the alt-right, women (channeler)-hating, witch-hunting, militant bad guys. His son Dain is also not a nice guy, and together, this father-son duo cause a lot of trouble in the first book for the heroes, most notably Perrin, Egwene, Nynaeve, Moiraine, and Lan. 

My hunch is that we’ll see more about Geofram’s driving passion to kill darkfriends (or, at least, those he deems to be darkfriends), and an expanded relationship with Dain, who will eventually inherit his father’s mantle.

The reason I’m excited to see Bornhald is that he flies under the radar a bit in the book, but he’s also our first real glimpse of the Whitecloaks, which is a fantastic set of villains that the filmmakers can use through the TV series. Like Elaida, Borhald and his son represent flawed humans doing bad stuff for reasons that we (unfortunately) understand and see in our regular life, rather than, say, Ishamael or Padan Fain who are Pure Evil because… uh…reasons. 

Some quick honorable mentions for other characters who could see getting expanded roles in the first season of the Wheel of Time:  Loial, Aram, Aginor, Balthamael. 

And what about the characters likely to get diminished roles? Well, that’s an article for another day, maybe.

What do you think? Am I onto something, or do you have your own theories? Share below or on our social media.

Jason Denzel

Jason@dragonmount.com

Artwork

Siuan Sanche & Elaida
by Benjamin Roque

Logain & Elyas, Bornhald
by Gal Or

Adam Whitehead is Dragonmount's new TV show blogger. He'll be writing a regular column called Adam's Wheel of Television. Adam has been writing about film and television, The Wheel of Time, and other genre fiction for fifteen years. Be sure to check out his websites, The Wertzone and Atlas of Ice and Fire (including The Wheel of Time Atlas!) as well as his Patreon.

Casting for Amazon’s Wheel of Time TV series is in full swing. The latest to join the Two Rivers party is Korean-American actor Daniel Henney, who has been cast as al’Lan Mandragoran, the Uncrowned King of Malkier, Diademed Battle Lord of the Malkieri and an all-round, fan-favourite character.

In many respects, Lan is the closest analogue Wheel of Time has to Aragorn, the uncrowned King of Gondor in J.R.R. Tolkien’s novel The Lord of the Rings and memorably played by Viggo Mortensen in Peter Jackson’s film adaptation. Like Aragorn, Lan is the heir to a fallen lineage, who constantly questions himself and his abilities compared to his legendary ancestors. However, whilst Gondor still exists and Aragorn knows he can reclaim his throne when the time is right, for Lan he has no hope. Malkier has been destroyed utterly by the Shadow, absorbed by the Great Blight, and there is little to no chance that it will ever rise again.

Instead, Lan throws himself into his war against the Shadow, spending the first twenty years of his life in fierce combat training with Bukama Marenellin, the sole survivor of the band of Malkieri warriors who bore the two-year-old Lan from his homeland. Lan becomes skilled in the art of swordplay, eventually being acclaimed a blademaster, and declares war on the Blight. He wages his personal war for years, becoming respected and honoured for his drive. Only one event takes him away from his mission, when the Aiel cross the Spine of the World and the nations unite at Tar Valon to fight the Battle of the Shining Walls.

When Lan’s mentor Bukama is killed as a result of political machinations in Kandor and the manipulations of the Black Ajah (as related in New Spring), he is offered the chance to join Moiraine Damodred in her mission to find the Dragon Reborn and avert the end of the world. He agrees, becoming her Warder, and for two decades they scour every corner of the Westlands for any sign of the Dragon Reborn. Finally, destiny and the Pattern call them to the town of Emond’s Field in the Two Rivers district of Andor. Lan’s obsession with defeating the Shadow leads him to train the young men from the Two Rivers in the art of combat, but his mission acquires a new focus when he meets Nynaeve al’Meara, the village Wisdom, a resourceful and skilled young woman with a singular determination.

Lan is a major character in The Wheel of Time, although one (as with many) who sometimes sits out entire books in the series. His arc from The Eye of the World through A Memory of Light is one of finding hope and something to live for, and for finding reasons to live beyond pure revenge.

