Rafe said he was going to turn people's favorite characters gay as punishment for their homophobia. This show was deep in culture war. From my perspective it was priority. Show wanted elaborate costumes, expensive wigs and jewelry, fraught relationships, cosmopolitanism, mean girl dynamics. This is a very theatre kid cultural thing which is a very gay culture. Male centric fantasy preferences were abandoned or poorly done. The show was designed to appeal to the audience Rafazon preferred. It was not a show designed to appeal to straight guys who like Conan or GoT. It was a choice. People have myriad cultures. Hollywood or Amazon do not get to decide what people like. Whatever metric Amazon was using to judge the show did not get met. The queer community has every right to exist. It does not have to be celebrated. It's numbers are not large enough to dictate social or political rules. Welcome to reality.

He wanted to correct the perceived mysogny and homophobia of game of thrones. He saw lots of feminist possibilities in WoT he could expand on to make a show appealing to what he sees as popular culture. I think the progressive presence online was misinterpretation of entire culture.

The pitch was tone deaf to the current situation. We went from gay rights to queer empowerment and and almost split US population. The queer movement has undermined alot of goodwill with people that ignored the issue or mildly supported it. It's the prioritization that hurts the story. If you don't think representation and queer culture make everything better then the show is much weaker. Less couture costuming more engaging writing. They swung for the fences and missed.

I saw it in an early interview on YouTube. Other interviews with Napier and Pike reiterated point. I think in magazine article he specifically stated he pitched show as feminist corrective to GoT.

It's an oversimplification but I think it is the root of shows problems and eventual failure. Too many fires to put out on too many fronts.

I would say this was going to be a complex adaptation no matter what. A GoT type adaptation would have probably been a bigger hit. Changing a complex massively long beloved story to a TV show aimed to please a specific smaller than anticipated audience made this unlikely to succeed. Amazon marketing set the show up to piss off lots of potential fans. The priorities of the show were very theatre kid and misused time and physical resources that some fans loved and others hated. The show never tried to explain any changes in show because any critique was labeled an ist or phone. If you are going to plop your product right into a war you better have the soldiers or you may lose. Pleasing a small but committed audience only works with small budgets or benefactors. WoT Prime didn't have either apparently.

Rafe did state that he wanted to make feminism and representation a priority in his adaptation. Salke the head of Prime entertainment during WoT Prime's run also saw this as a priority. If the story was created to with these ideas or Rafazon were masterful story crafters this might have been possible. If this story did not get presented in a period of post covid culture war closely aligning itself with political and cultural strife in the US it might have gotten a pass. There is definitely an audience for feminist power fantasy and identity politic driven entertainment. Many fans not involved in culture wars also loved this adaptation. Amazon marketed this show with alot of bait and switch nostalgia. Online culture wars were used to run defense and demean any criticism. I have a take from watching politics and last few years watching culture wars in entertainment and video games. Conservative leaning older demographics tend to consume more traditional entertainment like movies and television. Younger progressive demographics are well represented in online discourse but don't consume. So much like politics you can have alot of noise from protests, online activism, and academic approval but it is not nearly as important as having people vote. I have consistently voted straight democratic ticket for a long time in my US state. I am consistently called ist and phobe online by other US citizens that don't vote. None of my gay and queer work friends vote. Rafazon either misinterpreted the broad appeal of a show like this or didn't care. I watched every episode. Many twice. But when people in entertainment tell me it's not for me and I am the enemy then I will be listening from now on.

The show is of course an adaptation. The question is did AmaRafe use resources and material in a manner that entertained the most people while maintaining an audience that could support the long run required to tell a complete story. Feminism, Queer activism, and modern identity representation were not core tenets of most readers experience with WoT books. Strong female characters are present, underlying gay relationships, and world building based on diverse cultures are all present in books. The second set of themes are different than the first. The core of the books is young inexperienced but good young people (mostly males) evolving from naive and immature to become anchoring forces to save the world. It is broad and epic. The book story used myths and heroic figures to teach a largely masculine path to face conflict in the world. AmaRafe wants to tell an intimate tale highlighting women's inherent superiority to men. The show wanted to use a popular IP to normalize queer identity and sexual positivity to a broad audience. The raw material of the show lent itself to a different story. Once the various hardships kicked in it seemed to have made matters worse. AmaRafe chose to tell a very difficult version and did not have resources or ability to do it justice. I have an 18 autistic son that wants to eventually join the military. I have just spent an hour trying to teach him to walk like a non neuro divergent person so he might get a chance to join. I feel Rafes pain.

Time was one of the big resources this adaptation wasted telling the story that Amazon and Rafe wanted to tell. A feminist corrective to GoT may have been fine if really well executed. Keeping 3 male Ta'verran storyline as backbone while squashing and diminishing their stories made the show way worse than it could have been. If you are going to make a coconut themed dinner don't include steak and asparagus. I do not solely blame Rafe but in hindsight this show was probably always doomed.

Nope

Sorry for the show fans.

I think the show will eventually be renewed. This is not the show I wanted but it seems to be popular enough and well received by the critics and fans Amazon seems to be courting. Who knows what Amazon uses as measurement for performance in US or specific markets overseas. They don't need the money but still may include profitability in decision.

I read somewhere that govt tax credits and subsidies might be target of direct tariffs. I know UK and Czech Republic have been significant for Amazon. I would think possible delays at minimum to understand what shows may actually cost.

Any concern US proposed entertainment tariffs may delay or cancel season 4?

Maybe Alanna and Maksim will get Galad since his squeeze unlikely to show up. Hey since she is building a sexy army, she can bond Avhienda, Elayne, Galad, and Thom. Avhienda can open a portal and they can have their Avengers moment.

