I’m sorry for any super fans of the shows or books, but that first season was awful. The Wheel of Time Season 2 just got its first official trailer for the new season, and I really have no idea what this series is being brought back by Amazon.
Hasn’t Amazon had enough of epic fantasy shows after the disasters that was The Wheel of Time S1 and Rings of Power S1?
Despite being the much younger, discarded little brother to the Rings of Power, The Wheel of Time has just gotten its first official trailer for its second season as Amazon seems to be headstrong on giving us yet another lackluster, boring, generic fantasy show nothing like the material its “adapting” from. And, if you couldn’t tell, I have no interest at all in the show.
Now, perhaps my disregard for the series comes partly from the fact that I have never read the books and my entire view of the franchise has really been tainted by the first season of the show (which was my introduction to the lore and franchise), so I might be a little too biased to actually write this article. But, seeing as how there’s no one else to write it, I’m going to go full throttle and say that I hope this show ends after Season 2.
I know there’s going to be diehard Wheel of Time fans that will hate me for saying that, but the show just isn’t given the respect, care, or passion Robert Jordan’s classic novel series deserves as the show is evidently the little brother to the Rings of Power.
I mean, putting aside the set designs, costume designs, CGI, and overall look of the two shows for a moment, Amazon spent $465M to produce the Rings of Power and only $80M to make the Wheel of Time.
Obviously, those are two humongous budgets (though, you wouldn’t know given how cheap the Wheel of Time looks) and great investments in a show, but the Lord of the Rings and the Wheel of Time are two of the most legendary, well-respected, and beloved epic series in the fantasy genre.
As of me writing this article, the Wheel of Time series, which was started by the legendary Robert Jordan and finished by the equally legendary Brandon Sanderson, has sold over 100M copies worldwide, while the Lord of the Rings, which was written by the fantasy genre god J.R.R Tolkien, has sold over a 150M. That’s really not too much of a difference between the two fantasy series in terms of copies sold and fan enthusiasm, yet you’d think Amazon was adapting a little-known, small-time fantasy series given the budget disparity.
The Wheel of Time has sold 100M COPIES…which makes it the 35th highest selling book series in WORLD HISTORY! And this show only gets 17% of what the Lord of the Rings’ budget was?
(Amazon Prime-The Wheel of Time-Season 2 Official Trailer)
Of course, the Lord of the Rings is the bigger, more famous franchise and deserves a higher budget for any adaptation product, but the Wheel of Time deserved so much more time, care, and attention to the casting, character development, plot adaptation, etc. than what it ended up getting.
I didn’t read the books so I can only go by the reviews and articles I’ve read, but the main show completely scrapped the plot from the books by having the “Dragon Reborn” a mystery and pushed Moiraine (who is barley in the main series given her disappearance) as the main character over Rand…who is the actual main character in the stories.
Along with the sets looking like they came from the CW and the costumes looking like they were taken from the Witcher: Blood Origin rejected designs bin (even though the Wheel of Time came out first, so these costume designers must have time travelled to get them), the general feel of the show was as if it was Amazon’s afterthought they had to adapt for contractual reasons.
And, to be honest, it probably was as the Wheel of Time came out a little under a year prior to the Rings of Power spoiling our screens early September 2022.
So, if you’re a fan of the show, I hope you enjoy Season 2 as I won’t be writing too many more articles about this series from here on out. There’s just better, more developed and cared for projects, such as House of the Dragon, out in the entertainment ether.
Images Source: Featured Images: (Amazon Prime) (The Wheel of Time Season 2 – Official Trailer | Prime Video – YouTube)
In Text Image 1: (Amazon Prime) (The Wheel of Time Season 2 – Official Trailer | Prime Video – YouTube)
