Amazon dropped another PR teaser for its Wheel of Time series a few days ago. This latest trailer emphasizes the role of Aes Sedai Moiraine Damodred in her epic adventure to find [redacted], the destined Dragon Reborn. 

Credit: Amazon

 About ten years ago, a friend (let's call this friend "Temisan") recommended The Wheel of Time high fantasy series to me. I dug in and instantly became a Robert Jordan fanboy. The story follows three teenage boys called Rand, Mat, and Perrin (if my memory serves me right) in their mission to- for the life of me I can't seem to remember. But I soon caught on that the mission, though the backbone, wasn't the entire story.

 In a world as massive in scale as Tolkien's, Erikson's, and G. R. R. Martin's, Robert Jordan fully exploited symbolic, historic, and metaphysical tropes, diversifying story threads with culture, legends, myths, intrigue, and high sorcery. Women are the most powerful in this world - The Aes Sedai to be exact. Mysterious, mythical, feared, and formidable, they play a key role in the fate of the world. Men are born unclean, with tainted souls. 

In a corner of the world, as dark as Mordor, Shai'tan, The Dark One, lurks, bidding his time until ready to usurp The Creator. This Abrahamic influence is a pointer to Jordan's rich source of fantasy and symbolic material; which include Zulu, Indian and Japanese cultures. A world of trollocs and fake dragons, of peasants and poets, of earth, wind and fire. In short, Robert Jordan's Wheel Of Time is as good as high fantasy series come (in book form). On TV though, that's an entirely different kettle of fish. 


I used to read the books and imagine how amazing TheWheel Of Time world would look on screen. At the time I thought, given the right circumstances, it could be as good as Lord of The Rings. The world is dark and pitiless, exciting and funny. So when I heard Jeff Bezos had reportedly given Amazon execs a blank check to produce a series I said "finally". The plan: to create a show good enough to rival Game Of Thrones. Ooh la la. 

I hadn't religiously followed the production of TheWheel of Time in the preceding months so I clicked on the latest teaser with high hopes. Two minutes and twenty seconds later those hopes lay forlorn, dashed and on the floor. Hm. CEO, entrepreneur, born in 1964, Jeffery Bezos, gave them a blank check for this? With numerous comments on the fruity CGI, dialogue, and uncertain casting bar Rosamund Pike, Amazon might be backing the wrong horse.  

From the trailer, it looks like the show has greater emphasis placed on aesthetics, bright images, and even political correctness. The Wheel of Time books are obviously grand in scale and rich in colors and symbols but it's also a dark and nasty world. What Amazon seems to be going for is a Merlin, Legend of The Seeker-like show with more focus on the prettiness of things. 

And we've seen how a major contributor to the success of Game of Thrones is how it embraced the dark aspects of its world and characters. Dirt should not be anathema to the fantasy genre but TheWheel of Time's producers don't seem to think so. And I don't recall the series having lots of dark-skinned characters in the books, but I guess in this era it's fair play to try and heavily represent a certain demographic on TV before your show ends up dead on arrival.

With less than a month away from when The Wheel of Time premieres on Amazon Prime, anticipation is still high for the series. The new trailer highlights Rosamund Pike's screen presence and the show's imagery and effects. Fans of the books must be eagerly waiting for the show to get started while those who are unfamiliar with the story must be eyeing the series' early teasers with a mind to see if, as Amazon intends, the show rivals Game of Thrones.

 From what I've seen, it won't. For one, the story of "The Chosen One" is cliched in the fantasy genre and even the Game of Thrones handlers faltered when the time came to close the story of its "Chosen One" (an affront many fans have not forgiven). Viewers might watch diligently then lose interest after a couple of seasons. With its gigantic budget production, the upcoming series will be hard-pressed and pressured to fill the void left by Game of Thrones. The characters and images also look fruity and the CGI looks sus.

 Fingers crossed though. With a second season already scheduled, Amazon's The Wheel of Time plans to stay in the game for a long time. Watch the new trailer: 



The Wheel of Time premieres November 19 on Prime Video