The Wheel of Time showrunner explains why the characters are aged up

The age that once was has come again. Or at least, it will sometime in November when The Wheel of Time TV show premieres on Amazon Prime Video. And showrunner Rafe Judkins has gone above and beyond for over two years to provide fans with glimpse into how’s he approaching this long-awaited adaptation of Robert Jordan’s landmark fantasy series. And he did it again the other week.

After the first official batch of images from The Wheel of Time were released online, Judkins headed over to Twitter to answer five questions from a few lucky fans. Two of the questions are light-hearted, but the others provide real insight into how Judkins and his team are thinking about this series.

Why are the characters older than in the books in The Wheel of Time TV show?

First and foremost, Judkins talked about why the main characters — Rand, Mat, Perrin, Egwene and Nynaeve — look older in the photos than they are in the books, where they’re teenagers in the backwater region of the Two Rivers:

Funnily enough, Robert Jordan felt he had to age down his main character when he began his series. The Wheel of Time books originally revolved around an older war veteran named Rhys al’Thor who discovered he was the “chosen one” meant to save the world. Mindful that fantasy books had a lot of young readers, Jordan decided to make the characters younger and less experienced.

Times have changed and the show is aging the characters up instead. This is quite common for adaptations of fantasy where young adults often find themselves in positions of great power — for a recent example, many of the young characters on Game of Thrones were aged up from their counterparts in George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series, including Jon Snow, Daenerys Targaryen, Sansa Stark and Arya Stark.

Will the Forsaken be in The Wheel of Time season 1?

Next up, Judkins addressed the Forsaken, some of the most intimidating villains in The Wheel of Time. Will they show up in season 1?

If we see any of the Forsaken in The Wheel of Time season 1, I’m guessing it will be Lanfear or Ishamael. Lanfear is a master of disguise, so it’s possible we’ll see her without realizing who it is.

More likely to show up is Ishamael, who appear in the first book, The Eye of the World. Although, like Lanfear, he plays games with identity.

Moving on, one fan asked Judkins about the World of Dreams:

Tel’aran’rhiod, also known as the World of Dreams, is very important in the books, so it makes sense it’ll appear fairly early on the show. Still, the chaotic nature of this “mirror world” made me wonder if it would be cut from the show. I’m glad to hear this strange place will be included in The Wheel of Time.

Tel’aran’rhiod is a dimension that reflects the “real” world but exists outside of it, where no change is permanent and only solid landmarks like buildings and mountains exists while moveable objects flicker in and out of being. It’s fairly difficult to explain, so let’s hope the show does a better job than I have.

Finally, a couple fans asked some more light-hearted questions about Judkins and the cast:

This might be one of the last Q&A sessions we get from Judkins, because the premiere is a few short months away and we expect to see more formal marketing very soon. For now the clock ticks and the wheel keeps turning.

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