Amazon is adapting Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson’s The Wheel of Time series for television, and it’s the most exciting fantasy adaptation since HBO started in on a little show called Game of Thrones. The Wheel of Time is a hugely successful series, sweeping and epic with 14 books to its name. We’re potentially looking at the start of a long and thrilling journey, and today, the show’s official Twitter account gave us a look at where it all begins.
To make a very long story short, The Wheel of Time is about a group of people from a sleepy, far-flung corner of the world called the Two Rivers. Nothing much happens there, but when destiny comes knocking, the group leaves on a world-spanning journey that will change them all as people, and change the shape of history.
Unless I’m very mistaken, this image is of Emond’s Field, a village in the Two Rivers. That’s where our story starts. Here it is on a misty morning, the crew laying track for cameras and the villagers preparing for Bel Tine, a big festival:
A throwback to Day 1 on the #WOTonPrime set. Can you tell where we were? pic.twitter.com/WDTIiNfpI2
— The Wheel Of Time (@TheWheelOfTime) February 19, 2020
Or at least, that’s my guess at what we’re seeing. One big clue is what looks like a peddler’s wagon coming out from behind the tree in the left half of the picture. In the book, the peddler Padan Fain shows up in the Two Rivers pretty early on, right before the story starts in earnest. He’ll be played on the show by Johann Myers:
"Fain was always one to carry bad news quickly, and the worse, the faster. There's more raven in him than man." The #WOTonPrime family welcomes Johann Myers as Padan Fain. pic.twitter.com/aEIqlyYlJ3
— The Wheel Of Time (@TheWheelOfTime) December 4, 2019
And this may not have been the only time we’ve seen the Emond’s Field set. Prepare for SPOILERS for a 30-year-old book:
Early on in the story, Emond’s Field is attacked by trollocs, which are basically orcs but…they’re called trollocs. Anyway, they burn several of the buildings in town. A while back, a shot leaked from the set showing what looks like the aftermath of that attack:
Brightened photo where you can see the details better #twitteroftime pic.twitter.com/TCMKwi04oZ
— Kumira Sedai ☮ (Brown Ajah) ᐰ (@KumiraSedai) February 1, 2020
Those are lead characters Mat Cauthon (Barney Harris) and Rand Al’Thor (Josha Stradowski) aghast at what’s become of their home…or again, that’s my best guess. Wheel of Time experts out there are welcome to disabuse me of that notion.
Showrunner Rafe Judkins also shared this image of Stradowski filming on a mountain somewhere, which is probably from a scene from later on in the season:
Clearly, filming is humming along nicely! I still wouldn’t expect the first season to land until 2021 — maybe late 2020 — but when it gets here, it looks like we could be in for something special.
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