See how the VFX came together on The Wheel of Time season 2 finale

Believe it or not, The Wheel of Time uses a lot of special effects. I know, I thought that Rand al’Thor killing a crowd of soldiers with orange swoopy magic blasts was done with puppetry, too. In reality, the special effects artists on shows like this work extremely hard to bring them to life. That includes the folks as London VFX studio Framestore, headed by VFX Supervisor Patricia Llaguno.

Framestore delivered 520 visual effects shot for The Wheel of Time season 2. In their new VFX reel, they mostly show off their work on the VFX-heavy season 2 finale, which featured a battle in the city of Falme, where Rand and his friends faced down the Forsaken sorcerer Ishamael. Watch below!

Although there are plenty of shots that are purely made of VFX, including lots of crowd scenes, I like the ones where VFX is combined with practical sets. You know that skyscaping tower where Rand and friends faced down Ishamael during the climax of the finale? It turns out it’s just a little knub of a building in the desert:

What can I say, movie magic is magical.

Watch the VFX reel for The Wheel of Time season 2 finale

I also like how it breaks down the scene where Mat blows on the Horn of Valere and summons the heroes of the past to help him in his fight against the Seanchan. It looks like there was extensive pre-visualization for that scene.

The third season of The Wheel of Time is currently filming. With luck, we might see it in 2024…although the pessimist in me thinks 2025 is more likely. In the meanwhile, you can stream the first two reasons right now on Amazon Prime Video.

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