The Wheel of Time season 2 will air after Amazon’s Lord of the Rings show

Amazon has been going all out lately to promote its new Lord of the Rings show, The Rings of Power. Bezos and company spent a lot of money on this one, so they want to make sure everyone tunes in when it premieres on September 2 later this year.

But what about Amazon’s other major fantasy series? The Wheel of Time, based on Robert Jordan’s doorstopper of a book series, had a successful first season, and even though it’s not as crazy expensive to make as The Rings of Power, Amazon is still spending a pretty penny on it.

So when can we expect season 2? Showrunner Rafe Junkins shared some new info on the Empire Spoiler Special Film Podcast, which unfortunately you have to pay a fee to listen to. Happily, fansite Dragonmount has an excellent summary. Let’s go in.

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power will air before The Wheel of Time season 2

First things first: we won’t be seeing The Wheel of Time season 2 anytime soon. Although Judkins didn’t give an exact date, he did say that season 2 will air after Amazon has premiered The Rings of Power, which means we’re looking at a premiere date as early as October of this year or as late as 2023. That said, he also mentioned that there will be some extra content to tide us over between now and then.

As for what will happen in season 2, Judkins said that it will combine elements from the second and third books in the series, The Great Hunt and The Dragon Reborn, which I expected. Rand in particular looks like he’s about to go on his Book 3 journey, which he spends largely isolated from the rest of the group, although I can imagine them bringing in parts of his Book 2 story as well.

Judkins said that Mat will also follow his Book 3 journey, which I guess means that Perrin will go on his Book 2 track and hunt for the Horn of Valere. We will also see more Aiel in season 2; that’s the warrior tribe that Rand’s mother belonged to, although Rand himself was adopted by Tam al’Thor and grew up in the Two Rivers. Aviendha, an important Aiel character, has been cast. As for Moiraine, season 2 will explore what she gets up to now that she’s been cut off from the One Power, something that doesn’t happen in the books (Judkins didn’t confirm if she’d been stilled or merely shielded from it).

The Wheel of Time test readers had a lot of opinions on Mat

Circling back to Mat, Judkins talked a bit about why they changed up the character’s backstory. In the books, we don’t learn much about Mat’s home life, but on the show it’s clear that his family is pretty dysfunctional and toxic, which might account for his cavalier attitude towards life. According to Judkins, Amazon gave him a 250-page document with survey data from different groups of book-readers, all of whom agreed that Mat’s personality didn’t really show up until Book 3. Personally, I liked this decision (and I’ve explained why), but I know it rubbed some fans the wrong way.

Judkins also addressed another controversial moment: the bit in the season 1 finale where Nynaeve appears to die helping to defend Fal Dara from a Trolloc attack and Egwene brings her back with the One Power. This scene I didn’t like (and I’ve explained why), although Judkins seemed to think that some viewers misunderstood it. Again, he doesn’t give details, but he emphasizes that, on the show as in the books, death cannot be healed, something that will be made clear in season 2. So maybe Nynaeve just…I dunno, looked really dead but wasn’t?

We know that executives at Amazon have already seen the rough cuts of a least the first two episodes of season 2. Shows like The Wheel of Time take a while to put together, but hopefully we won’t have to wait too long to see what happens next.

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