Daniel Henney is an interesting choice for the role. Born in Carson City, Michigan to a Korean mother and an Irish-American father, he was a star basketball player in high school and then a professional model. His career took him all over the world, but his South Korean heritage saw him picking up a lot of work in the Seoul film and TV industry. He crossed over into acting via the Korean TV drama My Name is Sam Soon, where he played Dr. Henry Kim. An acting career in South Korea beckoned, but was complicated by the fact that Henney spoke no Korean. He had to learn his lines phonetically whilst frantically cramming language lessons. Several successful roles in South Korea followed before he got his first acting gigs in the USA in 2009, on the TV series Three Rivers and in the film X-Men Origins: Wolverine, where he played Agent Zero.

His US career has included guest star roles on Hawaii Five-0, Revolution and NCIS: Los Angeles, and voice-over roles in Big Hero 6 (which he reprised for the spin-off TV series) and Mowgli. He is best-known for playing FBI Special Agent Matt Simmons in the Criminal Minds franchise, appearing in 47 episodes to date. He also played the same character on the spin-off Beyond Borders, for a further 26 episodes. Henney was initially reluctant to appear on a long-running US drama series with a heavy workload (especially as he remains active in Korean TV and advertising), but was impressed by the scripts where his character was positioned as both an action hero and also a more sensitive family man in a successful relationship. He felt that Asian roles in US dramas tended to be less traditional and was happy to play a role that in the past would have gone to Caucasian actors.

At 6 ft 2, Henney is certainly tall enough to fill the imposing shoes of Lan Mandragoran and his acting resume is nothing to sniff at, including comedy, action and romance. At 39 (40 in November) he is also a reasonable fit in age for Lan, who is 44 or 45 when the events of the first book begin. Henney is also a big book fan (his favourite author is Japanese author Haruki Murakami) and a major geek, complete with his own He-Man action figure collection. He is also a huge dog fan, with his dogs making frequent, unexpected appearances on his YouTube Q&A videos. Henney's videos are interesting, as they show a lot of thought and contemplation has gone into his career choices and how he embodies the characters he's playing. It'll be interesting to see the inevitable video where he talks about the decision to take on the role of Lan.

So we now have our Lan Mandragoran, and I'm sure all Wheel of Time fans wish Daniel Henney well in the role. But there are still a lot of characters still out there to be cast, including Tam al'Thor, Thom Merrilin and Padan Fain, and we'll be waiting to see if we get any more casting tidbits in the next few weeks.

Until next time, farewell.

Amazon announced today, via the official Wheel of Time TV show twitter account, as part of their monthly #WoTWednesday, that actor Daniel Henney has been cast in the role of Lan Mandragoran. 

Here’s the provided press release:

Quote

 

Daniel Henney is an internationally-accomplished film and television actor and model in America and overseas.  Henney became a household name in Korea after starring in the hit television drama MY LOVELY SAM-SOON and later went on to star in the Korean series HELLO FRANCESKA, SPRING WALTZ and THE FUGITIVE: PLAN B. Henney made his American television debut in THREE RIVERS. Additional television credits include HAWAII FIVE-0, NCIS: LOS ANGELES,  the Emmy Award-winning REVOLUTION and series regular roles on the ABC pilot AGATHA and the A&E pilot OCCULT. After serving as a series lead on two seasons of CRIMINAL MINDS: BEYOND BORDERS, Henney then joined the main team on the flagship CRIMINAL MINDS which just wrapped shooting it’s 15th and final season. 

 

Henney’s voice can be heard in the role of Tadashi Hamada in the Academy Award-winning Disney animated film BIG HERO 6. His additional film credits include X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE, THE LAST STAND, SEDUCING MR. PERFECT, MY FATHER, THE SPY: UNDERCOVER OPERATION and SHANGHAI CALLING which was the first American/Chinese co-produced romantic comedy with an Asian leading man and a caucasian female lead. 

  

In addition to his film and television career, Henney is an accomplished model, having worked in Italy, France, Paris, London, New York and Hong Kong.  He has graced the covers of Cosmo Men/Korea, Vogue/Korea, Arena Men, Malaysia August Man, GQ Taiwan and GQ Korea, among others. 

 

For those of you fans wondering, Daniel turns 40 years old in a few months, making him right within the proper age range for the character.  

We’ve long speculated that Rafe Judkins, the showrunner, and Kelly Valentine Hendry, the casting director, and their teams would seek out well-established actors for the roles of Moiraine (played by Rosamund Pike) and Lan. These actors will anchor the show to begin with, just like their characters do in the series. Over time they will pave the way for the younger, more “unknown” actors to blossom into their iconic roles. 