So I grew up in a socially liberal military family with gay and lesbian people as family friends. Sex was discussed openly and fairly non judgementally. Culturally I have no worries as far as showing whatever grouping, orientation, or kink. Before marriage I was around lots of crazy stuff. WoTPrime just feels like sex is inserted for purely ideological reasons not story reasons. Or at least other things would have served story better. Having Rand be Lanfears almost sex slave would have been more interesting to watch. Having audience wonder if she was manipulating his mind with power. Having Mo and Siuan be more general and spy in love but still mission first. I am a sucker for tragic romance but their relationship felt like it was there for representation not as a way build empathy for either character. This could be execution but I was pretty meh about both characters. The Nyn/Lan and Perrin/Faile relationships felt like they had best chance of being fun to watch, sexy, emotionally engaging. Both seemed undermined by characterization or time constraints by showing less compelling storylines for reasons. Lan is basically just a pretty labradoodle for female characters to play off of in this turning. He is like the picture on a harlequin romance cover. season one had moments with Lan/Nyn. But overall I think it is trending downward. The whole Mat, Salad, Gawaine White Tower thing just felt juvenile and goofy. And not in a fun way. I was having 80s late night comedy flashbacks. So basically having lots of sanitized positive sex just isn't doing it for me.

Dang, just realized a berry and a few washed cups gets you quite a bit in this turning.

I thought Egwene was the likely target for Lanfear replacing Avhienda. I thought we were going to get a cool scene of MO and Lan ambushing Lanfear after she attacks Egwene. Then Rand would get attacked by Asmodean and sucked into Dreamworld Rhuidean after Aiel chiefs declared him Car a Carn when he quietly told history. Mo and Egwene could get pulled into Telanrhiod after Lan gets knocked out. Mo and and Lanfear both get badly wounded and leave the dream giving us our fake out deaths. Egwene sees Rand and Asmo both barely alive. She blasts Asmo allowing Rand to shield him then the 3 leave the Dream returning to just clan chiefs standing in rain.

Sorry for delay in response. I had a bad plumbing leak in rarely used upstairs bathroom. I have been tearing out most of upstairs bathroom and ceiling of downstairs laundry room. So for background. I am mid fifties, hetero, in 35 year monogamous relationship. No kinks, I dated extensively as teen, married young, and have adult to teen children. I was fine with relationships in books. To me it was a military fantasy hero journey. I didn't have the problems with romance that many fans seem to have with way book handled it. I am probably one of few people on boards that has had intimate relationships and witnessed relationships in a war zone setting. I consider most of books arc to be in a war setting. Relationships can be odd to say the least. My complaint from a straight guy perspective was that time is the resource in show most important. The very positive inclusive everything goes sex scenes didn't add much emotionally or cause any visceral feelings of stress or danger to show. The time could have been better spent on certain characters development that lead to better emotional payoff later. I do recognize I am not gay, lesbian, or female. That is Rafes preferred audience. So fight training scenes seem to be gay male eye candy. To me it has seemed more cutesy than sexy. The vibe they have embraced also seems to reinforce the walking into Vegas male review vs real soldiers training to murder. I really liked the Nyn and Lan initial romance but the family meal and then quicky before the showdown didn't do anything for me to advance their relationship. So I guess my point is that are gay men, lesbian women, or women in general getting excited by shows presentation of sex? I understand lots of television and movies may steer away from or into the weighty issues associated with sex but the underlying reality is always there to color our reactions to what we are seeing. Rafe has said he wants this show to paint non hetero, non monogamous relationships in a positive light to normalize them. Much of the sex and adjacent screen time feels like this. I am pretty tired so this might be incoherent but considering how many fans of books rag on romance in series I don't think this turning has been much better.

So something about relationships on show popped into my head after watching final episode. The writing of the show wants a completely judgement free set positive view of sex and sensuality. We haven't seen any cultural taboos, no male gaze, everyone does whowever they want whenever and however they want. The occasional dad joke about not having enough holes even feels odd considering how sex seems to be completely a fully positive thing. No pregnancy concerns, no taboo relationships, no venereal disease. And when it's shown it's very PG 13 and chaste. Even Lanfear and Rand scenes which should be mind blowingly dirty and spicy just feel kind of like normal married for 20 years sex. Basically I think they have managed to make sex boring while also wanting to show and imply lots of it. I will admit that this show is not made for mid fifties straight guys but come on there is just nothing cooking in this kitchen. Feel free to to disprove me. .

I would assume it will get a few more. RoP is horrible beyond saving. I can't imagine it keeps going and a decent show like WoT is canned. That Salke firing may mean lots of changes in programming though. Hopefully the announcement happens soon.

I am a bit in the same boat. I feel for the fans genuinely enjoying show. This was just the perfectly wrong adaptation for me. A few years ago I would have thought nice for them and moved on. Now that activism has gotten into the mix I figure I might as well advocate for myself also. I want my epic military fantasy with giant wolves running the dream. Massive prophesy dumps and Borderlanders scary as shit. The main thing keeping me engaged has been Actors' performances. Lanfear, Mog, and some of the side characters have really been fun. This is just not a turning I care about. Ready for Elayne to Balefire this adaptation.

No 1 on my screen in US also.

Alanna getting stabbed is the new Southpark " They killed Kenny". I didn't have Siuan getting stabbed with spirit arrows or Moraine stabbed by Lanfear with Lan sword on my ep 8 bingo card. The writing team is putting together a workshop titled "Why we stab? The art of penetration. "

It will be mentioned by Egwene. She Dreamwalks into Marins dream to check on 2 Rivers and sees Alanna accidently stabbed by Aram when she walks in on Maksim and Aram "blacksmithing ".