The Wheel of Time season 3 explores Tanchico, Rhuidean and Sea Folk culture
By Daniel Roman
The Wheel of Time season 2 may have ended, but Prime Video is wasting no time getting the hype train rolling for season 3. This past weekend was New York City Comic Con, and one of the many shows to debut new details was The Wheel of Time. On Saturday, a panel including executive producer Marigo Kehoe, VFX supervisor Andy Scrase and VFX producer Brian Shows discussed details about filming season 2, with a surprise appearance by showrunner Rafe Judkins at the end to tease season 3. Then on Sunday, Judkins was on hand for an extensive Q&A following a screening of the season 2 finale at the Whitby Hotel in New York City.
The result is that we have a wealth of new information about The Wheel of Time season 3. From new locations to new cultures and more, let’s go over the six biggest highlights.
The Aiel Waste, Rhuidean and Dreamwalking are in The Wheel of Time season 3
Kicking things off, the very thing that Judkins revealed is that Rhuidean and the Aiel Waste will both feature in season 3. Season 2 combined elements of the second and third Wheel of Time books, The Great Hunt and The Dragon Reborn, but season 3 will primarily just be adapting the fourth book, The Shadow Rising. The Aiel Waste is a major new location we’ll explore. Rhuidean is an abandoned city at the heart of it which holds a lot of magic and is very significant for the series. We expected both of these, but it’s beyond exciting to get the official confirmation:
"One nice thing about season 3 is that we really get to focus on one book this season, which is book four, which is one of the best books in the entire series. So I’m glad that we get to really spend a whole season doing it. And I just flew back about 36 hours through 3 continents and arrived here today ’cause I was standing in Rhuidean and then I flew here. So that is one thing that fans will get to see for sure in season three: the Aiel Waste."
The Aiel have a very unique culture, which Robert Jordan explores with great depth in the book series. According to Judkins, the show is leaning into this as well.
“One of the other cool things that we get to explore is the culture of these incredible warriors in The Wheel of Time world,” he said during a surprise appearance at Saturday’s panel, which was attended by The Hollywood Reporter. “We get to go really meet them and see them go to where they’re from. We also get to explore with some of our characters the world of dreams and dreamwalking, and I think that’s a really cool thing to get to do in season three because it is one of those unique elements in Wheel of Time that no other book series really has. So we really explore that world and season 3.”
The Wheel of Time’s second season started getting viewers acclimated to Tel’Aran’Rhiod, the world of dreams. Without going too deep into spoilers, let’s just say the Aiel have their own methods for navigating this otherworldly plain.