Daniel is an outstanding actor and we could’t be more delighted to welcome him to the Wheel of Time community. 

Tell us what you think! We want to hear from you. Leave a comment here on this article, post on our forums, find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or Discord. 

And later tonight, at 8:30 PM US eastern (5:30 PM US Pacific), join our friend Matt Hatch in The Dusty Wheel YouTube channel to discuss Daniel’s casting. 

Brandon Sanderson responded to some fans' concerns on reddit about the adaptation to the Wheel of Time TV show. Although the majority of fan reactions over the past week to the big casting announcement have been positive, some people have had concerns with the actors not looking like how they would expect. Brandon addressed these concerns by saying:

Quote

That's a legit gripe. I don't blame anyone if they don't like this decision for book/film continuity reasons--just as I would have trouble blaming anyone for disliking a casting like Jackman as Wolverine, because he's so different from the source material. Most of us loved him, but it's okay for someone to dislike the choice.

 

The WoT casting looks good to me. It's more than it doesn't bother me; it's more that I actively like how these people look as the characters. Granted, I have information others don't have. I've read Rafe's scripts, I've read his treatments, and I get what he's doing with the series--and in almost every case, I like the choices he's made.

 

Deciding to do the Two Rivers with a variety of skin tones but a unified cultural identity is cool to me because I think it expresses some of the broad themes of the Wheel of Time. Themes that might be difficult to get across otherwise without the text, the internal monologues, etc.

 

To me, this is like putting the Harry Potter kids in street clothes in the third of those films, or making Frodo push Sam away in the LotR films--both are pretty big deviations from the letter of the story, but both (I think) achieve something in setting the tone the right way for a film.

 

That said, I can see this being something you dislike. For what it's worth--from my experience, this isn't Rafe pandering. It might well be Rafe expressing his own ideologies in the story. It's okay to dislike those choices, but I do think that it would be a mistake to not want a showrunner who tries to make their own version of the story. (Like Jackson did with the LotR films.)

 

This is one of the things I've had to become comfortable with in watching my own book-to-film adaptations progress. You won't get something great without letting a new vision change the story. Even Marvel, in charge of its own properties, heavily adapted characters, looks, and stories to fit the new medium of film.

 

If the chosen actors had looked completely wrong...well, I'd still probably have waited to see them act in the roles. (That will be the big deciding factor.) But the fact that they look so right feels like confirmation to me that so far, Rafe is steering the ship well.

He continued with:

Quote

Everything I've seen from Rafe in my interactions with him (including the sessions where I gave feedback on the scripts) made me confident he had nothing but respect for the source material.

That said, this IS looking more of an adaptation than a straight filming of the source material. This will be different from the books. It reminds me more of the Lord of the Rings adaptations than, say, the early Harry Potter adaptations.

Quote

Again, there is a legitimate gripe here- [...] Writing is art, and it's legitimate to simply not like artistic decisions. It's doubly legitimate to dislike where an adaptation is taking the work. But I have two responses here.

First is this: You're never going to get a good director who doesn't put their own spin on the source material. It's because they know you simply cannot adapt most written media into film without changing things dramatically. When people try to adapt line by line, but not try to capture the soul of the piece (as seen through their on eyes, and their own experience) you end up with something sterile at best, a disaster at worst.

What is the single greatest (by general agreement of audiences and critics) Stephen King Adaptation? It's the one that deviates the furthest. Even the new IT takes huge liberties.

The early Harry Potter adaptations are attempts to line-by-line try to adapt the books. They are mediocre films in the eyes of most critics and audiences. There is a reason why the third film, which deviates greatly, is the one that FEELS more Harry Potter to a lot of people. (Granted, not all of them.) It's because the project had someone who adapted the material and added their artistic vision to that of the book. (Which was, admittedly, the strongest of the books also.)

You have Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time. He wrote it in the medium he wanted, and it will never change. You are never, in film, going to get anything but the director's Wheel of Time. This is something I've had to realize the more I've become involved in Hollywood.

A great case study is the Princess Bride. One of the rare examples where the same person wrote the book and the screenplay--someone who was good at both. And the film deviates in huge ways from the book, along the lines that the screenwriter wanted. Because he knew that film is a different medium, with different needs and different audience expectations.

