It's good news all the way down for The Wheel of Time, Prime Video's fantasy show based on the iconic book series by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson. Just this week, showrunner Rafe Judkins was on hand with Rosamund Pike (Moiraine), Daniel Henney (Lan), executive producer Justine Juel Gillmer and costume designer Sharon Gilham at the Deadline Studio at Prime Experience, where they talked up season 2 and what to expect in season 3. There, Judkins dropped the very cryptic tease that season 3 will open with a "bonkers," 15-minute set piece that features "a bunch of women in their 40s and 50s shredding each other." Sounds like good times await in The Wheel of Time season 3!
But when exactly will we get to watch it? While The Wheel of Time season 3 wrapped filming in March, Prime Video still has not publicly announced a release date. However, signs are starting to pile up that the show will premiere in 2025. In fact, just this week Variety reported that star Rosamund Pike has joined the cast of the movie Now You See Me 3, and included a brief snippet about Pike's other projects likeThe Wheel of Time. There's "a third season of the series set to release in 2025," the article reads. The Hollywood Reporter also shared the news of Pike's casting in Now You See Me 3, adding that she also "plays the sorceress Moiraine Damodred in Amazon’sThe Wheel of Time series, which launches its third season next year."
This is the first time we've had major Hollywood trade outlets give any sort of solid release window for The Wheel of Time season 3. So either the people at these outlets knows something the rest of us don't, or they're just pulling stuff out of a hat, miraculously, at the same time. You decide!
The Wheel of Time season 3 all but confirmed for 2025 release date
That's not the only sign that we're looking at a 2025 release date. A few months back, The Wheel of Time news channel WoT Up! interviewed Larry Mondragon of iwot productions along with the heads of Aether Games, a company which is producing a tie-in Wheel of Time digital card game. During that interview, Aether Games lead developer Jens Peeters let slip that they expected their digital card game to be available "by early 2025...definitely before season 3 of The Wheel of Time from Amazon."
For a 2025 release date to get thrown around once may be a fluke, but to hear it multiple times from multiple sources makes it pretty likely that there's some sort of behind-the-scenes release window already set. Considering that we're still expecting The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 2 to premiere sometime in 2024, it would make sense for Amazon to hold back The Wheel of Time for next year. We still don't have a release date for The Rings of Power season 2, but it's been done filming for a long while and we expect it to premiere later in the year. There probably wouldn't be much time to squeeze The Wheel of Time in before the calendar flips to 2025 after that.
Rosamund Pike and Daniel Henney recall filming The Wheel of Time's beautiful season 2 beach scene
In addition to the tantalizing information about The Wheel of Time season 3, Rosamund Pike and Daniel Henney also spoke to Deadline about filming one of their most memorable scenes from the show's second season: the moment on the beach in the season 2 finale, "What Was Meant To Be," where Moiraine and Land re-establish their bond as Aes Sedai and warder.
“It was insane,” recalled Henny. “They cleaned this beautiful beach up. We had this amazing sunset and we were shooting the scene that we rehearsed in her hotel. We kind of came up with the beats of how we were going to rebond with the help of her amazing movement coach. And we found what we liked. And then once we got to the beach, it just completely took over and it was a real moment and we’re really proud of it.”
“The Wheel of Time never does anything easy,” added Pike. “Dakhla lies in a place where people have never shot before. There’s no infrastructure for filming. It’s a place where the tide is whimsical and difficult and might give you something spectacular or it might just not cooperate. There’s a 50% chance that on two days a month the tide is going to do something spectacular. And Rafe bet on the tide doing that on these two days and said, ‘Okay, we’re going to shoot for it.’ On that day the tide did this spectacular thing, which is to encircle this white sand dune in a completely different color from the rest of the sand around it. It looms white as a sort of beautiful humpback whale in the middle of the desert. And we got it. It was one of those moments, which we have had many on the last season too, where you think there’s some kind of Godly work going on.”
We may be waiting until 2025 for The Wheel of Time season 3, but that just leaves plenty of time for a rewatch of the first two seasons. Now, next time you watch Moiraine and Lan on that beach outside Falme, you'll have an even better idea of what a special moment it was!
To stay up to date on everything fantasy, science fiction, and WiC, follow our all-encompassing Facebook page and Twitter account, sign up for our exclusive newsletter and check out our YouTube channel.