The Wheel of Time, Amazon's adaptation of Robert Jordan's epic book series, aired its first season on Prime Video in 2021, and the reviews were mixed. We liked it, more or less, but even we had to admit that the final action scene at Fal Dara looked kinda weird, probably in large part because the show was filming during the first stretch of COVID lockdowns and filming was very difficult. Actor Barney Harris leaving the show partway through also hurt, which meant they had to rewrite Mat's story and find a new actor to play him in season 2.
They got through that, recasting Mat with actor Dónal Finn. Despite the roadblocks, season 2 was better than season 1 in pretty much every way. And more or less everyone agrees that season 3 is another step up. Check out the Rotten Tomatoes ratings for the show season by season:
Season | Critics Score | Fan Score |
|---|---|---|
1 | 81% | 61% |
2 | 86% | 81% |
3 | 97% | 83% |
It's the same if you look at IMDb ratings for The Wheel of Time. Ratings for season 1 episodes start out modest, mostly in the 7-8-point range. In season 2, it goes up into the 8-9-point range, and by season 3, the show is getting its first episodes with scores of over 9.0. Clearly, the show is on the rise.
The next question is: has the show improved enough for Amazon and Sony to want to renew it for more seasons? There are 14 Wheel of Time books in all, and the show has so far only adapted four of them; there's a lot left, and showrunner Rafe Judkins has a plan for how he wants to adapt it.
We'd love to hear about a renewal announcement sooner rather than later, although we'll take later over no announcement at all. Amazon announced that it had renewed The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power for a third season fully four months after the second season had aired ended, so I guess we have a while to go before we need to start panicking. All the same, the more time Judkins and his team have to work on this epic fantasy series, the better.
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