If you don't want Rafe's Wheel of Time, that's completely legitimate. But you're not going to get a director who could explore Robert Jordan's themes in his way. Ever. You're going to get a director who explores Robert Jordan's themes in the director's way.

My argument about your paragraph about people coming to the Two Rivers...well, I just disagree. (That's okay--it's art, and it's good to disagree sometimes.) I think that people with new ways of thinking, new dress, new ways of doing things is WAY more thematically alien in a story like this than people who look different.

When the Two Rivers folk are traveling with the Aiel, how often do they note how different everyone looks? (Rarely.) How often do they note differences in culture? (Basically every other page.)

This fits the Wheel of Time just fine to me.

Filming of the WoT TV show will begin in September. Although we don't know the exact start date or production schedule, we know that the announced actors are either currently in Prague or on their way there to begin. No release date for the show has been announced, but the production schedule is expected to be unusually long because of the complicated material, diverse locations, and large number of visual effects. 

Sony and Amazon announced today, through the official Wheel of Time Twitter account, the casting of the show's main characters. The "Big 5" Two Rivers characters.

• Madeleine Madden as Egwene al’Vere

• Marcus Rutherford as Perrin Aybara

• Barney Harris as Mat Cauthon

• Zoë Robins as Nynaeve al'Meara

• Josha Stradowski as Rand al’Thor

Here are their official bios, as provided by Amazon:

Josha Stradowski

Josha Stradowski started acting as a kid in musicals like The Sound of Music and Ciske de Rat, then began playing roles in television as a teenager. He graduated from the AHK theatre school in Amsterdam and worked on multiple plays such as Oedipus, directed by Robert Icke, at Ivo van Hove's theater company ITA in 2018. He recently completed filming on a new TV series about fighter pilots. He also played the lead role in an indie feature film, Just Friends, for which he and the film received a number of awards on the international film festival circuit.
 

Zoe Robbins

New Zealand native, Zoë Robins, will soon appear in Universal & Blumhouse feature, Black Christmas, directed by Sophia Takal.  She starred in the ABC pilot, The Finest, and recurred on The Shannara Chroniclesfor MTV, as well as The Killian Curse. Zoë rose to fame portraying the “White Power Ranger” on the action adventure series, Power Rangers Ninja Steel.  

Barney Harris

In 2016 Harris shot his first feature: Ang Lee’s Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk. His other films include:  Billionaire Boy’s Club with Ansel Elgort, Taron Edgerton and Emma Roberts and Russian American, an independent feature produced by Molly Connors (Birdman, Child 44). Harris’ UK television include: Dominic Cooke's epic BBC Shakespeare series The Hollow Crown opposite Benedict Cumberbatch. 

Marcus Rutherford

British Independent Film Award’s Most Promising Newcomer nominee, Marcus Rutherford made his screen debut as the lead in Jamie Jones’ feature film Obey. The story follows a young man’s struggle in bettering himself against the backdrop of the 2011 London Riots, meshing real and staged footage of the events. The film premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival, winning Best Cinematography, and has since received high praise from critics. Peter Bradshaw, writing for The Guardian said, “there is a strong central performance from Marcus Rutherford as Leon, a young man just out of care”.  

For his performance in Obey, Marcus was also named “One to Watch in 2019” by the Observer and received three UK National Film Awards nominations: Best Actor, Best Breakthrough Performance and Best Newcomer.

Most recently, Marcus wrapped filming County Lines. The drama about a mother and her fourteen-year old boy who is groomed into a lethal nationwide drug selling enterprise, also starring Harris Dickinson and directed by Henry Blake. 

Marcus discovered acting through the Nottingham Television Workshop, the BAFTA-winning charity dedicated to training young talent, whose alumni include Vicky McClure, Joe Dempsie, Jack O’Connell and Samantha Morton. 

Madeleine Madden

Madeleine Madden is a young rising star with a fast-growing list of impressive credits to her name. She first came to the attention of her home country by being the first Australian teenager to deliver an Address to the Nation on behalf of the Generation One campaign’s call for action to create a better future for indigenous people. Her eloquent and considered speech was watched by more than six million people on national TV in 2010.

