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Dónal Finn to Replace Barney Harris as Mat Cauthon for Season 2

Deadline Hollywood reported today that actor Dónal Finn, known for various acting roles including in The Witcher, will replace Barney Harris as Mat Cauthon for season 2 and beyond of Amazon Prime's upcoming Wheel of Time TV show. This news has been confirmed by Amazon Studios.
 
 
 
This is a major surprise because it's almost unheard of to re-cast a main character before season 1 of the show even airs. As of this time, there's no reason given for Harris' departure. It's highly unlikely that it was due to a poor acting performance. If that were the case, then that would've likely been identified very early on during the production of Season 1 and corrected. Harris finished the entirely of season 1. The acting performances of the entire cast were highly praised by showrunner Rafe Judkins and the rest of the team.  
 
In situations like this, it would probably take a major reason for the young actor to be unavailable for season 2. We will not speculate at this time, but overall, the thoughts and well-wishes of the entire Dragonmount community go out to Barney. We hope he is healthy and well. 
 
This re-casting likely caused major headaches for the production of Season 2, which is currently being filmed in the Czech Republic and other European countries. 
 
For more thoughts on this re-casting, check out our TV blogger Adam Whitehead's article on this topic. 
  • Teaser Paragraph:

    Actor Dónal Finn will replace Barney Harris as Mat Cauthon for season 2 of Amazon Prime's upcoming Wheel of Time TV show. 

Jason Denzel
Jason Denzel

Sanaa Hamri joins Season 2 of The Wheel of Time

Katy is a news contributor for Dragonmount. You can follow her as she shares her thoughts on The Wheel of Time TV Show on Instagram and Twitter @KatySedai
 


Deadline reports that Sanaa Hamri will be a director and executive producer for half of season two of Amazon Prime's The Wheel of Time. 
 
Hamri started her career directing music videos before moving to directing movies and television. She has recently been the executive producer and director for the series Empire from 2015-2020. Her films include Something New, Just Wright, and Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2.  A 2015 Vulture article highlights Hamri's production skills coordinating the elaborate musical pieces in Empire. 
 
Season one director Ute Briesewitz also held the executive producer title for the first season. Hamri will likely be managing the creative vision for season two. 
 
The other director confirmed for season two is Thomas Napper.
To catch up on the first season's directors, check out Adam’s article: Meet the WOT directors.   
 
We also recently had an update on the composer for season one. During a Q&A after the teaser trailer release, Showrunner Rafe Judkins revealed that Lorne Balfe will be the composer for the show. 
We heard Balfe's work during the title logo reveal a couple months ago. 
 
  • Teaser Paragraph:

    Hamri joins the team as director and executive producer for Amazon Prime Video's The Wheel of Time.

Katy Sedai
Katy Sedai

The Wheel of Time at New York City Comic Con!

Katy is a news contributor for Dragonmount. You can follow her as she shares her thoughts on The Wheel of Time TV Show on Instagram and Twitter @KatySedai
 
Mark your calendars for more The Wheel of Time TV show content! New York City Comic Con will host a virtual exclusive Q&A with the cast and showrunner on Oct 8th at 2:30 pm ET. The Wheel of Time twitter account confirmed that this is an exclusive streaming/virtual event for the NYCC. If you are in the area, you can buy in person badges, here. For the rest of us, there are digital tickets for $20, here. The digital tickets cover 4 days of show, access to live video panels streamed during the event for most major panels, audio streams for smaller rooms, and VOD access to the recordings for 30 days after.
 
  • Teaser Paragraph:

    NYCC will host an exclusive conversation with Cast and Showrunner on Oct 8th.

Katy Sedai
Katy Sedai

Adam's Wheel of Television: Book to Screen - Tar Valon

Adam Whitehead is Dragonmount's TV blogger. Adam has been writing about film and television, The Wheel of Time, and other genre fiction for over fifteen years, and was a finalist for the Hugo Award for Best Fan Writer in 2020. Be sure to check out his websites, The Wertzone and Atlas of Ice and Fire (including The Wheel of Time Atlas!) as well as his Patreon.
 
The first Wheel of Time trailer has gotten a lot of people excited for our first look at the characters, the One Power and our first hints of how the sprawling, massive story will be adapted (and compressed) for live-action television.
It’s also our first chance to see the world where the action takes place. Robert Jordan’s worldbuilding has been acclaimed as among the best in the genre, maybe not quite on J.R.R. Tolkien’s level (and Tolkien might have taken especial exception to Jordan’s lack of different languages) but certainly still remarkable in its detail, depth and breadth.
 

A closer look at TV-Tar Valon. From the location of the Ogier grove, which is on the south-eastern side of the city in the books, we can be reasonably sure that this visual is looking south along the River Erinin. Aside from its physical size, the city and island adhere fairly close to the maps in the books. Striking in its absence here is Dragonmount, which is located south-west of the city in the books.
 
At the centre of Jordan’s world – figuratively and thematically, if not quite geographically – is Tar Valon, the great city which serves as the stronghold of the Aes Sedai sisterhood. The city is located on an island in the midst of the River Erinin, roughly sixteen hundred miles north of where it flows into the Sea of Storms in the vast delta known as the Fingers of the Dragon, and acts as a meeting point between the four kingdoms of the Borderlands to the north and the great southern nations of Cairhien, Andor and Tear. The city has famously withstood siege numerous times (on four occasions in the Trolloc Wars alone) and never fallen in battle, although fighting has raged on the streets of the city during both the Trolloc Wars and the War of the Second Dragon against Guaire Amalasan, when Artur Hawkwing saved the city from the false Dragon’s followers to the humiliation of Bonwhin, the Amyrlin Seat.
 

By comparing the two images, we can be sure that in this image we are looking more or less due east, with Dragonmount now visible in a different direction to in the books. Assuming the island has not been flipped 180 degrees, which would make this looking west instead.
 
Tar Valon serves as some of a hub for events in the novels, with news and events flowing into the office of the Amyrlin Seat, first Siuan Sanche and later Elaida do Avriny a’Roihan, and various characters base themselves in the city at different times. For the TV show, Tar Valon’s importance seems to have been bolstered even further; all of the shots of contemporary cities in the trailer are exclusively of Tar Valon, with the other major cities from The Eye of the World – Fal Dara and Caemlyn – completely missing. Only ruined Shadar Logoth gets comparable screen time. Whether this means that Tar Valon is replacing Caemlyn as the geographic hub of the early story remains to be seen.
 

A recreation of the book map of Tar Valon.
 
What we can do is compare and contrast the book and TV versions of Tar Valon, and immediately we can see some major differences. Tar Valon in the books is substantial in size: the island is eight miles long and over two miles wide at its widest point, making it almost a ringer for Manhattan Island. The White Tower is located almost at the geographic centre of the island, in a position almost comparable to the Empire State Building in Manhattan. The White Tower is 600 feet tall, just under half the height of the Empire State, but given it was constructed by human and Ogier hands (with some help from the Aes Sedai) without 20th Century cranes or construction materials or techniques, that’s still very impressive. The White Tower was designed to house around 3,000 Aes Sedai with room for expansion, via the cavernous Ajah quarters making up almost the entire northern half of the Tower and the huge number of training and teaching rooms in the southern half, not to mention the extensive store rooms below ground and the two wings radiating out from the Tower itself, designed to hold many hundreds of Accepted and novices. However, with the Aes Sedai reduced to around 1,200 in number, with maybe a third of that in the Tower at any one time, the building feels largely empty when the series begins.
 

An approximate floorplan of the White Tower, based on the descriptions provided in the novels and the Big White Book.
 
The White Tower is surprisingly “stubby”; Robert Jordan described the Tower as 100 spans (600 feet, or 183 metres) tall and 300 feet wide at the base, narrowing to 200 feet wide at the top. The width of the Tower at the base is thus around half the total height of the Tower. Despite these descriptions, both fan and professional art from the series often depicts a much slenderer, more ornate tower. The TV version seems to get the relative dimensions of the Tower pleasingly correct.
 

The White Tower as it appears in The World of Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time. Although the art in the Big White Book is not great, this image seems to reflect Robert Jordan's vision of the Tower relatively well, despite the absence of the wings on either side holding the novice and Accepted quarters and more ornate windows than are described in the books.
 
However, the TV version does seem to vary from Jordan’s description in several other respects. In the books the White Tower is described as smooth and polished, with no seams visible in the stonework thanks to the One Power being used to fuse the stone into a single structure. Clearly the TV version has visible steams and seems to have been made using more traditional techniques. The Tower in the TV show also has a much more extensive superstructure, with pipes laid over the exterior structure and various sections of the tower extending outwards with viewing areas visible. One promo image has Moiraine standing on one of these areas, looking out across the city. In the book, whilst the Tower has windows it doesn’t have a described viewing area apart from the rooftop viewing platform.
 

Moiraine gazing out across Tar Valon from the White Tower, in a publicity image released by Amazon.
 
The TV version of the Tower pleasingly still has the two wings extending out from the side, the home of the Accepted and novice quarters respectively. Several other buildings are shown tightly clustering around the base of the Tower, presumably including the stables, the Warder garrison and the White Tower Library. The complex is walled away from the rest of the city, as in the books.
 
There are several very big differences here, though. In the books, Tar Valon is flat whilst in the TV show it is hilly, with the White Tower sitting on a massive hill in the middle of the island which simply doesn’t exist in the books. The White Tower grounds in the novels are much bigger, with more space around the buildings, which are spaced further apart, and a large plaza extends out from the walls on all sides, which is clearly not the case here.
 

