The Wheel of Time boss talks exploring polyamory in season 2 and beyond

Late last month, The Wheel of Time fans gathered for JordanCon, which celebrates the work of the fames fantasy author. These days, the beloved book series has grown beyond the pages of Jordan’s novels, which were completed after his untimely passing by Brandon Sanderson. Amazon Prime is giving fans another take on the series with their TV adaptation.

The first season of the show premiered in November of 2021, and since then, we’ve all been eager to see what lies ahead for Rand al’Thor, Perrin Aybara, Nynaeve al’Maera, and the rest. Several members of the cast and crew were on hand virtually at JordanCon for a Q&A, and they dropped all sorts of hints about what’s coming in season 2.

The Wheel of Time showrunner on expanding LGBTQIA+ romances from the books

The Wheel of Time show has included more in the way of LGBTQIA+ relationships, which are hinted at in Robert Jordan’s novels but never explicitly shown, such as the one between Moiraine (Rosamund Pike) and Siuan Sanche (Sophie Okonedo). “I think one of the maybe, emotional changes we made that has received a ton of positive response has been the Siuan/Moiraine relationship and seeing that brought more to the forefront,” Judkins said. “You know, it does the same thing we’re always trying to do which is just deepen those characters, understand their emotions, understand why they’re doing the things they do so that people want to follow along with them the way they do when they read the books.”

When asked if The Wheel of Time season 2 would add more LGBTQIA+ relationships, Judkins brought things back around to using the books as a guide. “I mean, we predominantly in the show have been trying to take things that were suggested or hinted at being LGBTQIA+ relationships in the books and sort of expanding on them, bringing those out, letting us know more about those characters and their feelings for each other,” he said. “Or taking things that we don’t know what the relationship is between those two people and giving them something.”

"And I think that’s what we’ll continue to do with the show the whole way through the series. You will see us lean into those places that are already so present in the books and then try to find room to tell more of the emotional history of some of those characters. And a lot of times that will include their relationships with people be they of the same gender, a different one, or ungendered."

Polyamory in The Wheel of Time

Another great example of where The Wheel of Time has explored relationships that were only hinted at in the novels is with the Aes Sedai Alanna and her Warders, Ihvon and Maksim (Owein in the books). It is hinted that part of the reason Alanna keeps multiple warders is romantic, but since she never had her own point-of-view chapters, we weren’t sure.

According to Judkins, we’ll be seeing more these relationships in season 2. “Our approach to polyamorous relationships is the same as our approach to any other relationships on the show. We’re trying to take what’s there in the books. Try to give you more insight into the emotional interior of all of those characters and understand what they feel and why they do the things that they do.”

"You see a lot more, actually, in season 2 of one of those relationships: the Alanna, Maksim, and Ihvon relationship. We get to delve into more of that and understand a little bit more how those three parts fit together. And how there’s not just one relationship happening there. There’s three relationships."

This talk of polyamory brings up an interesting question. Be warned: we are going to get into SPOILERS for The Wheel of Time novels below, up through book 6, Lord of Chaos.

The complicated love life of Rand al’Thor

Alanna and her warders are the main polyamorous romance the show is currently exploring, but there’s another big one down the line in the novels: main character Rand al’Thor (Joshua Sadowski) eventually marries multiple women. Rand’s love life has been a thorny topic in The Wheel of Time fan community for a while now; Judkins has previously said that aspect of the story will be changed for TV.

Then again, he’s not opposed to exploring polyamory with Alanna and her Warders. We can’t help but wonder if that isn’t intended to get audiences used to the idea so they can get into Rand’s complicated love life later on.

If the show is going to take that route, there’s one particular problem it will need to take extra care to avoid. In book 6, Lord of Chaos, Alanna actually bonds Rand as a Warder against his will. In the books, this is something that is basically looked on as an act equivalent to rape. So if, on the show, Alanna and her warders are going to be held up as (presumably) a positive model of polyamory, and then Alanna goes on to violate Rand in this way later on, the show could get into hot water, especially as Rand goes on to be polyamorous himself.

I don’t know. I just hope the show can avoid the Stockholm syndrome of it all and actually find a way to bring the romantic elements of the series into focus in a way that is palatable for modern viewers. The show’s writers have been doing a great job with that so far, and the books clearly set Rand up as being interested in multiple women before his run-in with Alanna, so it’s possible they’ll find some clever way to circumvent the issue entirely.

The Wheel of Time season 1 is available to stream on Prime Video. Season 2 is still in production.

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