Madeleine has appeared in numerous Aussie productions including ABC TV’s critically acclaimed series The Code, in Redfern Now Series 1 &2, Jack Irish: Dead Point,The Moodys,My Place,Ready for This,Tomorrow When the War Began and Doctor Doctor Series 2. She also co-starred in the Amazon mini-series Picnic at Hanging Rock alongside Natalie Dormer, inthe Screentime/Netflix seriesPine Gapand the critically acclaimed Mystery Road,a television series based on the highly celebrated film. She can currently be seen in the Netflix fantasy/drama series Tidelandsalongside Elsa Pataky. 

Madeleine will next be seen on the big screen this August 9^thin Paramount’s Dora and the Lost Cityof Gold. Sarah Spillane’sAround the Blockwas her first feature film starring opposite Christina Ricci. 

Madeleine made her stage debut in Sydney Theatre Company’s production of The Secret River, directed by Neil Armfield.

After four years of relative quiet, excitement for the Wheel of Time is surging again thanks to the forthcoming TV show, scheduled for a 2020 or 2021 release on Amazon Prime. We know very little about the creative direction the show will take, but we know it left a positive impression on Brandon Sanderson, who recently shared his admiration for both the first two episode scripts, and for Rafe Judkins, the executive producer, writer, and showrunner.

And, of course, there was a bit of excitement last week when Rafe and the studio announced that Rosamund Pike would be playing Moiraine.

So what else can we expect from the forthcoming TV show? Here are my best guesses.

First, some disclaimers: I have no involvement with the forthcoming TV show, although I've been in touch with some of the folks at Amazon. Before that, from around 2005-2011, I was a consultant to Red Eagle Entertainment, the group that originally acquired the rights to the series and remains executive producers on the show (though the scope of their creative involvement is unknown.) Back then I was heavily involved in the creation of outlines and story treatments for a potential theatrical film release.

That project fizzled, but it helped familiarize me with the scale that the executives were going for at the time, and how the thinking has evolved over the years. While none of that makes me an expert in the TV effort, the ideas below come from a reasonably well-informed position.

Without further ado, here are the Top 5 things I think we can expect to see in the Wheel of Time TV show.

Adult Content

We all know that Amazon's Wheel of Time show, along with a million other TV shows, are going for the, er, throne, that Game of Thrones until recently occupied. GoT succeeded for many reasons, and one of those reasons was that it didn't pull any punches. The WoT books are full of battles and romance, but in a strictly PG-13 manner. I expect to see the WoT TV show dive into the sex and battles more (especially the One Power battles). It'll help sell the show to a wider, more general audience that's hungry for adult fantasy.

This idea is further confirmed by a casting call notice from last April that the show was seeking two female actresses to play characters named “Eliza” and “Nadie” (probably code names for Egwene and Nynaeve) that would require scenes of a sexual nature and partial nudity. It could be just a rumor, but the original source has a decent track record of accurate information, including correctly revealing Rosamund's role in the production before the official announcement.

All this is to say, don't be surprised if we see the Two Rivers characters, and others, getting busy on screen.

8-10 episodes, focused on Eye of the World

Amazon and Rafe haven't announced the official number of episodes, but we know each one will be an hour long. 8-10 episodes is consistent with other Amazon Originals in recent years. WoT could certainly receive more than 10, but I think it's a stretch that it'll happen that way for the first season, especially since the episode budgets could quickly balloon with visual effects.

As for whether or not we'll see more than The Eye of the World portrayed on screen in season 1: Rafe has already said the show will pull from everywhere as needed, but I believe the main season arc will focus on the flights from the Two Rivers, leading ultimately to the Blight, where the season finale will focus on the Eye itself. A fan asked Rafe this question on Twitter and he gave a short, cryptic response:

Quote

[Fan]: Hello Rafe, Do you anticipate Season 1 taking up Eye of the World and season 2 being The Great Hunt?
[Rafe]: Yes and no

The main argument for season1 focusing on book 1 comes down to the fact that if you pull too much from book 2 and beyond, it's just too much to develop and get a general audience to buy into. In 8-10 episodes they already need to introduce a complicated world and backstory, 7 major protagonists, 3-5 major antagonists (Fain, Ba'alzamon, Whitecloaks), trollocs, Aes Sedai, and so on. Once you add in the Horn of Valere and the Seanchan, it simply becomes too much, too soon. The whole “Hunt for the Horn” makes great season 2 material, and possibly getting into book 3 depending on how many episodes get greenlit.

Yes, there are lots of ways to skin a cat, but it feels right to do season 1 = book 1, just like Game of Thrones did to great success.