The immediate environs around Tar Valon.
 
There are also some interesting changes to Tar Valon itself. The biggest one, immediately obvious, is that the TV version of Tar Valon appears to be significantly smaller than its book counterpart. A building half the size of the Empire State Building sitting on an island the size of Manhattan would still be big and clearly visible from across the city, but it would not dominate the entire skyline the same way the White Tower does here. The White Tower does appear to be around its size in the books (by counting the number of windows, around forty levels can be discerned, the same as in the novels), so its much greater dominance of the landscape can only be explained by the island and city being significantly smaller.
 
It’s an interesting choice, and at first glance mildly disappointing: Tar Valon is a huge medieval metropolis of around half a million people, the economic heart of the northern half of the continent and the seat of Aes Sedai power. It should be huge, grand and imposing. Obviously from a budgetary point of view, the bigger the city is, the more expensive it is in terms of CGI design and render time, and in making sets that integrate with the CG backdrops well.
More to the point, I expect if they did a test render based on the book scale, they decided that the White Tower looked too small and unimpressive compared to the rest of the island and that using the polished white stone look in the novels did not look appropriately awe-inspiring (the occasional complaint raised by artists doing a faithful take on the White Tower is that it can turn into a lighthouse rather easily). Rather than make the White Tower preposterously huge – if the city dimensions were kept the same and the Tower expanded, it’d be over a mile tall in the TV show! -  they seem to have elected to shrink the city and make the Tower more impressive in contrast.
 

 
Another interesting change is that the location of Dragonmount seems to have shifted. Dragonmount was located between twenty and thirty miles south-west of the city in the novels, but here it appears to have moved directly east instead (in the promo image the mountain lines up with the wings, rather than 45 degrees to them as would be the case in the novels). A minor change, but a curious one.
 
Looking in detail at Tar Valon, many different kinds of buildings can be seen, including European-style towers and bastions, Arab-like minarets and ornate domes. There’s no immediate sign of skybridges, but we only see small chunks of the city in these shots. The city’s parks do seem present, including one that might be the huge Ogier grove, and the general shape of the island seems to have been retained (indicating we are looking due south in the first image). Southharbor also seems present and correct, and several of the bridges over the Erinin can be seen, with clusters of buildings on the other end which correspond to the bridge towns.
 

 
Tar Valon and the White Tower may stand in miniature for the TV show’s relationship with the books as a whole: similar, familiar and impressive but differing in many small details. It’ll be interesting to see what other changes have been made. A second, apparently longer trailer will apparently hit screens before The Wheel of Time itself does on 19 November 2021, on Amazon Prime Television.
 
 As usual, follow our casting and news pages, and let us know what you think of the latest developments.
  • Teaser Paragraph:

    The first Wheel of Time trailer has gotten a lot of people excited for our first look at the characters, the One Power and our first hints of how the sprawling, massive story will be adapted (and compressed) for live-action television.

Werthead
Werthead

Rajiv's Threads In the Pattern: Teaser Trailer Analysis

Rajiv Moté is Dragonmount’s book blogger with a lens on the craft of fiction writing. When he’s not directing software engineers, he writes fiction of his own, which can be found catalogued at his website.
 
Amazon Prime released the much anticipated teaser trailer for its series based on The Wheel of Time, and watching it (with the Dragonmount crew!) was joyful and cathartic. And, of course, we watched it on repeat, frame by frame, to see what had changed and what had stayed the same in the adaptation to the screen. A great deal has changed. While the set locations are familiar as old boots, the trailer features many scenes that were never in the pages of The Eye of the World.
 
The Wisdoms of Emond’s Field
In the books, the women who dispensed herbal cures and “listened to the wind” to predict the weather were called Wisdoms. The cures and predictions of the best Wisdoms work uncannily well because, unknown to even them, they’ve figured out a rough, unconscious way to channel the One Power. In the adaptation, Nynaeve the Wisdom shoves her apprentice Egwene into a river (0:02), and we see Egwene calmly floating (0:33). This looks like a visceral (and visual) representation of the Aes Sedai exercise to channel the Power: imagine it as a river, but if you fight it, it becomes rapid and wild. Surrender, and you can control it. Egwene is learning to ride the currents of saidar, the female half of the One Power. This has further implications. In the books, Nynaeve blocked herself from channeling unless she was angry out of fear of the One Power, which was taboo. She eventually breaks through her block when she sinks with a damaged boat, and is forced at last to surrender to saidar. This mirrors the initiation she provides Egwene here. Nynaeve finds her power in going back to her roots.
 
The False Dragon
In the books, the false Dragon (a man who can channel the cursed male half of the One Power, doomed to go insane, who declares himself the world’s savior) Logain is captured by Aes Sedai out of scene. We only hear about it, and see him from a distance in a cage. In the adaptation, we see him, perhaps with his followers, fighting against the Aes Sedai trying to capture him and their Warders (0:49, 1:19, 1:31). Showing the taking of Logain is a good way to demonstrate to viewers the danger of a man who channels. It remains to be seen if we’ll see the disaster that Lews Therin wrought in the book’s prologue (maybe they’ll just insert Winter Dragon?), but if they save the Lews Therin flashback for later, the taking of Logain would be a good thematic prologue for the show.
 
The Aes Sedai and the White Tower
The White Tower and Aes Sedai other than Moiraine and Elaida don’t appear in The Eye of the World. But they feature prominently in this trailer. If, as the interviews suggest, the adaptation centers Moiraine, then we are probably looking at the Aes Sedai deliberating about how to solve the problem of false Dragons (0:46, 1:24), and some are also wondering about the real Dragon.
 
The Attack on Emond’s Field
In the book, we only see the aftermath of the attack on Emond’s Field. The in-scene action is at the al’Thor farm. The adaptation appears to center the action in Emond’s Field, and it looks like Rand is there too. We may lose the iconic scenes of Tam retrieving his sword, the Trollocs breaking down the door, and Narg the Talking Trolloc--not to mention Tam’s revelations in the Westwood. But the story will move faster if everyone is together, and we’ll actually get to see Moiraine and Lan mop up the Trollocs.
 
Scene Breakdown
 
0:02/0:33 Nynaeve pushes Egwene into a river

 
This is new, and a striking way to introduce us to the show. It’s familiar but different--a sign of what’s to come. The Wisdoms of Emond's Field are no strangers to using the One Power.
 
0:08 Emond’s Field

 
With the exception of the tiled roofs (poor Cenn Buie!) and the lack of stone foundation around that big tree, Emond’s Field is much as I imagined it. The three ta’veren lads seem to be enjoying themselves at the Winespring Inn rather than shirking their chores, but the adaptation has aged them up. The colors are warm, people are smiling, and the atmosphere is cozy. A good status quo to be shattered by the Trolloc attack.
 

 
0:17 Crying over a ring

 
The man crying over a Great Serpent ring is most likely a Warder grieving for his Aes Sedai. We see this man in other scenes, wielding a pair of axes, standing with a pair of Green Aes Sedai and other Warders against a volley of arrows, and leaping to attack someone who is channeling. This is most likely the taking of the false Dragon, and it suggests their effort will carry a terrible cost.
 
0:20 Egwene rises in a pool of colored stripes

 
The colored stripes that cover Egwene as she rises from the pool clearly point to her fated rise to the Amyrlin Seat. But here, are we seeing Egwene’s prophetic Dream (perhaps as she floats down the river), or Min’s prophetic Viewing?
 
0:25 Tar Valon

 
The city of Tar Valon, with Dragonmount in the background, is breathtaking, even if it seems Jeff Bezos’s rocket engineers designed the White Tower. Moiraine makes an entrance, pushing open the doors like Aragorn.
 
0:33 Floating on the river

 
We revisit Egwene’s trip down the river with Moiraine’s voiceover saying that “all over the world there are different names for [the One Power].” This reinforces the idea that Wisdoms are aware, to some degree, that they are channeling saidar, and this initiation is to teach Egwene how to control it.
 
0:37 The White Tower

 
I always pictured the Hall of the Tower to be longer, but to accommodate the Ajah Sitters and the Amyrlin Seat, it’s as big as it needs to be. Its presence in this first season suggests that we’ll be privy to the White Tower’s deliberations over Dragons, false and true, and the fact that Kerene Nagashi is among them indicates that the 20 year secret search for the Dragon Reborn may be condensed into this season’s plot.
 
0:39 Moiraine is Healed?

 
Is Kerene Nagashi Healing Moiraine? And if so, is this during the taking of Logain (which didn’t involve Moiraine in the books) or the attack on Emond’s Field (which, in the books, did not involve any other Aes Sedai than Moiraine)? If Kerene makes it to Emond’s Field, that changes the tone significantly--she’d be the senior member of the secret contingent tasked with the Dragon Reborn.
 
0:43 Power over Emond’s Field

 
Look at that! The One Power being wielded over Emond’s Field, where the buildings are burning. The Eye of the World only showed us the aftermath of the Trolloc attack; but the adaptation will show us the action.
 
0:45 The Red Ajah

 
Elaida was the only Red Ajah sister in The Eye of the World, but these stern-faced Aes Sedai look ready for business. That business is probably the false Dragon, Logain.
 
