Brandon Sanderson is a man who wears many hats. Right now, he's hard at work on his third Mistborn series, titled Ghostbloods; he's working on a television adaptation of the Cosmere, the shared universe that encompasses all his adult fantasy stories, with Apple TV; he's got a new book out in the world of his Skyward series called Blightfall, which he co-authored with Janci Patterson; another new book coming out on December 8, appropriately titled, The Fires of December; and far too many other things to list them all here.
Suffice to say, Sanderson is busy. Last week he sat down for a far-ranging interview with IGN, where he talked about several of the things mentioned above, as well as weighed in on George R.R. Martin's struggle to finish The Winds of Winter — including setting the record straight, again, on whether he would ever consider finishing Martin's books if he were asked.
Once upon a time, Sanderson also co-authored the final three volumes of The Wheel of Time, Robert Jordan's long-running fantasy series about a group of friends from an idyllic country town who are destined to join a millennia-long fight against the ominous Dark One. He also served as a consulting producer on Prime Video's television adaptation, which was unfortunately canceled after its third season in 2025.
The normally verbose Sanderson didn't say too much about The Wheel of Time's cancelation when it happened, aside from that the show's fans "deserved better than a cancelation after the best season," while he himself wouldn't miss "being largely ignored" by the production team despite their desire to keep his name attached to the project for "legitimacy." But now that there's some distance, Sanderson is finally opening up a bit more about it.
Sanderson wishes The Wheel of Time stayed closer to the books
"It's a tragedy," Sanderson said of the show's cancelation. "In part for the cast and crew, whom I knew worked extremely hard, only to have their story end up unfinished. I don't know if it would ever be possible to get a better Moiraine than Rosamund [Pike], for example."
However, Sanderson does understand some of the issues with The Wheel of Time from an adaptation perspective. It notoriously divided fans down the middle, with many loving it for what it was, while others lamented the many deviations it took from Robert Jordan's books.
"At the same time, I wish I'd been able to persuade them to stick to the books in a few key aspects," Sanderson said. "I'm not one who thinks nothing can ever change in an adaptation, but there were alterations made here that led to an ever widening gulf between Robert Jordan's vision and the show. I feel there was a way to do what Amazon wanted and what the fans wanted, and maintain a little more clarity as to the themes of the books."
This isn't the first time Sanderson has brought up his problems with The Wheel of Time television show. Most infamously, he live-streamed a watch of the season 2 finale with YouTubers Daniel Greene and Matt Hatch of The Dusty Wheel where he aired some of his many issues with the show's adaptation choices. He does a much better job here of balancing his honesty about the things that some fans — including himself — got hung up on, while still acknowledging the show's strengths.
Will Brandon Sanderson be involved in the next Wheel of Time adaptation?
All this begs the question: if The Wheel of Time were ever to be adapted again, would Sanderson be open to being involved? "If they want me! They might not, as I was kind of loud behind the scenes about my dislike of some of these changes," he said.
Sanderson also clarified that he has no current working relationship with the film rightholders of The Wheel of Time. "I have an excellent relationship with Harriet [McDougal, Jordan's widow/editor] and her team. I'm publishing Wheel of Time leatherbound editions right now, and worked extensively with Harriet and Maria on perfecting those. I have not spoken to the tv/film rights holders in many years," he explained.
The film rights for The Wheel of Time are something of a sticky subject. They've been in the hands of Rick Selvage and Larry Mondragon of iwot Studios (formerly Red Eagle Entertainment) for several decades now, which has signed them off to partners like Sony, who then partnered with Amazon on the recent TV show. Selvage and Mondragon have announced a ton of new Wheel of Time projects over the past few years, including an animated series, movies, and video games. Thus far, none have come to fruition, and iwot's track record doesn't inspire much confidence.
For now, we watch and we wait to see what new chapter awaits The Wheel of Time, whenever it may come to pass. As for whether Brandon Sanderson will be involved when it does, time will tell.
In the meantime, the leatherbound edition of the first book in the series, The Eye of the World, is currently available from Sanderson's company Dragonsteel Books. You can check it out here.
Add us as a preferred source on Google