Mary: Welcome to the much-anticipated (by us) discussion of Season 1 of The Wheel of Time TV show! I started reading the series back in 2018, and felt moved to write a defense of how it “doesn’t suck.” Now, I’m still halfway through the 14 book series and feeling the worst effects of the dreaded Slog. BUT, we’re not here to talk about the novels. No, instead, Todd and I are going to be discussing the Amazon Prime TV adaptation of the novels. Weirdly, we’ve been anticipating this show for a long time, as we both keep tabs on showrunner Rafe Judkins (who previously starred on a season of Survivor). It’s a small world, and basically the same 5 people are in every reality show. But I digress.
Todd, kick us off by talking about how the show is choosing to adapt what you have called “unfilmable.”
Todd: Thank you, Mary! Yes, I agree, we have been eagerly anticipating this show for what feels like eons. There has been a lot of discussion about how The Wheel of Time is an “unfilmable” property, and for good reason. Much has been made of the 2,782 named characters in the series, and the fact that it is 15 books long (if you include the prequel). This makes it hard to adapt the series in a way that feels true-to-the-books while also being good television.
Part of this is logistical. You simply can’t hire an actor of good quality to make a glorified cameo in season 1 of a series on the promise that they will be a hugely important character later (like Elayne Trakand, who does not appear at all in the first season despite making an appearance in The Eye of the World, the first book of the series).
It is also difficult to find any network, streaming service, or other televisual outfit that is willing to shell out millions upon millions of dollars, and even if you do find one (Amazon reportedly spent $10 million per episode), that still doesn’t mean you can build a set for every single village that Rand and Mat happened to wander through. Storylines have to be condensed, major settings (like Caemlyn) have to be cut out, and things that work in the book—like Perrin’s interior monologue or Lan’s general stoniness—have to be shown in different ways or changed to make sense for a visual medium.
Now, for the most part, these changes are understandable and feel necessary, but I still missed seeing characters like Elyas Machera or Bayle Domon (Mr. “I do be an Illianer,” perhaps my favorite tertiary character) pop up in this first season. Still, there was a lot to like here. What comes to mind for you, Mary, in the pro column?
If you see them, you better run. (Amazon)
Mary: Because it’s a television show, things have to be sped up, and I enjoyed cutting some of the unnecessary stuff out in favor of speeding up the plot a little. Do we need Nynaeve pining after Lan for books and books? Nah, let ‘em hook up! The entire Lan/Nynaeve relationship is really working for me in the show.
I also missed some tertiary characters, but I felt like it was okay they were gone overall. I will say that I have one major concern going forward, which Season 1 really hammered home. That concern mostly amounts to: why does everything have to be so grim and dark all the time in fantasy?
I really don’t think the novels do this, and I’m not saying that the show doesn’t have light moments, but at every chance the show seems to make things THE WORST for the crew. For example, why does Mat’s family have to suck? Why can’t his dad just be a nice horse guy?
Anne with an E does this, too, rooting out every little bit of joy and putting a dark past behind it. Is that what people really want, you think?
Todd: I don’t think it is, but I think the executives at these networks think it is, if that makes sense. According to the lore, Jeff Bezos told his people to go and find him the next Game of Thrones. And so WoT was found, and a little grimness was grafted onto it. I agree that it feels unnecessary. There are certainly things in this series that need to be updated but if it just becomes a clone of another series then it will never truly be The Wheel of Time.
I hope the series is allowed to be a little weirder and wilder as it progresses. I liked how the episodes would begin with little prologues, telling different stories that don’t initially seem related to our main heroes. The ones with Eamon Valda and an Aiel woman fighting off five men while pregnant particularly stood out to me.
I also want to say that I think the cast is very strong throughout, especially since they are not always given a lot to do. Did anyone particularly strike you?
Mary: Daniel Henney is FANTASTIC as Lan. I think that Lan is one of the few characters I actually like better in the show than the books because we get to know him sooner and understand his connection with Moiraine better. He felt more like a real person and less like a security robot. What about you?