0:46 The Keeper is mad

 
Leane Sharif angrily pounds her Keeper’s staff, calling for order. There is clearly a disagreement in the Hall of the Tower, and given what we’ve seen, it likely involves how to deal with Dragons, False or otherwise. In the books, the Reds tend to act as judge, jury, and executioner, but Siuan knows that if they accidentally sever the real Dragon Reborn from the True Source, the world could be doomed.
 
0:49 Aes Sedai and Warders do battle

 
A pair of Green Ajah sisters (including Alanna Mosvani) and their Warders defend against arrows from an unseen opponent. The Trolloc attack in the Two Rivers happens at night, so this looks like the fight against Logain and his followers.
 
0:57 Rocky hills

 
While these rocky hills look like where I imagined Perrin, Egwene, and Elyas hid from the Whitecloaks, Tar Valon is visible in the distance. It’s a different location. This is probably the slopes of Dragonmount, though not a flashback to the birth of the Dragon Reborn, since there’s no snow on the ground.
 
0:59 Shadar Logoth

 
Shadar Logoth is recognizable and creepy.
 
1:06 Wolfbrothers-to-be

 
I’m glad the adaptation didn’t go with the Bearbrother idea.
 
1:08 Sexy times?

 
Rand and Egwene en déshabillé? Well, the adaptation has aged the characters up, and it seems that they’ve tossed out the wide-eyed innocence of these country folk with community-governed moral codes. It changes the character of their relationship in the book, which was more of friends who cared for each other, but who, when freed from the expectations of their community to marry, pursued different dreams.
 
1:12 Dancing, Death, and Politics

 
The images seem to juxtapose dancing at the Beltine festival with the aftermath of the Trolloc attack at Winternight. The overhead view of the Hall of the Tower completes the third circle, all references to the Wheel, of course.
 
1:15 The attack on Emond’s Field

 
It looks like Rand will be in town during the attack. I’m a little disappointed if that means we won’t see the attack on the al’Thor farm and the lonely, frightened trek through the Westwood. But it looks intense.
 
1:19 Lan fights human soldiers

 
During the sunlight, Lan fights human soldiers in the woods. This isn’t the Trolloc attack (unless there are now Darkfriend soldiers too), so it must pair with the arrows flying in 0:49, and the very next shot suggests that this is the taking of Logain, and that Moiraine and Lan were involved, another departure from the books.
 
1:20 Logain

 
We never see Logain channel in The Eye of the World, but the adaptation shows him breaking his shield and doing some damage. Putting Logain “on camera” is a good strategy for illustrating how dangerous and unpredictable a man channeling can be. He radiates danger, even locked in a cage.
 
1:24 Moiraine in the White Tower

 
This scene wouldn’t be out of place in the adaptation of The Great Hunt, but Kerene’s words indicate this is setting up the search for the real Dragon Reborn.
 
1:26/1:39 Trollocs

 
The silhouettes of these Shadowspawn look like the Trollocs on the original book covers which, though they’re not book-accurate, are still iconic in many minds. I look forward to seeing them in detail. They do appear to be more bestial than the book covers, and true to the descriptions.
 
1:31 Dual Axe Guy versus a channeler

 
This must be a Warder attacking Logain. Is he shielded, or can we see male weaves? Is that darkness oozing along the weaves? This looks to be the same Warder who was crying over a Great Serpent ring.
 
1:32/1:39 Lan and Moiraine versus the Trollocs

 
In the books, we only heard about how Lan and Moiraine were a whirlwind of death for the Trollocs at Emond’s Field. Now we’ll see it.
 
1:33 Seven ride to the Waygate

 
As commentary on the show’s poster image confirmed, this is a Waygate. There seem to be seven riders gathered to venture into the dark. Lan, Moiraine, Rand, Perrin, Mat, Egwene, Nynaeve, Loial… Are we missing someone, or are they just not on screen?
 
1:38 Fade

 
Myrddraal are scary in the book. They’re horrifying in the show.
 
What did you notice in this first trailer for Amazon Prime's The Wheel of Time?
 
  • Teaser Paragraph:

    The teaser trailer for Amazon Prime’s adaptation of The Wheel of Time is full of hints about what has changed from the books. (SPOILERS for events in the entire book series.)

MahaRaj
MahaRaj

Watch our Reaction Video to the Teaser Trailer

Yesterday, when Amazon Prime revealed the first teaser trailer for The Wheel of Time TV show, we organized a viewing party and encouraged fans to send in their reaction videos. Here's the resulting video compilation that became up with.
 

 
Thanks to everybody who submitted videos and joined us. We hope to do future events like this, so stay tuned on our social media, and be sure to check out our Patreon page where we host other events like this. 
 
  • Teaser Paragraph:

    We organized a viewing party and encouraged fans to send in their reaction videos. Here's what we made from everything.  

Jason Denzel
Jason Denzel

The Wheel of Time trailer is here! November 19 release

Amazon Prime Video released the first trailer for the upcoming the Wheel of Time Television series.  The trailer also announced the official release date of Friday, November 19th 2021. Amazon will premiere the first three episodes together, then weekly release each Friday until the season finale on Friday, December 24th, 2021. The countdown begins! Only 77 days until we see the first season premiere.
 

 
 
Yesterday, Rosamund Pike and the official Twitter account for The Wheel of Time announced that we would see a trailer this morning. They also released a photo of Moiraine standing at the top of the White Tower looking over the city of Tar Valon.
 
This is the moment so many of us fans have been waiting years to see. It’s actually happening!
 
Updated: here's our reaction video!
 

 
Who’s organizing a watch party for November 19th? What do you think of the trailer? Let us know in the comments or on our forums!
 
Dragonmount wants to see your reaction to the trailer! If you’ve recorded yourself, send it over here.
 
  • Teaser Paragraph:

    Amazon Prime released the trailer for The Wheel of Time TV show and the first three episodes will premiere on November 19 2021.

Katy Sedai
Katy Sedai

Adam's Wheel of Television: New Image Deep Dives

Adam Whitehead is Dragonmount's TV blogger. Adam has been writing about film and television, The Wheel of Time, and other genre fiction for over fifteen years, and was a finalist for the Hugo Award for Best Fan Writer in 2020. Be sure to check out his websites, The Wertzone and Atlas of Ice and Fire (including The Wheel of Time Atlas!) as well as his Patreon.
 
As the release date for The Wheel of Time moves closer, Amazon have started ramping up their marketing by releasing several images from the series.
 
We’re going to discuss what the images may signify, and how that relates to the books. Note that spoilers for the books and The Eye of the World especially will be present here.
 

 
 
The first image is a “hero shot” featuring the seven regular actors from the first series walking towards the camera. This is a publicity still taken to market the show, not an actual shot from the series (though if there was a cool explosion behind them, it’d probably work fine). From left to right, Zoë Robins as Nynaeve al’Meara, Barney Harris as Mat Cauthon, Daniel Henney as al’Lan Mandragoran, Rosamund Pike as Moiraine Damodred, Madeleine Madden as Egwene al’Vere, Marcus Rutherford as Perrin Aybara and Josha Stradowski as Rand al’Thor.
 
Other actors will recur in the first season (such as Hammed Animashaun as Loial, Alexandre Willaume as Thom Merrilin and Kae Alexander as Min Farshaw) but these seven will presumably be in every episode, or almost.
 
Weekly Wheel News, doing the Creator’s work, unearthed the metadata for the shot, confirming it comes from the sixth episode (of eight in total in the first season) and depicts the gang journeying to the Waygate, where they meet Loial (either out-of-shot in this picture, or lacking the CGI needed to insert him in the frame). The metadata asks the question “who is the Dragon?”, confirming that one goal for the TV show is to make the identity of the Dragon Reborn far less obvious than it is in the books, where it’s fairly obvious from the first page.
 

 
 
The second shot takes us to the ruined city of Shadar Logoth, once known as Aridhol, and depicts Lan and Moiraine taking refuge in an ill-advised location. This shot also features Mandarb, Lan’s horse (fear not! Bela is cast and will also be in the series!).
 
The metadata tells us this is indeed Shadar Logoth, featuring Lan escaping “a temple” with a wounded or exhausted Moiraine in his arms. Interestingly, it appears from the data that a dummy is used in this scene for Moiraine, although whether that’s a dummy or the real Rosamund Pike in the actual picture is unclear (good dummy work, if so).
 

 
 
The third shot features Egwene and Rand enjoying a quiet moment on their journey. It looks like this is part of a sequence for the early episodes filmed in Slovenia, depicting the countryside in the Two Rivers and western Andor.
 
The metadata for this shot states that it is from the very first episode and features the keywords “couple,” “mountains,”, “Soca River,” “Slovenia,” and “jump,” as well as saying that Egwene is going to do something and Rand knows what it is (jump?). It is possible this scene is from later in the episode when the gang are on their way to Taren Ferry. The word “couple” is interesting, as in the book Rand and Egwene seem to consider themselves, if not betrothed, then at least likely to become betrothed by their families, but they’re not actually together romantically. This may factor into the subplot in the books, as Rand and Egwene become aware they’re not actually going to hook up, or might indicate a change that Rand and Egwene are already together when the story opens and perhaps break up later on (since Rafe Judkins has confirmed that Rand will have his relationships with Elayne, Min and Aviendha in the show as in the books). This would be a subtle shift in the book dynamic, but might also avoid early viewers “shipping” Rand and Egwene and getting disappointed when that never comes to pass. Having them already together and then break up gets that idea out of the way. It sounds minor, but the popularity of “ships” on a show can substantially drive discussion about a show (not always for the better, but still).
 

