After nearly two years of on-again, off-again production, Amazon has finally wrapped on the first season of The Wheel of Time. This is according to WoT Series, an established source of news for fans of Robert Jordan’s epic fantasy series:
BREAKING: @TheWheelOfTime Season 1 has wrapped filming, according to several crew member social media posts. Our thanks and best wishes to the phenomenal cast and crew who made this happen! We're so excited! #TwitterOfTime #wheeloftime #wotonprime
— WoT Series (@WotTVSeries) May 14, 2021
WoT Series has been been great for finding filming locations and set photos for fans to pore over. For example, they exclusively confirmed that filming of The Wheel of Time would resume filming back in September of 2020 in the Czech Republic after production was suspended thanks to the pandemic.
So what does this news mean for the fans?
Will The Wheel of Time season 1 air in 2021?
The hope among Wheel of Time fans is that the first season on Amazon’s show will release this year as originally planned. When showrunner Rafe Judkins did a Q&A on Instagram last year, he said that post-production had continued during the pandemic.
“I’m still doing VFX, editing and the season two virtual writers room!” Judkins said. “And I can do it all in my pajamas.” Before COVID-19, he was “prepping two episodes, shooting two episodes, in post on four episodes, and writing season two simultaneously.”
Also consider that the next season of Netflix series The Witcher is coming out in the fourth quarter of 2021, and it found itself in a situation very similar to The Wheel of Time during the pandemic. Filming on The Witcher season 2 last month, in April, after lots of stops and starts.
The Wheel of Time started filming in September 2019 and went through March 2020, when the pandemic started to blow up around the world. Production restarted a year from their original start date in September of 2020, but filming halted again at the start of November. Fans rejoiced when cast members posted photos in Prague, the home base for the season, in April 2021.
Already a family, whether they’re in the Two Rivers or not.
— The Wheel Of Time (@TheWheelOfTime) April 29, 2021
Photos via @tigermadden’s and @joshastradowsk1's Instagram pic.twitter.com/VG5QXNSF64
According to Adam Whitehead of The Wertzone, the bulk of filming on season 1 was already complete by the time production started up for the final time, with pick-ups and a few stray scenes left. In the meantime, editing and VFX had been going on to the point where some episodes could be aired whenever Amazon likes, so hopefully it won’t take the team long to get the whole season ready.
Everything seems to line up with a release date later in 2021. It’s possible the show may even want to avoid airing alongside The Witcher and aim for an early Q4 release in September. One way or another, Wheel of Time fans are finally going to get the adaptation they’ve been awaiting for decades.
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