The Wheel of Time season 2 will have “a bit of a time jump”

It’s been a minute since our last journey into the sprawling fantasy world of Prime Video’s The Wheel of Time. Based on the beloved fantasy series by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson, The Wheel of Time is prepping its second season. The first received mixed to positive reactions from audiences and critics, and this in spite of filming having been derailed pretty hard by COVID-19 restrictions.

Since then, work on the series has been humming along. Season 2 wrapped filming last May, and showrunner Rafe Judkins revealed in December that scripts for season 3 had been written. But production proper on season 3 hasn’t started quite yet; expect that to begin sometime later this year.

Season 2 has the potential to be a huge, daring leap forward for the series. Like season 1, it will explore events from several of Jordan’s novels. Season 2 will combine Books 2 and 3 of the series, The Great Hunt and The Dragon Reborn, into one epic season of TV.

How that will look has been somewhat of an open question. What storylines will fall by the wayside? What ones will be built out with new elements? We got some new information from Marcus Rutherford (Perrin Aybara), who revealed in an interview with Nottingham news outlet LeftLion that season 2 will have “a bit of a time jump” from season 1.

Season 2 of The Wheel of Time will have a “time jump”

“In series one, the naivety of our characters is at the forefront of the story. But in season two, there’s a bit of a time jump,” Rutherford explained. “They’ve started to accept and have faith in the prophecy and their destiny, so there’s more of a maturity to them. It’s darker too, more real and a bit more brutal. The innocence of those kids we find in the village in episode one is long gone, and they’re becoming a bit more grown-up. I’m really excited for people to see it.”

The finale of season 1 wrapped up the events of Robert Jordan’s first Wheel of Time book, The Eye of the World. It also set up what comes next for its large cast of characters. Some of those characters, like Nynaeve (Zoë Robbins), Egwene (Madeleine Madden), and Perrin, seem poised to play out their storylines from Book 2. Others, like Rand al’Thor (Josha Stradowski) and Mat Cauthon (Barney Harris in season 1, Dónal Finn in season 2), were gearing up for their Book 3 arcs. And Rosamund Pike’s Aes Sedai sorceress Moiraine was dealing with something completely new. A short time jump could level the playing field a bit and help all those disparate plotlines move forward together.

Perrin will reportedly have golden eyes in The Wheel of Time season 2

Perrin has a huge role to play in The Wheel of Time. He begins the story as a humble blacksmith, discovers he has special abilities (including the power to commune with wolves) and eventually becomes someone very different from who he was in the beginning.

“It was really interesting to play a character who’s a lot more reserved, quite quiet, in a show of such scale,” Rutherford said. “A lot of the other characters are more confident, whereas his development is a bit slower, which I think is quite rewarding for the audience to see. It takes him a bit of time to come into his own, but he grows a lot in the first series, and will do so even more in the second.”

One of those ways we’re expecting Perrin to grow in season 2 is by further developing his ability to commune with wolves and traverse the “Wolf Dream,” otherwise known as the dream world Tel’aran’rhiod. We know that Elyas Machera, Perrin’s first mentor in the ways of the Wolfbrother, will appear in season 2.

He’ll undergo small cosmetic changes too. Shortly after discovering his abilities in the novels, Perrin gets the nickname “Perrin Goldeneyes,” on account of the fact that his eyes take on a golden hue. There were brief moments where Perrin’s eyes flashed golden in season 1, but they never fully changed color like in the books.

However, The Wheel of Time YouTube fan channel WoT Up!  reports that Perrin may have golden eyes moving forward in the series. According to one of their anonymous sources, Rutherford wore contacts while filming season 2 and is set to do so for the remainder of the series. While we have to treat the news skeptically until we get confirmation, it’s an exciting prospect for book fans.

Season 2 of The Wheel of Time may introduce Faile Bashere

Rounding out our Perrin-related Wheel of Time news, another source at WoT Up! claims that Faile Bashere, Perrin’s primary romantic interest in the series (sorry Berelain stans), is being introduced in season 2. If true, this would be another example of the television show mixing things up.

Faile has a brief cameo in the third book, The Dragon Reborn, before becoming a much more central part of the story in book 4, The Shadow Rising. As such, a lot of fans were assuming we wouldn’t meet her until season 3, which Rafe Judkins has confirmed will cover the events of The Shadow Rising. But if this new report is true, we’ll be seeing Faile during season 2.

Given how packed the season is shaping up to be, it wouldn’t be a big shock if the show did something similar to the books and gave Faile a brief introduction before she became a bigger part of the cast in future seasons. The Wheel of Time already used this tactic with Min (Kae Alexander), who cropped up briefly near the end of season 1 but will be very important to later sections of the story.

Regardless of whether season 2 includes Faile, The Shadow Rising features a big set piece involving Perrin, Faile and the Two Rivers, which WoT Up! claims is slated to be a major part of season 3. So the chances are very high we’ll see more of her then.

The Wheel of Time season 2 is due to hit Amazon Prime Video sometime later this year.

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h/t CBR.com