 
 
The final shot is from the biggest change from the books to the TV series, a new storyline that follows the misadventures of Logain Ablar, a false Dragon. This story is referred to in the books and takes place off-page, but will be front-and-centre in the TV series. In this shot, Logain (Álvaro Morte) is held prisoner by sisters of the Aes Sedai, most notably Alanna Mosvani (Priyanka Bose) on the left and Kerene Nagashi (Clare Perkins) on the right, both sisters of the Green Ajah. In the background are two sisters of the Red Ajah. Eagle-eyed book fans will note that Kerene only appears in the prequel novel New Spring and dies long before the events of the series proper; it’ll be interesting to theorise and then see what purpose is saved by moving Kerene’s story into the main saga.
 
The metadata for this shot, amusingly, is incorrect and points to a shot from the third episode with Egwene and Perrin on Caralain Grass. We don’t know when the Logain shot is from, but based on other information it might be from the fourth episode.
 
We’re now three months or less from The Wheel of Time hitting the air, and we’ll be likely to see a trailer in the near(ish) future. As usual, follow our casting and news pages, and let us know what you think of the latest developments.
 
  • Teaser Paragraph:

    As the release date for The Wheel of Time moves closer, Amazon have started ramping up their marketing by releasing several images from the series.

Werthead
Werthead

First look at The Wheel of Time on Amazon Prime

We finally have our first extensive look at Amazon Prime upcoming TV show, The Wheel of Time. The Entertainment Weekly September issue features an exclusive article with photos of the main cast in costume. This is our first peek at many of the main characters we all know and love.
 
Inside the article, showrunner Rafe Judkins describes the process of bringing the book series to life, and the article compares the book length against other popular fantasy series.
 

 
The photos are all stunning and have us fans swooning all over social media.
 

The shot of the Emond’s Field Five, includes Zoë Robins as Nynaeve, Barney Harris as Mat, Daniel Henney as Lan, Rosamund Pike as Moiraine, Madeleine Madden as Egwene, Marcus Rutherford as Perrin, and Josha Stradowski as Rand. The magnificent seven look travel worn and their costumes look lived in.
 

We also see a photo of Moiraine and Lan entering the city of Shadar Logoth, with the city feeling especially creepy.
 

The article includes a shot of Rand and Egwene sitting in the mountains giving us a hint at their complex relationship.
 

And an incredible shot of Priyanka Bose as Alanna with Álvaro Morte as Logain locked in an elaborate cage.
 
You can read the article here and the magazine will be on newsstands August 20th, 2021.
 
These photos are gorgeous and give us just a hint of what to expect from the TV show this November! For more about the upcoming TV show, visit our TV info page.
 
What do you think of the EW article and the images they shared? Let us know in the comments or on our forums!
  • Teaser Paragraph:

    Entertainment Weekly releases the first look of The Wheel of Time cast in epic photoshoot.

Katy Sedai
Katy Sedai

Rajiv's Threads In the Pattern: Out Of a Gleeman's Tale

Rajiv Moté is Dragonmount’s book blogger with a lens on the craft of fiction writing. When he’s not directing software engineers, he writes fiction of his own, which can be found catalogued at his website.
 
I love metafiction: stories that say something about the nature of stories. Stories that are aware of themselves as stories, but still manage to pull us into their reality. Recently in Marvel Studios’ Loki on Disney+, the Norse god of mischief was yanked outside of space and time by the mysterious Time Variance Authority, an organization that made sure characters don’t stray beyond a preordained plot called “The Sacred Timeline.” The TVA bureaucrats and stormtroopers violently edited the story when characters tried to deviate. The ensuing metafictional adventure explored the virtues of predestination versus free will, order versus chaos, a universe versus a multiverse--and who gets to control the narrative.
 
It reminded me of The Wheel of Time. Robert Jordan’s epic builds a universe of cyclic history, without beginning or end, that encompasses all the stories that were and could be, and sets the parameters for how its characters must behave.
 
All Stories Are Part of the Pattern
 
 
In Umberto Eco’s novel about a conspiracy theory that took on a life of its own, syncretic thinking drives the impulse to see similarities in stories and legends as proof of an occult, underlying connection. It is fuel for cork boards of evidence joined by colored string and push-pins, and the rapturous feeling that one is delving into arcana to find the true, hidden source of what the uninitiated see as coincidence. Syncretism is meta-storytelling: an irresistible urge to see cohesion in unconnected stories.
 
 
The Wheel of Time’s ambitious conceit is that its story is in conversation with all stories. History, legends, and mythology are echoes of each other in a great cycle. Comparing elements of the story with other myths, legends, history, or current events feeds the notion that it’s all one big pattern of recurring motifs--history that rhymes, as Mark Twain supposedly said.
 
 
Ann Landers, John Glenn, Sally Ride, nuclear annihilation, climate catastrophe, Moscow and its ICBMs, Queen Elizabeth, Mother Theresa--they all become Gleeman’s tales in the Third Age, where the legend of King Arthur is historical fact. The land abounds with ancient artifacts, from a Mercedes hood ornament to a radioactive spire, pointing to continuity between our real world and the story world. With enough turnings of the Wheel of Time, all stories are real.
 
The Wheel Is the Storyteller
 
In Robert Jordan’s cosmology, the Wheel is the ultimate storyteller. It spins out character threads to weave the Pattern of the plot in recurring motifs. And while Jordan created no multiversal bureaucracy to manage his Sacred Timeline, he does have the concept of ta’veren.
 
 
Just as the author puts the main characters on a journey, pulling a widening blast radius of other characters and events in their wake, the Wheel spins ta’veren to set the story in motion. The protagonists seem to have an awareness of entering the plot of a story. They contrast what “real life” is, compared with stories. They self-deprecatingly chide themselves for playing the hero in some gleeman’s tale right before doing exactly that.
 
 
The Dharma of the Wheel
 
But what of free will, in a universe where a cosmic author is spinning out the plot? As Loial’s description implies, the Wheel tolerates minor variations, but prevents large deviations. Those who are ta’veren have less freedom than others, and we see characters like Cadsuane and Tuon resisting ta’veren effects with great effort. But predestination abounds in The Wheel of Time. There are prophecies, Foretellings, prophetic dreams, true answers from dangerous fae-folk, and of course Min’s visions. All are glimmers of the Pattern, and none can be averted.
 
Many of the character arcs revolve around the characters’ struggle with predestination. Rand, Mat, and Perrin each rail in their own way against what they must become. Min is a Cassandra, who can see the approach of doom, but can do nothing to avert it. Aviendha resists first a personal destiny to love Rand, and later the ultimate, tragic fate of her entire people. Moiraine is the heroic exemplar of someone who courageously faces whatever fate decrees, no matter the personal cost, and Lan is an example of someone who resigns himself to what he believes is his doom, but should really have more faith in the benevolence of the Wheel. Nynaeve is someone who cannot reach her potential while she resists the role spun for her, but once she surrenders to it, becomes one of the most powerful characters in the epic.
 
While there is no “religion” in The Wheel of Time, there is a moral law to the universe: align thyself to the Pattern. This is similar to the Hindu concept of dharma, where the cosmic Truth is made manifest through proper behavior in the social order.
 
 
There are echoes in these scenes of the Bhagavad Gita, where just before the great battle against kin and former teachers, the warrior Arjun despairs of his purpose. The Lord Krishna reveals his divinity to Arjun, and teaches him to align himself to his dharma, which is both duty and fate, through which he will know both peace of mind and singularity of purpose. Those who submit to the will of the Wheel become aligned with a benevolent cosmos. Ta’veren who do so become unstoppable.
 
There is a delightful parallel between Mat embracing his ta’veren-hood and Lloyd Alexander’s character Taran, who learns a lesson from Llonio, the luckiest man in Prydain.
 
 
On the other side, the Dark One seeks to corrupt the Pattern and break the Wheel of Time. The Darkfriends see the Wheel's predestination as tyranny, and believe the Dark One will weave them new fates of power and stature. To the servants of the Shadow, the Pattern can be rewritten if their master wins.
 
 
The Hands on the Wheel
 
Understanding the cosmology of The Wheel of Time as both metafiction and a benevolent force in the story world, gives us insight into one of the epic’s most mysterious characters. Nakomi appears as a middle-aged Aiel woman who has two scenes in the entire story. The first time, she shares Aviendha’s fire and tea as the younger woman makes her way to Rhuidean for her final test as a Wise One. She asks seemingly innocent questions about the fate of the Aiel in this new, changed world, something Aviendha ponders deeply when Rhuidean reveals that clinging to the old ways leads the Aiel to ignominy and extinction. The second time Nakomi appears is to make sure that Rand carries Moridin’s body down from Shayol Ghul, the act that allows Rand to live on beyond the Last Battle.
 
Both of Nakomi’s appearances involve decisions pivotal to the Fourth Age, the Age after the Dark One is locked safely away until the Age of Legends comes again. The Pattern is not threatened by the Fourth Age fates of the Aiel or Rand al’Thor. But there is a point of decision between suffering or grace, and Nakomi tips the balance to the latter. If the Creator set everything in motion, but takes no part in the events of the world, and the Wheel spins an endlessly rhyming Pattern, then perhaps Nakomi is the compassionate principle in this divine trinity. Perhaps Nakomi is the lone Norn at the spinning wheel, who makes sure the story has a happy ending.
 
