The Wheel of Time on Prime Video was one of the biggest fantasy releases of last year. Based on the bestselling novel series by Robert Jordan (and finished after the author’s death by Brandon Sanderson), the show brought the story of this massively popular fantasy book series to television audiences for the first time. (No, we’re not counting the rights-grab “pilot” that aired in 2015). While it has proved divisive among fans of the books, the show was a big success for Amazon. Season 2 is already in production.
But adapting 14 door-stopping fantasy books into a TV series was never going to be a straight one-to-one affair. The show has made changes, shuffling around some plotlines while cutting or adding others. One particular character who was missing from the first season was Elyas Machera, a mysterious man that Perrin and Egwene meet on the road. Elyas has a unique connection with wolves, something that Perrin also develops much to his bewilderment. Elyas helps him understand it. Both Perrin and Elyas are what’s known as “wolfbrothers,” meaning they’re able to communicate with wolves and share a special bond with the animals.
Now, it’s been confirmed that Elyas will be appearing in The Wheel of Time season 2. So while we may have missed some of Perrin’s training during the first season, it looks like The Wheel of Time’s second outing is going to make up for that lost ground.
Gary Beadle to play Elyas in The Wheel of Time season 2
Elyas will be played by Gary Beadle, a British actor who has an impressive resume of theater, film, and television credits to his name, including the award-winning mini-series Small Axe. Beadle was announced to have joined The Wheel of Time cast back in July of last year, but his role was kept under wraps.
The wolf started to claw its way out of the bag last month when a writer at WoTSeries noticed that The Last Kingdom star Arnas Fedaravičius, who plays Masema in The Wheel of Time season 2, responded to a tweet from Beadle with a bunch of wolf emojis. Could it have been a hint?
Apparently, yes. The acting agency that represents Beadle just updated his CV, which states that he will be playing Elyas in season 2 of The Wheel of Time. That’s about as official as it gets, barring an actual announcement from the production itself.
So we will be seeing Elyas next season, which means that the show will hopefully spend a bit more time exploring Perrin’s wolfbrother connection. This was one of the plotlines that I missed most in the first season, so I’m excited to see it in season 2.
The Wheel of Time season 1 is currently available to watch on Prime Video. Production on season 2 continues. It will air sometime after Amazon’s other big fantasy show The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power comes out this fall.
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h/t WoTSeries