Expanding Secondary characters...and maybe a few big omissions

Since the project was green-lit last October, there's been nonstop talk that Moiraine will be the focus of the series, or, at least of season 1. We don't know how that will play out, of course, but it's likely that all the attention on her in the press releases has been due to the fact that Rafe and company have planned to cast a big-name actress for that role from the very start. She (and Lan) are the most logical choices for bringing brand-name actors on board in order to reach a wider audience. I expect we'll get into their backstories sooner than the books do, and also deeper into the Aes Sedai / Warder connection. I don't think we'll be seeing lengthy, full-episode New Spring flashbacks, per se, but pulling from Moiraine's younger years wouldn't surprise me either.

Rafe has also stated that he plans to expand Logain's character, which is a great idea. Seeing more Logain allows us to see male channelers before Rand really gets going. If you buy into the earlier idea that season 1 will focus on Eye of the World , then that means they have 8-10 hours to explore the first book, which is plenty of time to expand on a brooding false Dragon. I have a hunch he might steal the show early on with his charisma and power.

Other expanded roles that we're likely to see: the Children of the Light (Geofram Bornhald would make a great bad guy), Elyas, Hopper and the other wolves, the Tinkers (Aram?), and Padan Fain.

The jury's still out on what the production plans to do with Min, Thom, Elyane, Galad, Gawyn, and Loial. All of those except Thom and Loial only have cameo roles in the first book, so I suspect they will either get expanded roles in season 1, or possibly... sorry... get cut from the season. I know, I know. It's hard to imagine a WoT show without Elyane or Min. But everything's fair game, people! Maybe if Moiraine leads everyone to Tar Valon instead of Caemlyn, then the writers can easily introduce Elayne and her brothers being there for training. Logain can also be gentled there, which would give us introductions to Elaida and the Amyrlin Seat all in one nice location that's visually amazing to look at. Or maybe those secondary characters: Min, Elayne, etc, are introduced in the second season.

Less Binary Evil

The Eye of the World was written in the late 1980's and published in early 1990. Robert Jordan intentionally designed the opening to resemble Lord of the Rings, with its dark riders and quiet, idealistic rural countryside, and then flipped everyone's expectations after Shadar Logoth. At the time this approach was groundbreaking, and where he takes the sequels is still, to this day, original and remarkable. But many of the ideas in the first book have been copied and done many time since by a lot of writers, and the result is that the binary “good farmboys vs a pure evil Dark One” isn't going to cut it with a general audience anymore. Rafe touched on this subject during his Twitter Q&A:
 

Quote

"I think most people would say [the central/key/core conflict of the series is] light vs. dark, but I'd actually say [that it's] balance vs. imbalance."

The easy solution is to introduce more nuanced antagonists as early as possible. The Whitecloaks, Elaida, and even Padan Fain (who could hold onto a shred of his humanity, perhaps?) offer opportunities to craft bad guys who have somewhat relatable (or at least understandable) motivations beyond simply wanting the world destroyed. I doubt we'll see many of the Forsaken besides Ba'alzamon in the first season (unless by flashback), but if we do, I wouldn't be surprised if they became less pure-evil as well. Robert Jordan's Forsaken, while interesting and fun, were admittedly somewhat flat until Asmodean arrived on the scene. (Lanfear / Selene is a possible exception, but I would be stunned if she had a role in season 1. She could be a big-name actress they could bring in for season 2)

More Diversity

Finally, expect the Wheel of Time TV show to double down on its diverseity of characters and relationships. Rafe has been very public about this, stating outright that this is an important theme to him.
 

Quote

“I think that gender is such a key theme of the books, and discussing gender without a full representation of LGBTQ+ people would be a disservice to that discussion. Rest assured, their will be pillow friends out the wazoo.”

“I'm a feminist and it's very important to me that the show is feminist in today's context.”

The most obvious place we're likely to see changes is in the romantic relationships. While I don't think we'll see Rand and Perrin kissing each other (imagine those ‘shipping debates! Can I coin the term “Rarrin”? “Perrand”?) it wouldn't shock me if Egwene, Moiraine, Elyas, Aram, Galad, or Logain became involved in same-sex relationships. (Besides, did any of you really, really, totally buy the Moiraine-Thom romance from the books?) Some of these might not blossom in season 1, but certainly could later.