  • Teaser Paragraph:

    The Wheel of Time is both epic fiction and metafiction, exposing the levers and gears of fiction as part of its world building. Which may tell us about the mysterious Nakomi.

MahaRaj
MahaRaj

Orbit books reveals their newest book covers for The Wheel of Time.

Katy is a news contributor for Dragonmount. You can follow her as she shares her thoughts on The Wheel of Time TV Show on Instagram and Twitter @KatySedai
 

 
Orbit Books revealed the newest UK covers for The Wheel of Time book series to be published ahead of Amazon Prime's The Wheel of Time TV show. The new covers feature a variety of stunning landscapes from forested mountains to stormy seas. Each book has a prominent seal that announces the book series is now an original series on prime video. Duncan Spilling from @studio_of_ideas designed the covers.
 
 
The books go on sale September 16th 2021 in the UK, just in time for folks to read The Eye of the World before the TV show is released in November. These book covers seem like they are made to appeal to a wider audience who might not pick up a book with a traditional fantasy cover. Can’t wait to see folks reading these books on the tube.
There's another version of the Eye of the World from Orbit expected November 4th 2021. It’s possible that version will have art directly pulled from the new TV show.
 
To celebrate the new covers Orbit released a promotional video to Instagram with music from heavy metal band Blind Guardian. It’s always fun to see different parts of the fandom combine forces! Definitely go check out their fantasy book inspired music. 
 
 
Who’s planning to pick up the set!? Which cover is your favorite? Let us know in the comments below.
  • Teaser Paragraph:

    The books will be released September 16th 2021.

Katy Sedai
Katy Sedai

Confirmed: The Wheel of Time Debuts in November

Amazon Prime announced today, as part of the Comic-Con at Home online event, that The Wheel of Time TV show will debut in November of this year. This comes in the wake of last week's announcement at JordanCon where show runner Rafe Judkins assured us that a full trailer would be coming "by the end of summer."
 
The poster for the show was also revealed. It features Moiraine, played by Rosamund Pike, standing in front a waygate. The poster declares the show will be released "Nov 2021."
 

 
The full Comic-Con event consisted of a pre-recorded interview with Rafe. He spoke of his personal connection to the Wheel of Time books, why they mattered to him, and what sets the series apart. He also said that when he began the process of adapting the books, he "mapped out" 8 seasons worth of material.  It's important to realize that this is not an assurance that he will get 8 seasons, or that it's even still the plan.  That simply shows Rafe's thinking at the start of the process. 
 
Here's the full video:
 

 
So who's ready for November?  What do you think of the poster?  Be sure to follow us on social media for all our updates.
 
  • Teaser Paragraph:

    Season one of The Wheel of Time show from Amazon Prime will debut in November.

Jason Denzel
Jason Denzel

Season 2 Begins Filming

Amazon announced today via their official Wheel of Time Twitter account that production has begun on Season 2 of their upcoming TV show. 
 
 
 
Season 1 of the show has not aired but a specific release date is expected soon, perhaps as early as this weekend when showrunner Rafe Judkins will be part of the 2021 Comic-Con@Home convention.
 
No additional details about Season 2 are known yet other than the title of the season's first episode ("A Taste of Solitude"). That episode is written by Amanda Kate Shuman and directed by Thomas Napper. 
 
It's not uncommon for modern TV shows to begin filming their second seasons before the first airs. Like season 1, season 2 is expected to have a long-running production and lengthy post process in order to accomodate the large number of visual effects.  But the fact that season 2 is now underway shows that Amazon and Sony are confident in what they've seen so far from season 1. 
 
Are you excited for the show? Tell us in the comments, join us on social media, or start up a discussion in our forums! 
  • Teaser Paragraph:

    Season 2 of The Wheel of Time has begun filming.

Jason Denzel
Jason Denzel

Adam's Wheel of Television: Why We Won't See a Trailer at Comic-Con

Adam Whitehead is Dragonmount's TV blogger. Adam has been writing about film and television, The Wheel of Time, and other genre fiction for over fifteen years, and was a finalist for the Hugo Award for Best Fan Writer in 2020. Be sure to check out his websites, The Wertzone and Atlas of Ice and Fire (including The Wheel of Time Atlas!) as well as his Patreon.
 
It’s now been confirmed that Amazon’s Wheel of Time TV series is coming in 2021, which means the show should launch in well under six months from now. Excitement is building among the books’ immense global fanbase, but, as discussed previously, Amazon are going to need to get new viewers to watch the show as well. So far all of the teasers, logo reveals and casting information has been aimed at book fans and those already invested rather than complete newcomers to the franchise.
 
A big moment will come when the show unveils its first, proper trailer for the series. Some are hoping that will come at this year’s virtual Comic-Con event where Wheel of Time showrunner (or “shadowrunner”) Rafe Judkins will be appearing on a panel with several other writers and creatives. This is the only Wheel of Time-related event at Comic-Con currently scheduled. The panel takes place at 11am PT on 23 July.
 
However, it appears doubtful that this will actually be the case. The panel is a sequential series of relatively brief discussions, first with Judkins and then Evengelion 3.0 showrunner Hideaki Anno, followed by segments on Leverage: Redemption, S.O.Z. Soldiers or Zombies and the I Know What You Did Last Summer reboot. The event is relatively low-key. I think if Amazon were planning a launch for the TV show as soon as September or maybe early October, they’d go all-in with a full (virtual) Comic-Con panel with as much of the cast as possible, a trailer launch and so forth. The fact they are not doing that, in a year when the absence of big-hitters DC and Marvel means they’d get more publicity than normal, is telling.
 
There’s also been a change at Amazon in how they approach marketing, in contrast to competitors Netflix and HBO. Amazon used to tease shows very early in development, sometimes whilst filming was underway or even before it had begun. The earliest marketing teasers for Good Omens and The Boys aired almost a year before the shows aired, and The Man in the High Castle and The Marvellous Mrs. Maisel both benefited from having their first episodes shot and released separately as pilots before the rest of the season was filmed. However, from Carnival Row onwards, Amazon originals have switched to a much more focused campaigns, described by some in the business as “global saturation marketing campaigns,” or for those familiar with movie Aliens, “nuke the site from orbit, it’s the only way to be sure.” The idea is to not get people to watch at trailer six or twelve months from release and then they forget about it until the week before the show airs, which they might miss (a common Netflix mistake), but instead to bombard audiences and viewers with trailers, teasers and information in a much more concentrated time period, lasting from six to twelve weeks before the release date.
 
Even with shows where they did show early teasers, Amazon adopted this policy in the lead-up to release with great success (especially for The Boys). Whether Amazon break from this for their vastly more expensive Lord of the Rings show (which appears to have between two and three times Wheel of Time’s already-generous budget, maybe even more), rumoured to launch in the first few months of 2022, is a bigger question.
 
What that means for The Wheel of Time is that a trailer during Comic-Con is highly unlikely unless they plan to release the show relatively quickly afterwards. We know the show is airing in 2021, so it will start in December at the latest (which Amazon might be trying to avoid, as it will end up going head-to-head with Season 2 of The Witcher), and the recent movements of the publishing dates for the tie-in novels suggest it might start in October or (as long has been rumoured) November. To me that makes a marketing blitz starting in late August or even September is more likely than July.
 
Hopefully we will get some more information from Rafe’s panel and it’d be great if he could confirm a release date there, but the feeling of myself and the rest of the Dragonmount team is that those hoping for a full-length trailer will likely be disappointed, unless Amazon decide to shift the marketing strategy they have been using for the last three years.
 
As usual, let us know your thoughts and keep checking our TV news and casting pages for updates.
  • Teaser Paragraph:

    We have the cast, we have the crew, we have the logo and we know the show is coming this year, but what about a trailer? When can we expect to see one?

Werthead
Werthead

Age of Legends movie trilogy in development

Katy is a news contributor for Dragonmount. You can follow her as she shares her thoughts on The Wheel of Time TV Show on Instagram and Twitter @KatySedai
 
The news broke early this morning that Zack Stentz has begun working on the scripts for three The Wheel of Time movies set in the Age of Legends.  The Age of Legend movies are independent of Amazon Prime Video’s The Wheel of Time TV show currently in production.
 
Zack Stentz was a co-writer for Thor and X-Men First Class. He has also written for TV shows like The Flash, and Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous.
 
 
Rick Selvage and Larry Mondragon of iwot productions are producers on the new movies. Rick Selvage and Larry Mondragon also produced the Winter Dragon pilot and are producers for the Amazon TV show.
 
There’s currently no studio or distributor attached to the Age of Legends movies yet. Amazon and The Wheel of Time Showrunner, Rafe Judkins, are not involved in the movie adaptation of the book material.
 
If you are curious about the history of The Wheel of Time media rights, check out Adam’s deep dive.
 
The Wheel of Time fans will have plenty to talk about at JordanCon this weekend. We are also hoping for more TV show news from Showrunner Rafe Judkins at ComicCon next week. 
 
