The third season of The Wheel of Time will air soon on Prime Video. So far, it's looking terrific. Trailer? Epic. First 11 minutes? Fire. Source material? Best in show. The runway is set for this epic fantasy series to take off.
There are 14 books in The Wheel of Time book series, and the TV show has had to make some cuts as the story transitions from page to screen. In general, I think showrunner Rafe Judkins has made smart choices when it comes to picking what to cut and streamline; he's clearly a fan who's keeping the long game in mind.
For instance, at this point in the book series, lead character Rand al'Thor (Josha Stradowski) should make his way towards a fortress called the Stone of Tear, where he lays claim to a legendary sword called Callandor. That happens at the end of the third book in the series, The Dragon Reborn. For reasons we don't have time to go into, the show hasn't incorporated that story yet; instead, in season 3, Rand will skip forward to his storyline from the fourth book in the series, The Shadow Rising, where he journeys into the Aiel Waste to win over its people to his side.
Some fans may be upset that the show is skipping over the Stone of Tear, but Judkins assures them he has a plan. "We have a really clear plan for the Stone of Tear, and it’s something that if we’re lucky enough to continue the show, you’ll see how it plays out, but it’s not been forgotten. You get a lot of dialogue about it this season. You hear the word Callandor in season three," he told Nerdist.
Rosamund Pike, who plays Moiraine and serves as an executive producer on the show, backed Judkins up while talking to Radio Times. "We haven't neglected the Stone of Tear, we've just rearranged the order," she said. "There'll be debate about it, but instead of Rand, as you would expect, his next point on his journey would be to go and get Callandor from the Stone of Tear, we are going into the Aiel Waste first, because he needs to discover who he is."
"Obviously in the novels, there's loads of opportunity for the internal battles of Rand, coming to terms with being the Dragon Reborn - but we need to make that active. We can't do subjective thinking on film. So we need him to go and discover who he is by going to the land of where he comes from. So we're going to the Aiel Waste first and I hope you'll understand and appreciate why."
I suspect I will. I'm currently working my way through The Wheel of Time books, and I've noticed how Judkins and his team have layered in mentions of things that only become relevant later. In his Nerdist interview, Judkins makes reference to things they have teed up for seasons 4 and 5. The only issue now is whether season 3 will be successful enough for Prime Video to renew the show and let him get that far.
Why is Mat's story changing from The Wheel of Time books?
Another big change being made in the upcoming season involves Mat Cauthon (Dónal Finn), who in The Shadow Rising accompanies Rand and Moiraine to the Aiel Waste. In the fourth season of the show, he'll instead join Nynaeve (Zoë Robins) and Elayne (Ceara Coveney) as they travel to the city of Tanchico, on the hunt for members of the Black Ajah.
"We were very focused on this being a great season for Mat and giving him a lot of stuff to do, especially with Dónal [Finn] coming in and playing the role and him blowing the horn at the end of season two," Judkins explained. "It was one of the biggest—I mean people will die, but it’s one of the only big things we’re changing from book four for this season. Especially in comparison with changes we’ve made previously. It’s the only thing moving out of the Aiel Waste storyline."
Mat has a decent number of things to do in the Aiel Waste, but Judkins hints that he'll still get to them, just in a different location. "A big piece of that was that Rand’s major relationships in the Aiel Waste that he’s dealing with are Moiraine and Egwene. Then we also wanted to do the storyline of Lan teaching Rand to use a sword, and so if suddenly Mat is there too, then Mat is fourth on the call sheet and becomes a much smaller, less important character," Judkins continued. "It was really important to have Mat someplace that he is at the forefront of the storyline. We’ve also spent half a season with Nynaeve and Elayne together already at the end of season two and we always want to switch up those dynamics. So pulling Mat’s storyline from book three and having him go after the girls and stay with the girls instead, it gives a totally different dynamic to the Nynaeve-Elayne relationship."
"And we know there are a couple things he does in the Aiel storyline that are important. It doesn’t mean that he won’t do those things."
With the volatile Mat around, Judkins describes the Tanchico storyline as "basically a sitcom," which I'm hoping is a bit of an exaggeration. But where Mat goes, hijinks do tent to follow.
"It’s our job every season to bring the audience to at least one new world, but hopefully two, and this season we get to go to the Aiel Waste and to Tanchico. And they couldn’t be more different," Judkins said. "The Aiel Waste is like basically a Scandi film in the desert. Everything is very quiet and dry and thoughtful, and the conversations are the same and the characters’ lives there are the same. Tanchico is the opposite. It’s vibrant and unhinged and dangerous and funny, and we have characters there who get to experience that as well. Having Mat and Elayne and Min and Nynaeve in Tanchico, you’re in a totally different kind of show when you’re in Tanchico than when you’re in the Aiel Waste. That’s one great thing that Wheel of Time can do that not a lot of other shows can."
The fourth season will also take us back to the Two Rivers as well as spend time in the White Tower of the Aes Sedai in Tar Valon. It's the most sprawling season yet, one of the reasons it feels like the most exciting. "To be able to balance those things against each other, that was a big piece of the world building we wanted to do this season," Judkins said.
The third season of The Wheel of Time will premiere on Prime Video on Thursday, March 13.
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