We're also more likely to see wider racial diversity in the cast. I know Robert Jordan is very specific with his descriptions of every character and culture, but when it comes to adaptations like this, nothing is guaranteed. Rafe and his team already cast a “tall Moiraine”, so who knows, right?

Take a look at this script excerpt Rafe shared on Twitter last August, which points this out on the very first page:

Quote

[A QUICK NOTE: race in the world of Wheel of Time is much less defined than in our world.

As much as possible, our cast should look like America will in a few hundred years -- a beautiful mix of white, brown, black and everything in between]

The Eye of the World portrays all seven of the main characters (the five Two Rivers people + Moiraine and Lan) as light-skinned. Add in Elayne, her brothers, and Min, and we have a whole lot of similar-looking characters. This is in fact a trend throughout the books. Sure there's differences between the Cairhien and Andorans, but it isn't really until later books where we see the Seanchan (especially Tuon), the Sea Folk, Faile, and some of the western nations with more racial diversity. (An exception to this is the Shienarans, who appear at the end of the first book. )

Here's what Rafe had to say about this when questioned by a fan on Twitter:

Quote

“I really want to stay true to the books in creating a world that feels way more diverse than what we're used to seeing in our fantasy tv shows”

I know we could all debate what certain characters look like for days and weeks, but that also sort of supports my point that there's plenty of room for interpretation, especially as we move away from the Two Rivers. My hunch is that the Emond's Fielders will look a lot like what we expect, but beyond that, there will be more racial diversity. Logain, Elyas, Siuan Sanche, and the Shienarans are all easy candidates for looking different than Robert Jordan perhaps portrayed them.

The books are great... why change all this?

Everyone knows that TV and movie adaptations bring changes, and passionate fans like you and I are likely to scratch our heads and wonder why they'd change something when it works well on the page. As discussed above, the first book in this series was written 30 years before its TV adaptation release, and audience expectations have changed since then. We also have the hindsight now to understand what works in the books, and what could stand to be better. (Do you really think they'll have Perrin spend three seasons trying to rescue Faile?)

I'm looking at this TV show as a fresh turn of the Wheel. The Third Age that I read about in the books has passed, and been reborn now that the Wheel has turned all the way around. With every coming of an Age, it's the same story again, yet different. While this may not be the official explanation from the show's producers, I think it's a good way to look at it. We'll always have the books to return to: those aren't going anywhere. By allowing ourselves to accept changes from book to screen, even ones we don't fully like, we open ourselves to having a better experience. I, for one, and beyond excited to see what Rafe and his team do.

So what do you think? Leave a comment below, or discuss it on our Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram channels. What do you think we should expect from the upcoming Wheel of Time show?

Jason Denzel
Jason@dragonmount.com

Academy Award-nominated actress Rosamund Pike has been cast as Moiraine Damodred in the upcoming Wheel of Time TV show.  The announcement came today when the official Wheel of Time writer's room Twitter account shared an image of the actress reading The Eye of the World. 

Rafe Judkins, the executive producer on the show, said this on Twitter shortly after the announcement:

Quote

...As a fan, my conversations with Rosamund about who Moiraine is, where she comes from, what drives her, have been genuinely one of the great privileges of my career. She understands this character in her bones and I get chills thinking about the day she’ll bring her to life.
...
After one conversation with her I knew it was the only option.

Pike is a well-known actress with significant credits to her name that showcase her amazing range. Some of her notable roles include the lead in Gone Girl, and the James Bond film, Die Another Day. She has the right blend of strength and confidence to carry this essential role in the series. Amazon Studios, the studio that will be airing the show, said with their first official press release that the Wheel of TimeTV show would feature Moiraine's character prominently. Pike will also be credited as a producer on the show. 

In the books, Moiraine has an important role as a mentor and guide. She's the Aes Sedai who finds a handful of young characters, one of whom may potentially turn out to be the prophesied and greatly-feared Dragon Reborn. Her prominently featured role in the show doesn't necessarily mean she'll be the main character for the series, but it's likely Pike will be one of the major headliners. 

Be sure to check out our full summary of everything we know about the forthcoming TV show.

There's been considerable hype this past week after Brandon Sanderson made numerous comments on reddit about his opinions of the early Wheel of Time TV show scripts. Brandon indicated that what he's seen so far has bee "really good" overall, but he also explained that changes might be coming. 