Zack Stentz confirmed his involvement this morning on Twitter. 
Dragonmount founder, Jason Denzel, provided a bit of context for today's announcement in a Twitter thread. Click through to the first tweet in the series: 
  • Teaser Paragraph:

    Writer Zack Stentz to pen three movies based on the Age of Legends (independent of Amazon’s new TV show)

Katy Sedai
Katy Sedai

The Wheel of Time at Comic-Con@Home 2021

Showrunner Rafe Judkins of Amazon Prime's The Wheel of Time will be on a virtual panel at Comic-Con@Home 2021. The Amazon panel will take place on July 23rd at 11am PT and will stream to the San Diego Comic-Con's YouTube. Check back here for the link once we get closer. 
 
TV presenter Tim Kash will have a conversation with each Showrunner on the panel, and we might even see some announcements or content drops! We are keeping our fingers crossed for some great photos or another teaser, but seems unlikely we will see a trailer quite yet. 
 

 
 
  • Teaser Paragraph:

    Save the Date for Showrunner Rafe Judkins at Comic-Con@Home July 23rd at 11am PT.

Katy Sedai
Katy Sedai

JordanCon Charity Auction Quilt

In 2019, a group project was put forward in the JordanCon Costumers Facebook group.  The idea--suggested by Christine Wessling--was to create a quilt.  Each block of the quilt would represent one of the books with The Wheel of Time, and each block would be created by a different crafter.  The idea was quickly embraced by many in the group and the books were snagged!
 
Here are the details from JordanCon:
 
I feel so fortunate that I was able to contribute to this project!  I knew I wanted to make my love of Lan and Nynaeve apparent, so I picked Knife of Dreams.  There are so many wonderful Lan and Nynaeve moments--when Nynaeve breaks her block, her first confession to him in The Eye of the World, Lan giving her his ring and her Accepted testing in The Great Hunt--but the ultimate has to be Nynaeve's trek through the borderlands gathering her husband an army.  "The Golden Crane flies for Tarmon Gai'don!" is the best line of the book.  I tried to capture that theme with a golden crane, crown, and lance on a field of blue.
 
I envy the lucky winner of this quilt!  It will be an amazing addition to any fan's collection!
 
You can read more from each of the contributors on JordanCon's website.
  • Teaser Paragraph:

    Many fans banded together to create a one-of-a-kind keepsake, available at the JordanCon 2021 Charity Auction.

Mashiara Sedai
Mashiara Sedai

Adam's Wheel of Television: Examining the new Wheel of Time Logo

Adam Whitehead is Dragonmount's TV blogger. Adam has been writing about film and television, The Wheel of Time, and other genre fiction for over fifteen years, and was a finalist for the Hugo Award for Best Fan Writer in 2020. Be sure to check out his websites, The Wertzone and Atlas of Ice and Fire (including The Wheel of Time Atlas!) as well as his Patreon.
 
It’s a sign that Wheel of Time news has been a bit thin on the ground recently when fans get incredibly excited about the reveal of the TV show’s official logo.
 

 
Up until now, Amazon has been using a derivation of the logo from the novels. However, it was clear that they’d want to create their own logo to easily differentiate the TV series from the books, the tabletop RPG and other takes on the same franchise, and they could put on their own merchandise.
 
Intriguingly, they’ve decided not to include a literal Wheel in the image. Although they might be an obvious choice, it might also feel a little too on-the-nose. Instead, the primary image in the logo is a variation on the ouroboros symbol, of a snake eating its own tail. In mythology, the ouroboros is a serpent eating its own tail, a symbol for eternity. It is also used to depict alchemy and the cycle of life, death and rebirth. The symbol is Egyptian in origin (one adorns the tomb of Tutankhamun, dating from c. 1323 BC) before being picked up on by the ancient Greeks, who massively popularised its use. It also later appears in Norse mythology as the World Serpent, Jörmungandr, and in the Bible as the Leviathan. Variations on the image also appear in Hinduism. All of these sources were used by Robert Jordan during research for the Wheel of Time novels.
 

 
In The Wheel of Time novels, the ouroboros is depicted as the Great Serpent, a symbol of eternity even older than the Wheel itself. Aes Sedai wear a Great Serpent ring to depict their rank and status, and the Great Serpent is sometimes used as a metaphor for time in lieu of the more familiar Wheel.
 
More careful examination of the logo and its animated opening shows the scales initially being contrasted between light and shadow, forming a representation of the Aes Sedai symbol. The Aes Sedai symbol is, of course, the yin and yang symbol of Chinese philosophy. The yin and yang represent dualism, the idea of how opposite and contrary forces may actually be complementary and even interdependent. This is a key theme of the series where the dualism of male and female, order and chaos, and good and evil are core ideas. At the start of the books the two are separated out, with the white symbol being presented as the Flame of Tar Valon, standing for order, female power and good, and the black symbol being presented as the Dragon’s Fang, standing for chaos, male unpredictability and evil (a result of the male half of the One Power being cursed, dooming male channellers to insanity and death even as the fate of the world hinges on the success of one of them, the Dragon Reborn). This is actually the inversion of the traditional Chinese use of the symbol, where yang is white and yin is black. The traditional Chinese version of the symbol also has a tiny dot of white in the black half and vice versa, to show that nothing is entirely one way or the other; Jordan omitted this possibly to make the symbol less immediately obviously the same thing as the yin and yang.
 
The ring itself is also interesting, as it is made up of a serpent that coils downwards to infinity. This hints at the other worlds/dimensions that come to play a major role in the story. The surface of the ring is also rippled and coils back in on itself in unusual ways, like a Möbius strip. Such a strip is unusual in having only one side and one boundary, meaning that though it appears to have two sides, it only has one, the result of an elaborate optical illusion. The Möbius strip is sometimes used in science fiction and fantasy to represent matters related to non-linear time; Avengers: Endgame visualises its time travel technology with a 3D holographic version of a strip (which gives Tony Stark the clue he needs to make time travel possible).
 
Eagle-eyed fans also caught that the logo has messages in the Old Tongue – the language of the Age of Legends – hidden in the corners. “Kodome calichniye ga ni athan’an aman hei” means “here is always a welcome for the People of the Dragon.”
 

 
Amazon also revealed variations of the logo in Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, German, French and Japanese, as well as a scaled-down version of the logo using the major initials “WT” (rather than the more common fan-abbreviation “WoT”).
The unveiling of the logo is possibly the start of a more concerted marketing push for the series, which as we speculated last time may launch in November (and the logo reveal does confirm a 2021 release date). In an intriguing development, the release of the TV tie-in editions for the Wheel of Time novels has moved up to 16 September in the UK, 28 September in the USA for the mass-market edition and 5 October for the trade paperback edition. Although these dates seem to be in flux and should be treated with caution, it may hint that Amazon is now considering an earlier launch for the show, in October or early November, rather than the previously-hinted late November/December launch date.
 

 
Hopefully in the next few weeks we’ll see a full trailer and start seeing things spooling up for the show’s long, long-delayed launch.
 
As usual, let us know your thoughts and keep checking our TV news and casting pages for updates.
  • Teaser Paragraph:

    It’s a sign that Wheel of Time news has been a bit thin on the ground recently when fans get incredibly excited about the reveal of the TV show’s official logo. But the logo is really cool and contains some interesting details.

Werthead
Werthead

Amazon’s The Wheel of Time is coming in 2021

Katy is a news contributor for Dragonmount. You can follow her as she shares her thoughts on The Wheel of Time TV Show on Instagram and Twitter @KatySedai
 


The Wheel of Time on Amazon Prime shared a short video to social media confirming the show will be released in 2021. The video also reveals a new logo for the television show. 
 
This is the first confirmation from Amazon that we will see the TV show before the end of THIS year. The new logo is the serpent eating its tail, or the ouroboros, without the seven spoked wheel. Sharp eyed fans noticed a lot of small details inspired by the books in the new logo. 
 
Light shines on a silvery scale of the great serpent, briefly creating the ancient symbol of the Aes Sedai. A circle, divided by a sinuous line. Half light and half dark. The serpent spirals around into a twisting Mobius strip like the dream ter’angreal and comes to rest eating its tail. A circling serpent like the rings worn by Aes Sedai. Then words appear: The Wheel of Time. 2021.
 

Cue excited cheering from us fans!
 
Find Dragonmount on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook and then let us know what you think of the new logo in the comments below. 
 
  • Teaser Paragraph:

    Amazon Prime’s The Wheel of Time confirms 2021 release date and reveals a new logo for the TV show

Katy Sedai
Katy Sedai

Website Login Changes

We're implementing some changes to the way that you log into Dragonmount.  
 
Apple ID Login
Secure login to Dragonmount with your Apple ID is now available. Any visitor to the website may create a new account or associate their existing account with their Apple ID address. Simply select "Sign In With Apple" using the login page. This joins the other available options of using Facebook, Twitter, Google as secure methods of validation. You may also login directly using a Dragonmount account. As always, all communication with our site is entirely secure and encrypted. 
 

 
Upcoming Login Changes 
 
How It Currently Works
Currently Dragonmount allows you to login using your username. That’s how it’s been done since we opened in 1998. But usernames are always public-facing, which means that people or groups with ill-intent could easily target s specific account and try to to that account using brute force.  For example, they could take the name “Jason Denzel” and try lots of popular password combinations, hoping to break in. Now, we have plenty of ways to detect these brute force attacks and block them.  But still, it’s a modern best practice to not use a username for a login anymore. 
 
