The highly anticipated fantasy series Wheel of Time, adapted from the Robert Jordan (The Eye of the World, The Gathering Storm) novels, will officially be debuting on Amazon Prime Video this year. The announcement came in the form of yet another teaser from the Wheel of Time team, this one unveiling the logo for the series in addition to the release timeline. According to Collider, Amazon has “doubled down on the series,” teasing fans with slow-drip of information since the adaptation was first announced in 2017.
According to Nerdist, Wheel of Time’s 14-book fantasy epic saw its first installment published in 1990 with author Brandon Sanderson (Mistborn: The Final Empire, The Way of Kings) completing the tale with three final books after Jordan’s passing. The series has garnered quite the audience in its three-plus decades on book store shelves, making it the perfect choice for Amazon in an attempt to score their own Game of Thrones or Witcher-style high fantasy hit. “It’s possible they’ll cover roughly one book per season,” Nerdist predicts. “Or more likely that they’ll bring in elements from different books as the adaptation dictates.”
Wheel of Time tells the story of Rand al’Thor, plucked from a simple life to confront his destiny by a sorceress named Moiraine. In June 2019, Rosamund Pike (Gone Girl, I Care A Lot) was cast as Moiraine and a first-look at her in the role was teased from Amazon earlier this year. Joshua Stradowski (High Flyers, Spangas), Madeleine Madden (Dora and the Lost City of Gold, Mystery Road), Marcus Rutherford (County Lines, Bulletproof), Barney Harris (Billy Flynn’s Long Halftime Walk, Clique) and Zoe Robins (Black Christmas, Power Rangers Ninja Steel) will star alongside Pike, with Rafe Judkins (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Hemlock Grove) serving as showrunner.
The first season of Wheel of Time will contain eight episodes, with the first six episode titles revealed slowly by Judkins through his #WoTWednesday posts on Instagram. In a sign that the hype Amazon is lending to the fantasy series is well earned, Wheel of Time was pre-emptively renewed for a second season in May even before airing.
Based on Wednesday’s announcement for the series and previous interviews with Judkins, Collider believes that “we’re bound for full-length [Wheel of Time] trailer shortly.” The series logo, which Collider describes as akin to “the sigil of a great House in Game of Thrones,” can be added to the slow crawl of information fans can cling to thus far. Hopefully a full-length trailer will put some fan torment to an end and provide a precise date which audiences can expect to find Wheel of Time on Amazon.