There have been few television shows able to capture the attention of a large audience in the way HBO's hit series Game of Thrones did. While shows these days feel like they write their stories from season to season, Thrones stood out as something larger than itself. Something massive. One plot told throughout a decade (of the living versus the dead) of production, and the events that are built up in earlier seasons make our jaws drop far in the future. This is one of the benefits of having and being able to adapt source material as a television writer. Without it, they are writing new material year to year, progressing the story without first completing it.
Then enters Dave Benioff and D.B. Weiss. Say what you will, and ignoring features like The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter, the two were the best at adapting written material for the screen. The first four seasons of Game of Thrones, which were heavily (and I say that lightly) influenced by George R. R. Martin's A Song Of Ice and Fire Books 1-3, were groundbreaking and launched the series into superstardom. The ingredients that made the show such a success were; one, written material from an epic fantasy series with an established fanbase; two, passionate creators; and three, a faithful adaptation. With these ingredients is the recipe for the next cultural phenomenon. And that is why I believe I have the right to say that the next Game of Thrones is already being created.
Look no further than Netflix's upcoming television series The Witcher, or Amazon Studios’ highly anticipated Lord of the Rings series to know that fantasy adaptations are here to stay. And from the same production studio that is bringing J. R. R. Tolkien's work to life again is a relatively unknown fantasy series in development with a very passionate fanbase behind it. The Wheel of Time, an epic high fantasy series written by Robert Jordan, has never truly before been brought to life on the screen. It consist of fourteen books and tells quite another tale of the battles between what is known as good and what is known as evil. Fantasy is, and always has been, a genre of the human condition. Of good and evil, and the responsibility of it all. The weight of the world forced upon on the shoulders of heroes. These are young adults from a small village who rise high in the world to influence it and experience it beyond what they ever dreamed of. Yet through it all, the spirit of the human condition thrives. It will do well.
The Wheel of Time television series is in pre-production at Amazon, currently set to begin filming in September in Prague. From what I have researched, all signs points towards a healthy cast and crew. Sharon Tal Yguado, Head of Event Series at Amazon Originals states: “Developing and producing Robert Jordan’s beloved fourteen-books-series for TV is a big undertaking, and we don’t take it lightly. We believe that Rafe’s personal connection to the material and soulful writing will resonate with the book’s passionate fans.” Rafe Judkins is the show-runner for the series. Sony Pictures, Radar Pictures, and Red Eagle Entertainment are all involved in the production of the show. Casting is currently underway, led by casting director Kelly Valentine Hendry. Rosamund Pike, known from the movie Gone Girl, has been cast in a lead role, and will also be credited as one of the show's producers. A release date has not been announced, but we could expect it to be ready for viewers by 2021.
The synopsis for Amazon’s promising new show goes something like this:
The fantasy epic is set in a sprawling, epic world where magic exists, but only women can use it. 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. Moiraine believes that one of them might be the reincarnation of an incredibly powerful individual, whom prophecies say will either save humanity or destroy it. The series draws on numerous elements of European and Asian culture and philosophy, most notably the cyclical nature of time found in Buddhism and Hinduism.
Brandon Sanderson, the man who authored the final books in the series after the death of the original author Robert Jordan, has read the scripts for the first two episodes and says they are very well done. These will be one-hour-long episodes, similar to the run length of an episode of Game of Thrones. There will be at least six episodes in the first season, but possibly could be as long as eight to ten episodes. And that first season will hopefully and presumably focus on the first book, “Eye of the World.”
Amazon certainly has the money to take on such a massive project such as adapting The Wheel of Time for television. And they have the gut to compete with HBO and Netflix to produce premium content. They have the ability to make this series the most watched, the most talked about, and the highest rated television show of the next decade. All the right ingredients are there. And so, as the dust settles on the end of fan-beloved Game of Thrones, readers and viewers must look to new horizons. It is only natural that a new show rises to replace the other. To garner national attention. To become the talk of the town. And to become our new obsessions. Shows like Game of Thrones, a hit series that influenced culture and offered a common shared experience, come once in a decade. Imagine being one of the few to have watched Game of Thrones from the its premiere, or to have tuned into NBC to watch Friends during it's very first season. It must be truly self-endearing to be one of those lucky few people who discover one of those special television shows that come once in a generation. But a new decade is almost upon us, enter The Wheel of Time.
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