What's Changing
 
Beginning Thursday, June 24 July 8 all users will log onto Dragonmount using an email address instead of a username. Your existing password will continue to work like normal.  In addition, users will also be able to login using their Facebook, Twitter, or Google accounts.  (We have plans to implement AppleID login at a future date and to offer optional Two-Factor authentication.). We've extended the date to give people more time to validate their email. We'll make the change after we send out July newsletter.
  Required Actions No action is required on your part except to please take a moment to verify that your email address on record is current.   (Click your user name in the upper right corner > Account Settings)    Also, while you're there, please consider checking your Notification settings to see if you're receiving our monthly newsletter. It's a great way to have a recap of the latest Wheel of time and community news sent to your Inbox.    Thank you for being part of this amazing community. If you have questions, please email webmaster@dragonmount.com
  • Teaser Paragraph:

    Upcoming changes to the way users log into Dragonmount

Jason Denzel
Jason Denzel

Brandon Sanderson interview on The Dusty Wheel

Katy is a news contributor for Dragonmount. You can follow her as she shares her thoughts on The Wheel of Time TV Show on Instagram and Twitter @KatySedai
 
The Dusty Wheel YouTube channel live streamed an interview with author Brandon Sanderson today. The ninety minute discussion was guided by submitted questions.  Brandon and Matt Hatch, the Innkeeper, covered topics including:
general writing questions,
Brandon’s new Podcast and YouTube success,
a Mistborn/Fornite crossover,
The Wheel of Time television production and adapting the series,
The Wheel of Time book spoilers including regrets with finishing to the series,
and finally many Cosmere questions answered with a RAFO (Read and Find Out).
 
In the general discussion, Brandon reaffirmed that he will be at JordanCon 2021 in Atlanta this July. He suggested we will see him on a two hour panel, with the exact topic to be determined.
 
In addition to his prolific and strict writing schedule and starting a new podcast, Brandon has found the time to become a YouTuber, with over 200,000 subscribers. His channel provides weekly updates and live streams where he answers questions while signing books. Brandon multitasked tonight; signing pages for the leather-bound copy of The Way of Kings while drinking bubble tea.
 
One piece of recent news for Cosmere and video game fans is the announcement that the character Kelsier from Mistborn will be in the popular video game Fornite.
 
After the spoiler free discussion, the conversation moved on to full spoilers for The Wheel of Time series and the upcoming television show. Brandon reinforced the idea that The Wheel of Time television series from Amazon Prime is in good hands. He is pleased with showrunner Rafe Judkins, who he says
 
 

Brandon also discussed how the changes in the TV show can be canon, and that the narrative of the Wheel of time allows for it, and even encourages the idea of changes.
 
 
This idea of a different version of events was discussed by Robert Jordan when describing the workings of the Wheel and the Pattern of Ages.


 

There’s much discussion online about the potential changes for the television show. Expectations are high, and maybe it helps to frame the changes this way - that the canon of the books allows for changes to the details. When we pull away and look at the big picture we still see the familiar characters and stories we love.
 
The Wheel of Time conversation moved to specific questions about the last three books in the Wheel of Time series. Brandon discussed regrets on a scene that was included that he wished wasn’t.  Definitely watch the full video to hear his full thoughts.
 
The innkeeper and Brandon ended the evening with a multitude of Cosmere questions with a quick succession of RAFO’s (read and find outs), and a few detailed answers Cosmere fans will want to take notes on.
 
What questions were you excited to hear about? What questions do you wish Brandon had answered? Let us know in the comments below. Be sure to check out the video from The Dusty Wheel on YouTube, and subscribe to their channel.
 

  • Teaser Paragraph:

    Brandon Sanderson discusses The Wheel of Time and more on The Dusty Wheel YouTube channel.

Katy Sedai
Katy Sedai

New promo video featuring The Wheel of Time’s Madeleine Madden

Katy is a news contributor for Dragonmount. You can follow her as she shares her thoughts on The Wheel of Time TV Show on Instagram and Twitter @KatySedai.
 
 
Amazon Prime Video Australia and New Zealand released a promotional video for their shows coming to Australia in 2021  including Amazon Prime’s The Wheel of Time television show. The video features actor Madeleine Madden who plays Egwene al’Vere.
 
This is the first recorded promotional material that we’ve seen for the upcoming TV show, and just a hint of what to expect from Amazon in the months to come.
 
The clip also includes footage of the table read previously seen on The Wheel of Time’s Twitter account back in October 2019. There is no other new footage but it’s great to see her so excited!
 
With season one wrapping up filming in May, we are keeping our fingers crossed we get to see Madeleine as Egwene this year!
 
 
 
  • Teaser Paragraph:

    Madeleine Madden and The Wheel of Time are featured in promotional clip on the YouTube account for Amazon Prime Video Australia and New Zealand.

     

Katy Sedai
Katy Sedai

Book Review: Dynamicist

In this story, Robert Endicott comes from a family gifted with heraldry—a sort of foretelling for people, places, and things.  This innate ability gets him noticed as a possible student for the Duchess’s New School, a program that teaches dynamics, a form of magic that derives from shifting probability and the physics of thermodynamics. 
 
As Endicott and his classmates get further into their training, they learn that the New School’s not as safe as they thought.  The previous year’s trainees suffered fatalities in their studies and the courses this year aim to keep the students from the same mistakes.
 
To make matters worse, rumors of Nimrheal—a mythical figure who outlawed innovation and is credited with killing mathematicians and inventors in the past—begin to circulate and riots break out in his name.  The real threat of mishandling the magic and the perceived threat of Nimrheal push Endicott down a road he never intended to take.
 
Some reviews of Lee Hunt’s Dynamicist claim that mathematics is just as important as magic within the world of this trilogy.  This idea was so intriguing, and as a math teacher, I knew I had to read this book.  While Dynamicist only scratches the surface of this magic system, there is the promise of more to come as the series continues.  This view of magic is unique and I enjoyed the tie in to math and science.  
 
Endicott is a likeable hero.  He struggles to learn the needed academic skills and form bonds with his new classmates.  Raised on a farm, Endicott is naïve about the city and his interactions with others.  Because of his humble upbringing, he approaches these relationships and situations with an honest sincerity that’s refreshing.  He wants to discuss poetry and his emotions.  He constantly analyses himself.  He realizes he has a weakness for protecting others, and this love drives his character forward.
 
This book was an enjoyable read and a great introduction to a new world and a new magic system. I’m very excited to finish the trilogy and see how fleshed out the math magic can get!
 
The second book in the series, Herald, was released on audiobook earlier this month!  I listened to the audiobook for Dynamicist and recommend it.  The narration by Craig A. Hart is well done.  His emotions come through for each character.
 
To read more on Lee Hunt and the rest of the Dynamicist trilogy, you can visit his website.
  • Teaser Paragraph:

    Fantasy review of the novel "Dynamicist," by Lee Hunt--a story of a young man who learns how to use dynamics, a branch of magic based on science and math, to battle the ancient deity Nimrheal who kills innovators.

Mashiara Sedai
Mashiara Sedai

Adam's Wheel of Television: News from the Pattern

Adam Whitehead is Dragonmount's TV blogger. Adam has been writing about film and television, The Wheel of Time, and other genre fiction for over fifteen years, and was a finalist for the Hugo Award for Best Fan Writer in 2020. Be sure to check out his websites, The Wertzone and Atlas of Ice and Fire (including The Wheel of Time Atlas!) as well as his Patreon.
 
News from the Pattern
A flurry of news and rumours have swept Wheel of Time TV-land in the last few weeks, and it’s probably a good idea to take a look at the situation and see what’s what.
 
Season 1 is a wrap! (probably)
WoTSeries, who’ve been keeping their finger on the pulse of the latest developments, reported last week that behind-the-scenes crew were celebrating wrapping on the first season. They later clarified that a few more pick-ups needed to be done, but for all intents and purposes work on the first season has been completed. Rafe Judkins, Wheel of Time showrunner and unstoppable Narg-teaser, also confirmed this news in an Instagram Q&A yesterday.
 
No time for a rest though, as per our report work on Season 2 is due to begin almost immediately, with production rolling into the second year after a break for a couple of weeks for set building and table-reads.
 
November might be the month!
Orbit Books, who publish the Wheel of Time novels in the UK and Commonwealth, have listed a new, TV tie-in edition of The Eye of the World for publication on 4 November. Tie-in editions of novels are typically published between a week and a month before the show or movie debuts. WoTSeries, doing a lot of hard work, have reported 26 November – Black Ajah Friday? – as one of the dates currently being batted around at Amazon. Assuming Amazon replicates their recent release schedule from shows like The Boys, that would put maybe three episodes out on 26 November and then one a week for five weeks afterwards, ending on New Year’s Eve. I wouldn’t mark that on calendars as confirmed just yet, but it’s a good sign that Amazon are at least envisaging a launch date this side of Christmas.
 
Tor Books, who publish the novels in the United States, have not yet confirmed their own plans for a TV tie-in edition.
 
Give us the Daughter-Heir!
An unconfirmed report (from a NSFW site we won’t be linking here) has Amazon casting for a “young actress to play a princess and future queen,” with reportedly the maximum number of legally-allowed years being asked for (six). That suggests that Amazon are looking for their Elayne Trakand (whose casting for Season 1 has not been confirmed) and that they also envisage the show lasting for (at least) seven seasons in total. Both of these facts are only conjectural; if Amazon wanted to be smart and had sneakily cast Elayne for Season 1 without announcing it, they might be casting for a different role. If you really stretch the definition, this could also be casting for Faile if they want to introduce her early, or Berelain, or even Tuon if they envisage major changes to the Seanchan storyline. Asking for six years might also simply be Amazon covering their bases for future renewals; if the show comes out and bombs, then we won’t be getting a third season, let alone a seventh.
 
