40 fantasy and sci-fi shows to watch this year

The Wheel of Time season 2

The wheel turns, and TV shows come and pass.

There may not be any new episodes of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power coming this year, but Amazon’s other big fantasy show, The Wheel of Time, will return. Based on the novels by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson, The Wheel of Time is an enormous story of magic, adventure, and war set in one of the most richly realized fantasy worlds of all time. The first season of Amazon’s adaptation was solid on the whole, though some of the production difficulties brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic showed onscreen, particularly in the final two episodes.

This will not be the case when The Wheel of Time returns for its second season. Season 1 left off with a few monstrous cliffhangers, such as Rand al’Thor (Josha Stradowski) setting off on his own after defeating a mysterious man at the Eye of the World and the revelation that the Aes Sedai Moiraine (Rosamund Pike) is cut off from the One Power. Season 2 is slated to adapt both the second and third books in Jordan’s fantasy saga, The Great Hunt and The Dragon Reborn, which means there’s quite a lot of material for it to pull from. We already know we’ll be meeting several important new characters this time around, such as several prominent members of the desert-dwelling Aiel tribe as well as more Aes Sedai sorceresses, so the excitement level is high.

As for when we’ll be watching it, The Wheel of Time season 2 has finally set a release date! It premieres on Prime Video on September 1.