Last year, Amazon debuted its TV adaptation of Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time series. Since then, Amazon has been hard at work whipping season 2 into shape.
The Wheel of Time features an ensemble cast of characters, led by the Aes Sedai sorceress Moiraine Damodred (Rosamund Pike). Season 2 will find the characters splitting up in different directions, and not all of the ones we met in the first season will reappear, at least not yet.
Thom Merrilin sits out The Wheel of Time season 2 (but should be back for season 3)
One character we now know for certain won’t be back for the show’s sophomore season is Thom Merrilin, the gleeman played Alexandre Willaume. Willaume recently appeared on an episode of The Mighty Dragon podcast where he broke the news. “I’m not in season 2 , ’cause my character, Thom Merrilin, is not in for season 2, but he should be in for season 3,” the actor said.
While this announcement might alarm some fans, it’s important to remember that Thom doesn’t feature a whole lot in the second Wheel of Time book, The Great Hunt. He only appears in two chapters of that novel; he doesn’t become prominent again until Book 4, The Shadow Rising. Thom has such a large presence in the series overall that it’s easy to forget how little he features in some of the early books.
When last we saw Merrilin, he was fighting off a Myrdraal to give Rand and Mat time to escape and continue their journey to Tar Valon. As was the case in the book, the show leaves it ambiguous whether Thom survived that encounter. But obviously he does…sorry for the spoiler. We’ll see more of Thom yet, Amazon willing.
Season 2 of The Wheel of Time is expected to release sometime in 2023.
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