Todd: I thought Josha Stradowski did a good job of capturing Rand’s sulky attitude, and both Madeleine Madden and Zoë Robins were great as Egwene and Nynaeve. Truly, the cast is very strong and I am excited to see what they do in subsequent seasons.
In general, I liked the show! I love how they updated some of the gender politics of RJ’s extremely binary, “men are like this, women are like this” world, and it was cool to see relationships between Warders and Aes Sedai that were basically throuples (not to mention Moiraine and Siuan!).
My biggest issue is the pacing. The show’s writers only had 8 episodes to tell a story that takes place over 1000 pages, and some of the characters get lost in that rush. Perrin, especially, feels like he got the short end of the stick in season 1, and I am hopeful he will get more to do in season 2 (and beyond). What were your feelings on this season, Mary, and do you have any final thoughts?
Buds, not lovers. (Amazon)
Mary: It was hard for me to get into Josha because gosh, I hate Rand, both in the books and the movies. I will say that Madden and Robins were great! These are big characters that absolutely need to have good actors assigned to them.
The updates to the gender stuff were really refreshing. Like, sure, only the dudes are ta’veren in the books, but I think we can make a really strong case that the women are, too. Are you telling me Egwene isn’t special, that the world doesn’t change around her? I think the most special part of the update to gender stuff was seen in the warder/Aes Sedai relationships and the relationship between Moiraine and Siuan. In the books, Robert Jordan is just so chaste. I appreciate it, really, because I hate it when books feel like they HAVE to be explicit, but I think the show strikes a nice balance. We know that Alanna has a sexual relationship with her warders—and that the warders have a sexual relationship with each other, too—but we don’t have to get too much into it. I also appreciated that Siuan and Moiraine just get to kiss in the show. I guess that they both have love interests in the novels, but like…they’re pillow friends and I think that means something different than what RJ thought.
Todd: 100%! It is a nice update that both meshes with the lore of the books and expands that lore for a more contemporary audience, one that is more accepting of love in all of its varieties, and not just dudes getting to have a bunch of sister-wives. I am sure there are segments of the fan base that will act like the Moiraine and Siuan stuff comes out of left field, but it is definitely there in the books, and the way the TV show chooses to depict their relationship deepens it and makes it make more sense. It is both an easy shorthand to explain why Moiraine and Siuan are so committed to each other, and also a nice exploration of a relationship that is central to the series but not given much time on the page (except for New Spring).
The way that the series handles the Warder/Aes Sedai bond is really great, and it is one of the things that makes The Wheel of Time stand out. Their bond is so strong and so intimate, but not necessarily in a sexual way (a la Moiraine and Lan). In fact, they just seem like really good buds, and the show does not feel the need to hit the viewer over the head with this. It just is. One of the criticisms I saw of the show was the way that it foregrounded the relationship between the Warder Stepin and the Aes Sedai Kerene, who is killed by Logain in the series. This is not something that happens in The Eye of the World, and many people thought it was an unnecessary side-road that the show did not need when there were so many other characters to devote time to. While I definitely see that point of view, and can sympathize with it as well, I can see why the writers might have wanted to emphasize the bond between a Warder and an Aes Sedai. They are seeding ideas early on that will, hopefully, pay dividends years down the line.
Mary: Overall, I really enjoyed the show. We haven’t even really begun to touch on the ways I love it, specifically. I thought that the Whitecloaks were appropriately evil and scary, and the Red Ajah lived up to their reputation in the books while also being a little more sympathetic, in a way. Mostly, I’m excited to see how the next couple of seasons continue to shape the massive world Robert Jordan set up. Adaptations don’t always have to be a 1:1 ratio, and I appreciate that the show is doing different things. Do I have my nitpicky “BUT IN THE BOOK!” moments? Of course, but it didn’t interfere with me really enjoying the show. Also: it’s very pretty. I don’t know if it’s $10 million an episode pretty, but it’s really good. The costuming is absolutely amazing and the costumers deserve all the awards.
Todd: I completely agree! Jordan gets a lot of crap—rightly at times—for how much he spends writing about different people’s outfits, but the show really nailed that spirit, in the best way.
Mary: And if the Wheel weaves as the Wheel wills, we’ll be back for Season 2!
(Amazon)