Earlier this month The Wheel of Time wrapped up its third season on Prime Video, and we're just now catching our breath. We weren't the only ones who were over the moon about The Wheel of Time season 3; it's far and away the best-reviewed season of the series, and is still topping the charts on Prime Video nearly two weeks after it aired its finale. If Amazon could hurry up and renew the show for seasons 4 through 8, I think we'd all breathe a little easier.
The Wheel of Time's rise is all the more impressive considering the rocky journey it's had to get here. Back when the first season was filming, the show faced the daunting challenge of having to shut down mid-production because of the COVID-19 pandemic, only to subsequently lose one of its core cast members — Barney Harris, who played Mat Cauthon — before filming resumed. Dónal Finn replaced Harris as Mat starting in season 2, and by season 3 had firmly settled into the role.
The ripple effect of Mat's recast can't be understated. We already knew that The Wheel of Time had to basically give season 2 a "complete rewrite" following Harris' departure. We also had a good idea of when he left the series: roughly around the time the show was filming the Waygate sequence at the end of Episode 106, which is why Mat doesn't go into the Ways with the rest of his friends like he does in the books.
A documentary has now been released which sheds even more light on the exact timing of Harris' departure, and how it affected the early seasons of the show. Titled "Unraveling The Wheel of Time," this two-part documentary was originally shown as part of The Wheel of Time season 3 virtual premiere screening for fans. But it's also available on Prime Video under the Extras for season 3, and the information it reveals is fascinating.
"Our first season, we were finishing the third block of four blocks the day that we shut down for COVID," showrunner Rafe Judkins said. "And so, to be so close to the end, and know that everything was going to be in jeopardy after that. So many shows didn't come back after COVID. The whole world just felt like it was kind of, like, collapsing. And then, on top of COVID, we had to completely rewrite the last two episodes. I mean...so much had happened to us before the show even premiered that it sometimes boggles the mind."
Judkins gets emotional saying those final words, and I don't blame him. As he mentioned, The Wheel of Time films episodes in "blocks" of two apiece. Block three would have been episodes 5 and 6, while block four would have been the final two. One of the final outdoor scenes that was filmed for season 1 was the gang entering the Waygate, which is the final scene in Episode 106. The Wheel of Time crew tried to film it during February of 2020 when Storm Ciara hit the Czech Republic, and due to bad weather conditions had to return multiple times over more than a week to try and get the shots they needed. Director Salli Richardson-Whitfield even had to stand-in for Madeleine Madden as Egwene on one filming day because the actress was under the weather. The obstacles for filming that Waygate scene were unrelenting.
"I think it was like a cursed location," said Daniel Henney, who plays Moiraine's Warder, Lan.
Fortunately, The Wheel of Time managed to film everything it needed for the Waygate scene and moved production back indoors to Jordan Studios in Prague to work on some scenes set in Tar Valon. It managed to film for just a few more weeks before COVID shut it down on March 13, 2020.
"The last scene that we shot before we were shut down for COVID was Siuan's meeting with Egwene and Nynaeve," said Judkins. "And it was really emotional for all of us. It's a scene about what is happening in the world, and that the world is changing, and the world is turning, and that they're gonna have to step up and be ready to face that. And it is just so emotional how it came through from those actors on that day, because I had COVID symptoms and was in a hazmat room in a hospital in Prague. And the world was kind of falling apart around us."
The Wheel of Time filmed Mat going through the Waygate
Six months later, The Wheel of Time was finally able to resume production in early September, 2020. It was at this point that the production had to cope with the loss of Harris, whose reasons for leaving still haven't been made public.
"As we came back to try and work under these very, very difficult conditions, it became clear that...that Barney, who was playing Mat, was going to leave the show," recalled Rosamund Pike (Moiraine). "And we still had two episodes to shoot. We'd got up to the point of us going into the Waygate and into the Ways. And Mat, who certainly came through the gate when we shot it, was certainly not gonna be on the other side when he was no longer a member of the cast. You know, he was luckily, the last member to come through the Waygate. We just had to recut it to mean that he didn't come through."
"Mat's character was such a big piece of what happened with the group the last two episodes, and so that had to all just change," said Judkins. "And then it also changed the ending places for the characters as they moved into season 2."
How would Mat going through the Waygate have changed The Wheel of Time show?
In the books, Mat does indeed go through the Waygate with his friends. At the end of the first book, The Eye of the World, the entire party goes on a daring raid into the Blight. They reach the Eye of the World together, where they're attacked by several Forsaken, Rand faces Ishamael for the first time, and then he accidentally uses magical traveling to shoot himself over to Tarwin's Gap, where he single-handedly obliterates the Trolloc army descending on the city of Fal Dara.
At the start of the second book, Mat, Rand, and Perrin all set off on a hunt for the Horn of Valere after it's stolen by the Darkfriend Padan Fain. Fain also takes Mat's corrupted dagger, which draws Mat into the hunt with a feverish desperation reminiscent of Gollum from The Lord of the Rings. The early episodes of The Wheel of Time set up this potential conflict between Mat and Padan Fain, but by the time the payoff of Fain steeling the Horn came at the end of season 1, Harris had already departed. It seems safe to assume that Perrin and Loial's somewhat random confrontation with Fain in the season finale probably came about because Mat was no longer in the picture. It's hard to guess at how many other things about those final two episodes of The Wheel of Time season 1 changed as a result.
"During COVID we didn't get to have the payoffs for the characters that we wanted to have at the end of season 1," Judkins said, emphasizing that the goal for season 2's character payoffs was to "do it right."
And do it right they did. The Wheel of Time season 2 was a massive step up, with some flashes of brilliance. Season 3 is even better, and it's not even close. The Wheel of Time has well and truly hit its stride, and any speed bumps which came about as a result of COVID or the recast of Mat Cauthon are in the rearview. Here's hoping for an even better season 4, whenever Amazon gives it the greenlight.
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