Last month, Amazon Prime Video cancelled The Wheel of Time, its sweeping epic fantasy show based on the books by Robert Jordan. It's been a roller-coaster ride since, as fans have grappled with having the show axed right as it delivered its best season yet. What do we do with all these feelings?
Following the death of Robert Jordan in 2007, Mistborn author Brandon Sanderson was brought on board to finish writing the book series. Sanderson was still an up-and-coming author back then, but he did an admirable job completing Jordan's life's work by penning the final three novels in the series: The Gathering Storm (2009), Towers of Midnight (2010), and A Memory of Light (2013).
Sanderson serves as a consulting producer on the Amazon show, though he's aired plenty of issues with it over the course of its run. I'd been waiting to see if he was going to weigh in at all on the cancellation, and now at last he has, in the comments section of one of his recent Weekly Update YouTube videos.
"I wasn't really involved," Sanderson wrote. "Don't know anything more than what is public. They told me they were renegotiating, and thought it would work out. Then I heard nothing for 2 months. Then I learned this from the news like everyone else."
"I do think it's a shame, as while I had my problems with the show, it had a fanbase who deserved better than a cancelation after the best season," he added. "I won't miss being largely ignored; they wanted my name on it for legitimacy, but not to involve me in any meaningful way."
Brandon Sanderson was not involved "in any meaningful way" in The Wheel of Time show
Sanderson's words don't come as too much of a surprise. Back when the season 2 finale aired, he did a livestream watch with YouTubers Matt Hatch of The Dusty Wheel and Daniel Greene, and it was clear he had been waiting for a chance to vent about some of his problems with the show. But of course he's a class act and he doesn't want to just crap on it here at the finish line. He does a good job of expressing empathy for those who are stricken over the cancellation, while still making it clear that the powers that be behind the series could have relied on him more and didn't.
While Sanderson isn't always the absolute authority on The Wheel of Time, especially when it comes to the early books which he mostly interacted with as a fan, I do still think the show missed a huge opportunity here. Few people know the ins and outs of these characters and their story arcs like Sanderson, and I'm sure that if they wanted him to work more closely with the production, he probably would have. Instead, it rolled on mostly without him. Whether that was better or worse for the series, we may never know. But I've read a lot of Sanderson's work, and it's hard for me to imagine he wouldn't have made some valuable contributions given the chance.
Before anyone decides to blame Sanderson's lack of involvement on showrunner Rafe Judkins, let's just reiterate that this seems to be a top-down problem. Back in April of 2024, Sanderson explained at C2E2 that he had pushed hard to change an early story arc that he — and many fans — didn't like: the fridging of Perrin Aybara's wife in the series premiere. Rafe Judkins fought to support Sanderson's suggested changes, and was overruled by the powers that be at Amazon.
"Rafe really went to bat for me," Sanderson said. "I presented a completely different thing to do with Perrin that would still get what they wanted. Minor spoilers for the television show’s first episode - but instead of the first big event that happens, [my idea was] what if he wounds Master Luhhan? He's worried about the rage inside of him - you can get all the same beats without doing the thing that you did, and then he also won't be traumatized for the entire first season. And he can actually go on fun adventures with friends."
"They took it all the way to the higher-ups and fought for my version of it," Sanderson continued, "and they said no."
I get the feeling that Judkins is one of the reasons Sanderson was involved at all in the production; without him, I think it's likely Sanderson would have been sidelined even more than he already was. That's not to say they always agreed on everything, but without Judkins, I imagine Sanderson would have been ignored even further.
Regardless of all that, The Wheel of Time currently rests in a state of uncertainty. Following its cancellation, fans have banded together to try to save the show. If you want to join their efforts, head over to SaveWoT.com to learn more.
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