Into the desert
Ondrej Nekvasil, the production designer for The Wheel of Time, was interviewed by a Czech periodical (translation courtesy of WoTSeries) and confirmed that the show will reflect the 16th/17th Century cultural setting of novels, rather just a generic medieval fantasy design. More intriguingly, he indicated Season 2 will shoot in Morocco, where productions such as Kingdom of Heaven and Game of Thrones have filmed in the past. The dry, dusty locations that Morocco provides relatively cheaply and within easy travel of Europe makes the Aiel Waste a likely candidate for the location, but I would not expect them to reach The Shadow Rising so early in the series. It’s possible we will instead be seeing flashbacks of some kind to the Waste, or perhaps from Seanchan characters to a dry and dusty part of their home continent. It may also be that part of the main continent has been re-envisaged as a more desert-like biome, or that it might be standing in for the Great Blight, or one the worlds reached by Portal Stone. Time will tell on this one.
 

 
 
A new title!
We have our first episode title for Season 2. The first episode will be called A Taste of Solitude and will be written by Amanda Kate Shuman. The title comes from a chapter in Lord of Chaos, indicating that Amazon will be drawing on the entire book series for ideas for episode titles, and the episode titles will not automatically correspond with the events of the chapter of the same name (unless Season 1 is way more compressed than we first thought).
 
Interestingly, we still don’t have confirmation of the titles for the final two episodes of Season 1 yet, something we’re endeavouring to find out as soon as possible.
 
Q&A with the Showrunner
Wheel of Time showrunner Rafe Judkins hit up Instagram on Thursday 20 May for an impromptu Q&A. It’s worth reading the full session in his Instagram stories, but the pertinent highlights follow:
 
In the edit, episodes of the series have been clocking in between 50 and 65 minutes in length. The “EF5” (Emond’s Field Five, namely Rand, Mat, Perrin, Nynaeve and Egwene) have been doing most of their own stunts. Rafe is very excited by a character who appears in Book 1 but not Season 1, but who will appear in Season 2. To help us narrow it down he has given us the first two letters of their name: “EL.” So Elayne or Elaida. Or maybe Elyas. Or the oft-missed merchant, El’Steve of Elmora? I guess we’ll find out. The writing team assembled between Seasons 1 and 2 and developed an outline for how to break the entire fourteen-book series into a reasonable number of TV seasons (i.e. less than fourteen). Whether we “see” someone channelling in a scene will depend on which characters are in the scene and which ones the scene has been focusing on. A shift from the books is that Season 1 is an ensemble piece, whilst the first novel is more tightly focused on just a couple of characters (Rand, predominantly). The season will try to give more equal weight and screen-time to different characters, presumably as part of their plan to obfuscate the identity of the Dragon Reborn a bit more than in the books. Narg has been confirmed as appearing. Rafe also confirmed they have unofficial names for other Trollocs. One is referred to as “Betty.” At least two of the actors were in a race to finish all of the books and one of them has won, but he didn’t reveal who that was. The show will have to condense and merge storylines and characters from different books, otherwise the youngest castmembers will be 45 by the time they finish. Perrin has been the most challenging main character to write for because so much of his characterisation is internal in the novels (where Perrin appearing “slow” when he’s actually just thinking hard is a regular plot point), but they have been helped by Marcus Rutherford’s performance. Lan’s colour-changing cloak has been reluctantly cut from the show, with the vfx requirements and costs being high for something which is a relatively minor part of the series.  
Warders teasing their Aes Sedai
It’s not dumping a duck pond on their Aes Sedai’s head, but one Wheel of Time Warder was spotted high-tailing it off the set with a strange and powerful angreal known as a “Golden Globe,” with Moiraine Damodred in hot pursuit. Further developments as they come in.
 
As usual, please continue to follow developments on our casting and news pages and stay tuned for more info as we get it.
  • Teaser Paragraph:

    A flurry of news and rumours have swept Wheel of Time TV-land in the last few weeks, and it’s probably a good idea to take a look at the situation and see what’s what.

     

Werthead
Werthead

Season 1 Wrapped; Season 2 Greenlit

The news broke yesterday that Amazon Prime officially renewed The Wheel of Time for a second season!
 
Rafe Judkins, the showrunner, hinted that the writing staff had already begun writing scripts for season two some time ago, but the confirmation was appreciated.
 
The filming of season one wrapped as well, and there’s speculation the release date may be sometime in the fall of this year.
 
Amidst all the celebration, Rafe Judkins hosted a Q&A session on Instagram.  You can read the questions and his responses below:
 

Q: What’s the average running time of each episode?
A: Amazon is great because each ep doesn’t have to hit an exact time like you do in network TV. And these eps are epic, so we are clocking in between 50-65 minutes each.
 

Q: Congratulations on S1 wrap!! Blink twice if a trailer is coming soon…..
A: (A blushing, wide eyed emoji)
 

Q: Do EF5 actors perform stunts on their own or do they have stunt doubles?
A: Everyone on the show has a stunt double, but most of our actors are really amazing with the physical stuff and doing their own stunts. I’m the only one who’s always falling.
 

Q: How are you feeling having wrapped S1?
A: To be totally honest, it hasn’t fully him me yet.  There’s still so much to be done to get the show ready to air and get S2 shooting, that while I was drinking my celebratory champagne on set after the last shot Tuesday, someone grabbed me to tackle three new problems that had come up and I had to leave ha
 

Q: What character that doesn’t appear in S1 & does appear in S2 are you most excited about?
A: Starts with an EL
 

Q: Do you have the plot of all the seasons roughly mapped out?
A: Yeah, between Season One and Two we made a rough map of how the series could break down into seasons. It can always change obviously, but important to know where we are going and how we are getting there so we build it right if @amazonprimevideo keeps us around for the long haul ?
 

Q: Will we see the actual weaves of just the end result of channeling?
A: You’re going to see if all if you’re a woman who can channel
 

Q: Most difficult part of creating TWOT during a global pandemic.
A: The human aspect. We’ve built a family here in Prague with cast and crew and keeping everyone safe has been top priority. Everyone’s ability to adapt and meet the stresses of a time like this has been amazing to watch.
 

Q: How far should we get into the books if we don’t want Season 1 to spoil things for us?
A: This question is so cleverly worded to trick me that I have to respond to it out of sheer respect
 

Q: How are you balancing the numerous POVs in the book vs focusing on Rand?
A: I’ve always said, we are adapting the whole series not just Eye of the World, and I really think this is an ensemble series, so the first season is as well
 

Q: Will we see forsaken in season 1?
A: Some people see Forsaken everywhere
 

Q: Will we see Narg? (crossed fingers emoji)
A: Yep
 

Q: Did any of the actors end up becoming fans of the book series after getting cast?
A: I’m not going to spoil who, but two of the core cast are in a read off right now, and I think one of them may have finished the series
 

Q: How many “brands” or trollocs did you create for the show?
A: We leaned into the books and tried to have the trollocs have as much individual character as possible. My favorite is the one we call Betty
 

Q: Will S2 take us to a lot of new locations? How big can the world get?
A: Best thing about Wheel of Time is the world keeps getting bigger and deeper. And we’ve gotta deliver on that in the show
 

Q: Please ask Amazon Prime if they’d do a sweepstakes for a fan to be an extra on the show.
A: @amazonprimevide and @thewheeloftime (thinking emoji)
 

Q: Loved the first look at the Trollocs! When are we getting more?
A: Sadly there hasn’t been a first look at the Trollocs yet.  That was some accidently leaked raw footage. We work so hard to make the show it’s always a shame when you guys see stuff outside the way we have it planned. I’ll tell you one thing, when I met with directors for S2 who’d seen the pilot, they all had one thing to say – “THOSE TROLLOCS???”
(Small text to the side: Why does Instagram make the text so skinny. This is driving me crazy)
 

Q: Excited to progressively spiral downwards into raving madness?
A: It’s so funny that you think I’m not already there
 

Q: Are you planning a book per season or are there adaptations and inclusion from multiple?
A: We have to combine. @madeleine_madden and @joshastradowski would be 45 when we finished otherwise.
 

Q: Will Lan’s cook cloak be featured in the show?
A: I love Lan’s cloak in the show. But much like Aes Sedai agelessness, if  it’s an effect that’s going to cost a fortune every time a character is on screen, it’s a bad use of our money. Unless you want to see all of S1 in the Winespring Inn.  Then you can have color changing cloaks  ?
 

Q: Who has been the hardest character to write for so far?
A: Perrin is the hardest. His interior monologue in the books is the biggest part of his character, so bringing him out in the show is always something we have to build really consciously. Luckily @marcus_rudda just exudes Perrin every minute so it makes our lives a lot easier
(text at the bottom: And thank you @sarahenakamura for teaching me about the text slider. Just in time for the last question)
 

Q: Have you started writing S2?
A: Yeah! The awesome S2 writers have been working throughout the year and we already have a bunch of great scripts ready to go.
  • Teaser Paragraph:

    Season 1 of Amazon Prime's Wheel of Time television show wrapped this week, and Season 2 was greenlit.

Mashiara Sedai
Mashiara Sedai