[TV] Wheel of Time series

YellowKing · Post by **YellowKing** » Thu Aug 15, 2019 6:03 pm

JCC wrote:Very rarely do my mind's eye images for book characters resemble the TV/movie version

I have very little imagination when it comes to conjuring up people out of whole cloth, so typically I imagine book characters as actors. So it's not too surprising when they come pretty close.

$iljanus · Post by **$iljanus** » Thu Aug 15, 2019 6:13 pm

This thread makes me wonder if I should finally finish the book series which is no small task since I think I made it to book 4 or 5 maybe...a few decades ago.

Or screw it, just watch the series!

Zaxxon · Post by **Zaxxon** » Thu Aug 15, 2019 6:53 pm

$iljanus wrote:This thread makes me wonder if I should finally finish the book series which is no small task since I think I made it to book 4 or 5 maybe...a few decades ago.

Or screw it, just watch the series!

I enjoyed the ending. The middle books also were less frustrating than I remembered, probably because the next book was already available this time around.

$iljanus · Post by **$iljanus** » Thu Aug 15, 2019 8:31 pm

Zaxxon wrote:
$iljanus wrote:This thread makes me wonder if I should finally finish the book series which is no small task since I think I made it to book 4 or 5 maybe...a few decades ago.

Or screw it, just watch the series!
I enjoyed the ending. The middle books also were less frustrating than I remembered, probably because the next book was already available this time around.

Unlike the days of yore when you had to buy (or go to this repository of knowledge called a "library") what was called a "paperback" or if you wanted to splurge, a "hardcover" book I can probably buy the whole collection on Kindle for $119. Sounds like a bunch of cash but it breaks down to almost 9 bucks a book.

I wonder how long it would take to go through the whole series...? I think the library may be the way to go.

Zaxxon · Post by **Zaxxon** » Thu Aug 15, 2019 8:35 pm

I meant literally available. As in not having to wait a year after reading a book where nothing happened.

$iljanus · Post by **$iljanus** » Thu Aug 15, 2019 8:45 pm

Zaxxon wrote:I meant literally available. As in not having to wait a year after reading a book where nothing happened.

Or in certain cases there isn't a guarantee of getting any resolution at all!

I'd be more tempted by the "just buy the whole damn thing" option if I wasn't in the middle of a good book already. But as you said, it's not like I need to wait years until the next book!

Kelric · Post by **Kelric** » Thu Aug 15, 2019 9:39 pm

Perrin needs some muscles.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Fri Aug 16, 2019 1:42 am

stessier wrote: Thu Aug 15, 2019 3:13 pm
Blackhawk wrote: Thu Aug 15, 2019 2:53 pm I also appreciate them reimaging them a little. At the same time, it always feels odd when a series or film shows distinct races in a small, isolated community where nobody comes and goes for generations.
And then you remember the magic. And Trollocs.

Fantasy, to be believable, has to be grounded with internal consistency. They absolutely should have mixed up the cast, but they shouldn't mix up people from a single ethnicity in a setting where mixed cultures wasn't really a thing. I'd have loved to see a black Thom Merrilin. Lan would have been cool with a Asian or Middle Eastern actor. Alternatively, Rand was often remarked on for being pale (as I recall - it's been a while), so they could have made Mat black, along with the rest of the region and it would have worked.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Fri Aug 16, 2019 9:36 am

Here's the problem. Mat, Perrin, and Rand are all of an age. When Moiraine shows up, she can't immediately tell which one she's looking for and can only narrow down those based on the date of birth.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Wed Sep 04, 2019 1:05 pm

Deadline

Hawaii Five-0 and Criminal Minds star Daniel Henney joined Amazon’s big-budget fantasy drama The Wheel of Time.

Henney plays al’Lan Mandragoran, commonly known as Lan or Lord of the Seven Towers, the uncrowned king and only survivor of the royal line of the fallen kingdom of Malkier.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Wed Oct 02, 2019 4:23 pm

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Wed Nov 06, 2019 4:09 pm

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Wed Dec 04, 2019 10:13 pm

Four more cast member have been announced, via Arstechnica:

Hammad Animashaun (Black Mirror) has been cast as Loail, a close friend to Perrin the dream walker and Rand al'Thor. Loail is an ogier, a human-like species described in the books as big, strong, and hairy, which might belie (to the casual observer) their intelligence and peaceful natures. (Ars' own Lee Hutchinson described the species as “what if you had elves, but they were ogre-sized and looked like ogres.")

