The Wheel of Time boss can’t wait for fans to meet the new Mat

The Wheel of Time, a TV adaptation of Robert Jordan’s beloved fantasy novels, debuted on Amazon Prime Video last year. Although it divided fans of the book series, it proved a hit for Amazon, which is now working hard on a second season. “It’s just such a huge relief for everyone to have the show out and to have it be, you know, such a huge success,” showrunner Rafe Judkins told Empire. “We didn’t really ever expect this in the first season; I always thought it would be something that we could build towards. It’s just been incredible.”

One of the most controversial aspects of The Wheel of Time show were the changes it made from the book series. Take the character of Mat Cauthon, played by Barney Harris. The TV show gave him a bit of a darker spins, showing that he had a messy home life including an alcoholic father and an emotionally abusive mother. None of that is true in the books.

“One of the things that was consistent about [the feedback they got from book readers] was that they felt Mat was not a fully defined character in the first couple of books,” Judkins explained. “He has this much darker feeling, you know. He is so overcome by the darkness of the dagger, but also some character motivation behind it.”

"I think the very core of that character is a hero who doesn’t think he’s a hero…He’s got a mischievous side, you see that. He thinks he’s up to no good. But when push comes to shove, he delivers. That’s Mat to me."

Moving forward, Mat will be going through some changes, the most obvious of which is that he’ll no longer be played by Barney Harris. Starting in season 2, Mat will be played by actor Dónal Finn. We don’t know why the switch was made, but Judkins is psyched about it. “I’m so excited for people to see Dónal,” he said. “When you get to a Mat chapter you’ve got a smile on your face, and I think Dónal’s the same way. It’s a weirdly Kismet meeting of an actor and point in time with the character where it feels bizarrely similar to what happened to the character in the books in a way that we never could have planned for predicted or work towards. He’s great – and Barney was too, you know, so it’s big shoes to fill.”

Why The Wheel of Time kept the identity of the Dragon Reborn a secret

Mat’s not the only character who will be going through it in season 2. When last we left Moiraine (Rosamund Pike), she had been stripped of her powers, with no clear path to getting that back. This is another change from the books, but Judkins has a plan, even if he can’t say much about it. “One of the most interesting things about Moiraine is that [she’s not] the most powerful woman in the world. What she does is so much more about this unbelievable willpower and the intelligence that she uses,” he said. “It’s not being an Aes Sedai, it’s not about wielding the One Power. It’s about so much more than that. Moiraine’s story in Season 2 shows a lot of that.”

Moiraine spent season 1 tracking down and then guiding a group of five youths from the backwater village of Emond’s Field, one of whom is the messianic figure the Dragon Reborn. In the books, we know that it’s Rand al’Thor (Josha Stradowski) pretty much from the jump, but the show keeps that information to itself until the penultimate episode of the season, the better to draw us into the mystery.

“Often a show needs a different way [in] than books do,” Judkins said. “So getting [people] invested in this idea of ‘who is the Dragon’ really helps keep them watching. But also, hopefully, [it] got them interested in what it means to be the Dragon. Rand isn’t the character who’s saying, ‘Look at me, look at me!’ The whole idea of him is that he’s a man who’s been chosen to save the world that really wishes he hadn’t been. So one thing we tried to show with him is that, first and foremost, [he’s] the character of the five who wishes that he was home instead.”

The Wheel of Time fans will be “astounded” by the Seanchan

Finally, there’s the Seanchan, a whole new civilization of people our characters will be dealing with next season. They turned up at the very end of season 1 and used the One Power to create a tidal wave, so you know they mean business.

Judkins remembers these guys blowing his mind when they turned up in the second Wheel of Time book, The Great Hunt. “We always talked about it as kind of the Spanish galleons arriving on the shore of the New World,” he said. “Except our characters are in the New World. So who are these people, where did they come from and what do they want is a big part of Season 2. I think Sharon Gilham, our costume designer, did an unbelievable job with the Seanchan. I think people will be astounded.”

We don’t know when The Wheel of Time season 2 will premiere, but it will be after Amazon debuts The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power in September. We’re crossing our fingers that we’ll get to see new episodes this year.

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