Why The Wheel of Time (probably) won’t be back in 2024

The Wheel of Time season 3 is one of the most highly anticipated season of TV in the works at Amazon Prime Video. The second season of the Amazon show based on Robert Jordan’s book series ended on a high note, and fans are more excited than ever about what’s next. Naturally, they’re very interested in finding out when the new season of The Wheel of Time is coming out.

Unfortunately, Amazon has not announced when The Wheel of Time season 3 will be released, but the chances of season 3 arriving in 2024 are quite slim, for a few reasons.

The Wheel of Time season 3 is still in production

First of all, the cast and crew are still filming The Wheel of Time season 3. Some of the cast and crew wrapped in the Czech Republic in October 2023 and others are still filming in South Africa, according to WOTseries. Production was rumored to be wrapping up in November, but it doesn’t look like that happened. Filming will likely last at least until the end of the year and possibly into early 2024.

With that production timeline, it’s very unlikely that we’ll see the new season in 2024. Let’s look at what happened with season 2 to get a better idea of what could happen here. The cast and crew wrapped The Wheel of Time season 2 in May 2022. The Second season didn’t premiere on Prime Video until Sept. 1, 2023, more than one year later. There might have been extenuating circumstances that led to that gap between the end of production and the season premiere, but it’s more likely that it’s just how long it takes to bring a season of The Wheel of Time together. There are few shows on TV right now pulling off the combination of world-building, storytelling, VFX, and editing that the cast, creative team, and crew of The Wheel of Time are doing for each season. Those things just take a lot of time and work.

The Rings of Power, The Boys, and House of the Dragon return in 2024

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power and The Boys are also back for new seasons on Prime Video in 2024. The Boys is already confirmed for a 2024 release. The Rings of Power hasn’t been officially confirmed, but it wrapped production in the early summer of 2023 and is expected to be released in 2024.

My best guess is The Boys season 4 will likely arrive in the spring or summer of 2023 with The Rings of Power to follow in the fall. That doesn’t leave a lot of time for a new season of The Wheel of Time, unless it’s a November-December drop.

That seems unlikely, though. Amazon is patient, as we’ve seen, when it comes to dropping its new shows, especially its most popular shows. The Rings of Power and The Boys are two of Amazon’s biggest shows. While The Rings of Power wasn’t affected by the actors’ and writers’ strike, The Boys was. To make sure Amazon has enough shows for 2025, we’d assume they’d have to hold back The Rings of Power, The Boys, or The Wheel of Time. Since The Wheel of Time season 3 has the most work yet to do, it seems the best candidate

On top of that, House of the Dragon, the biggest fantasy show on TV/streaming right now, is coming back to HBO for a new season in the summer of 2024. House of the Dragon and The Rings of Power’s first seasons crossed over a bit, and I think it actually hurt The Rings of Power, although ratings were still good. Clearly, it was an inferior product compared to House of the Dragon. I don’t think Amazon will make the mistake of putting up its two biggest fantasy shows against HBO and House of the Dragon moving forward.

The Wheel of Time season 3 feels like a 2025 release

While I would like to see The Wheel of Time season 3 right now, it just feels like it’s going to be a while until the show returns. It feels like a 2025 release given where things are with production, how Amazon has treated new seasons of its biggest shows in the past, and the overall landscape of TV right now.

Of course, there is a chance we could see The Wheel of Time season 3 on Prime Video in 2024, but it’s a small one. For that to happen, production would need to wrap as soon as possible and everything would have to go right with editing, post-production, and promotion to release the new season in 2024. And it would be late 2024.

Based on how long production and post-production have lasted for the first two seasons, there’s basically no way we’ll see The Wheel of Time season 3 on Prime Video if it wraps later than the first two months of the year.

And the question still remains: why would Prime Video want to roll out new seasons of its three biggest shows within one year? It makes so much more sense for a subscription service like Prime Video, to stagger out shows a few months apart, especially the biggest shows, to keep people subscribed. I think that’s what’s going to happen with The Wheel of Time season 3. Even if it’s ready to be released by the end of the year, I’m guessing it’s getting held until 2025.

That’s what we know about The Wheel of Time season 3 so far. Fingers crossed we find out more soon.

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