Alexandre Willaume (Tomb Raider) will portray Thom Merrilin, a "Gleeman and adventurer"—basically a traveling bard, playing in villages rather than royal courts, skilled in juggling, fireworks, tumbling, songs, instruments, and so forth. The other two newly announced cast members will play supporting characters. Johann Myers will play the villainous Padan Fain, and Alvaro Morte will play Logain.

Kelric · Post by **Kelric** » Fri Dec 06, 2019 1:40 am

Smoove_B wrote: Wed Dec 04, 2019 10:13 pm
Alexandre Willaume (Tomb Raider) will portray Thom Merrilin, a "Gleeman and adventurer"—basically a traveling bard, playing in villages rather than royal courts, skilled in juggling, fireworks, tumbling, songs, instruments, and so forth. The other two newly announced cast members will play supporting characters. Johann Myers will play the villainous Padan Fain, and Alvaro Morte will play Logain.

Not quite what I pictured from Thom, but I'll take it as long as the mustache works. I can see the crazy they can get out of Johann Myers' face even though I don't know his work. IIRC, Logain is supposed to be fairly physically imposing and I just don't see it from their casting choice.

malchior · Post by **malchior** » Sat Dec 07, 2019 12:29 am

Kelric wrote: Fri Dec 06, 2019 1:40 am
Smoove_B wrote: Wed Dec 04, 2019 10:13 pm
Alexandre Willaume (Tomb Raider) will portray Thom Merrilin, a "Gleeman and adventurer"—basically a traveling bard, playing in villages rather than royal courts, skilled in juggling, fireworks, tumbling, songs, instruments, and so forth. The other two newly announced cast members will play supporting characters. Johann Myers will play the villainous Padan Fain, and Alvaro Morte will play Logain.

Not quite what I pictured from Thom, but I'll take it as long as the mustache works. I can see the crazy they can get out of Johann Myers' face even though I don't know his work. IIRC, Logain is supposed to be fairly physically imposing and I just don't see it from their casting choice.

Considering Thom was about 65-70 in EOTW - yeah...not what I pictured.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Wed Mar 17, 2021 2:30 pm

Paingod · Post by **Paingod** » Thu Mar 18, 2021 6:53 am

The Rand they chose is pretty close to what I had in my head. The Matt ... not so much. Perrin? I never really gave him much of a face in my mind aside from being a beard with muscles. Big muscles, like a walking barn.

Honestly, I hope they have the Nynaeve character jerk at her hair once, someone quips at her for being silly, and then she never does it again. Of all the things to be bothered by in the books, that woman's fascination with constantly pulling on her hair so hard her head jerks around always vexed me.

Jaymann · Post by **Jaymann** » Thu Mar 18, 2021 2:06 pm

You mean like this:

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Wed Apr 28, 2021 3:39 pm

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Wed Apr 28, 2021 3:41 pm

Looks like the shakuhachi players will be kept working for a while.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Thu May 20, 2021 7:03 pm

Renewed

Amazon is doubling down on “Wheel of Time,” giving the fantasy series a very early Season 2 renewal. The series, which is based on Robert Jordan’s best-selling novels, just finished production on its debut season in the Czech Republic.

The series does not yet have a premiere date.

malchior · Post by **malchior** » Thu May 20, 2021 11:50 pm

That's an excellent sign!

Zaxxon · Post by **Zaxxon** » Fri Jul 23, 2021 3:02 pm

Zaxxon · Post by **Zaxxon** » Wed Sep 01, 2021 12:19 pm

Zaxxon · Post by **Zaxxon** » Thu Sep 02, 2021 12:24 pm

Just me excited about this one, eh?

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Thu Sep 02, 2021 1:07 pm

Nope. Just hesitant. Commercial media doesn't handle fantasy well. Like the upcoming Tolkien series, it could be Game of Thrones (at least the early seasons), or it could be Legend of the Seeker.

YellowKing · Post by **YellowKing** » Thu Sep 02, 2021 1:09 pm

I'm super excited for it the more that's revealed. As much as I loved to criticize Jordan's writing style, this is still my third favorite fantasy series behind Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones.