In the first of multiple reddit threads, Brandon explained: 

Quote

"They [the writing team, led by show runner Rafe Judkins] went with some unexpected decisions, which I really liked though. ... I get to read the scripts and give feedback. I get to push the characters in the direction I want them to go. The first screenplay was really good."

We don't know what these "unexpected decisions" are; Brandon could not say because he's under NDA. Naturally, that hasn't stopped WoT fans from generating theories. There's been speculation for a while that the show will focus more heavily on Moiraine, perhaps elevating her role to equal, or even exceed, that of the main characters in the books. This hasn't been confirmed, and the rumor is largely based on Amazon's original press release annoucing the show which includes:

Quote

"The story follows Moiraine, a member of the shadowy and influential all-female organization called the ‘Aes Sedai' as she embarks on a dangerous, world-spanning journey with five young men and women."

Rand, Mat, Perrin, Egwene and Nynaeve are not mentioned by name in the show's official description, but that doesn't necessarily mean their roles or importance will be diminished. It's almost certain that they will be played by lesser-known actors, while it's more likely that the role of Moiraine will be given to a headline-grabbing actress. Her role may be elevated, but the extra attention given by the studio could always be part of the way they plan to market the show to audiences, not to mention to potential big-name actresses they want to cast.

Later in the comments of the original reddit thread, Brandon expanded his thoughts:

Quote

"I found the mast majority of these decisions to be excellent choices--things that will give the show its own soul, but still in line with the feel and tone of the books. I can't say for certain, but my instincts say the fanbase will in general respond to them positively. There are a few I offered suggestions on, and we'll see.

 

I can't say too much, not just because of NDAs, but also because the show is very much still in flux as Rafe makes decisions on how he wants things to go. As the alterations go, I'd say they fall in line with positive changes made in bringing LOTR to the big screen--things that were altered in order to make the films work for the medium.

 

Overall, the thing I'm most impressed with is Rafe himself, who really seems to be guiding this show with a balance between love for the source material and his own creative vision. I'd much rather get this, personally, than something like the first two Harry Potter films--which felt like someone trying to bring the books to the screen with exact scene-by-scene recreations.

 

I'm certain there will be polarizing decisions made by the team, but the changes are coming from a good place, and I really like most of them. And let me tell you, the first of the two scripts I read was sharp. Excellent dialogue, nuanced characters, great pacing. The second of the two was in a rougher shape, so while still good, obviously was still undergoing revisions."

Brandon has made similar comments at book signing events in recent months. Expect more comments, and more speculation from fans as the show quickly ramps up. And we agree with his comments about Rafe: his interactions with the fans have been friendly, knowledgable, confident, and engaging. 

According to this Instagram account, Rafe recently moved to Prague, presumably to focus on producing the show there. Casting for the main characters is currently underway, with announcements expected in the near future. 

Be sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter (@dragonmount) for more newsstand commentary related to the forthcoming TV show. 

Casting for the forthcoming Wheel of Time TV show has begun according to the London-based KVH Casting agency. KVH is run by Kelly Valentine Henry, who has been tapped as the show's casting director. 

The TV show is scheduled to film sometime this fall 2019 (likely September) in Prague in the Czech Republic. 

No actors have been officially announced yet, but that's expected to change in the coming weeks or months. 

The KVH website originally encouraged actors to send "submissions only" to submissions@wotcasting.com, but that notice was quickly taken offline, possibly in response to what is likely to be an overwhelming flood of fan interest. 

According to a Twitter poll from Amazon Prime Video, The Wheel of Time television adaptation is the most anticipated series.

(IMAGE TEXT: We have a lot of shows that started as books, but which UPCOMING book adaptation series are you most excited for? #WorldBookDay; 20% Good Omens, 26% The Expanse, 18% The Lord of the Rings, 36% The Wheel of Time)

While fans of the show rejoice, and agree, it's pretty amazing that Wheel of Time could top some of the other anticipated series.  Bleeding Cool states how they "were NOT expecting Wheel of Time to top that list."  Understandable, considering The Lord of the Rings has been hyped up.  As has Good Omens, which already has trailers, cast, and an official release date (May 31, 2019--for those who were wondering).  

With Wheel of Time barely in production, this is a great indicator of how much we've wanted a show to represent our beloved series!

You can catch the latest updates from Rafe Judkins' Twitter feed, which he updates pretty regularly with interesting hints and tidbits.  Also, stay tuned to Dragonmount for more news.