And I feel like they really captured the essence of every character I had in my mind's eye. Moiraine in particular is almost identical to how I envisioned her. Admittedly my imagination wasn't as ethinically diverse since I'm a basic white guy, but I'm really happy with the casting choices.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Thu Sep 02, 2021 1:32 pm

I'm genuinely excited for this, yes. I'm trying to keep myself from elevating my expectations and then having the rug yanked out from under me, but I'm really hoping this is an excellent show.

JCC · Post by **JCC** » Thu Sep 02, 2021 4:52 pm

I am looking forward to it. I am just cautious about expectations and whether this will be successful enough for them to actually tell the whole story. I also wonder how much will be cut out from the books. (Frankly, they probably SHOULD cut a lot from the books or it will take 37 seasons to tell it all! LOL.) I wonder what their target number of seasons is to tell the whole story. If they even targeted a season per book, I think it's unlikely they would ever get to finish it (or keep the actors around for it), so I imagine they will cut a LOT of stuff out.

(I am pulling my braid in worry...)

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Thu Sep 02, 2021 5:06 pm

Holman · Post by **Holman** » Thu Sep 02, 2021 6:40 pm

Utterly innocent question:

I've never read a word of Robert Jordan. Is the series complete? Do the showrunners have a total thing to work with, and is it possible to film it? Is it adaptable to what we do with fantasy these days?

(Obviously I own a copy of Google, but I think I'll get more nuanced opinions here.)

Zaxxon · Post by **Zaxxon** » Thu Sep 02, 2021 6:42 pm

Holman wrote: Thu Sep 02, 2021 6:40 pm Utterly innocent question:

I've never read a word of Robert Jordan. Is the series complete? Do the showrunners have a total thing to work with, and is it possible to film it? Is it adaptable to what we do with fantasy these days?

(Obviously I own a copy of Google, but I think I'll get more nuanced opinions here.)

Yes, yes, no, yes.

Zaxxon · Post by **Zaxxon** » Thu Sep 02, 2021 6:46 pm

Oh, nuanced? Sorry.

Yes, it's done, though Jordan died before it was and Brandon Sanderson finished the final books using notes from Jordan. He did a great job, IMO, and I consider the series complete and the final books as good as or better than the earlier ones.

That said, it's far too long to film everything, and some of what was written would be very difficult. I'm not just talking epic battles, but for example the descriptions of the One Power's channeling, how it looks/feels to those channeling it, those around them who can and can't channel it, the inner battle called forth each time it's used, etc. There is no way they will film the true epic nature of the series.

But I do think it's adaptable to film, and I have high hopes that they can do it justice on some level.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Thu Sep 02, 2021 6:50 pm

It is going to move fast. Assume that they get seven seasons. There's 14 books. That's two per season. And they're doing season one in like 6-8 hours.

Zaxxon · Post by **Zaxxon** » Thu Sep 02, 2021 6:54 pm

Isgrimnur wrote: Thu Sep 02, 2021 6:50 pm It is going to move fast. Assume that they get seven seasons. There's 14 books. That's two per season. And they're doing season one in like 6-8 hours.

6ish. Definitely won't approach 7.

Jaymann · Post by **Jaymann** » Thu Sep 02, 2021 7:42 pm

That equates to about 67 braid pulls per season.

Zaxxon · Post by **Zaxxon** » Thu Sep 02, 2021 7:53 pm

Jaymann wrote: Thu Sep 02, 2021 7:42 pm That equates to about 67 braid pulls per season.

You mis-spelled episode.

Archinerd · Post by **Archinerd** » Thu Sep 02, 2021 8:22 pm

Zaxxon wrote: Thu Sep 02, 2021 7:53 pm
Jaymann wrote: Thu Sep 02, 2021 7:42 pm That equates to about 67 braid pulls per season.
You mis-spelled scene.

Zaxxon · Post by **Zaxxon** » Thu Sep 02, 2021 8:24 pm

Archinerd wrote: Thu Sep 02, 2021 8:22 pm
Zaxxon wrote: Thu Sep 02, 2021 7:53 pm
Jaymann wrote: Thu Sep 02, 2021 7:42 pm That equates to about 67 braid pulls per season.
You mis-spelled scene.

True.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Thu Sep 02, 2021 9:22 pm

It would be kinda funny if early on one of them is braid tugging and skirt smoothing excessively and another characters tells them "That's enough" and it never happens again.