Amazon Prime’s “The Wheel of Time” is a ponderous slog, a show that wants so badly to be the next “Game of Thrones” or even “The Witcher” that it telegraphs its pretentious self-seriousness with every line of dialogue and slow turn in the plot. It’s a death march through fantasy TV clichés that likely worked splendidly on the page in Robert Jordan’s books, wherein readers could imagine the exciting world that the people behind this show never bothered to create. Those fans may bring depth from the entire series that enriches this show, but everyone else is going to be lost. The narrative behind some of the pre-premiere buzz has been that Jordan’s books really inspired “Game of Thrones” and so this isn’t a copy as much as an ancestor to the HBO hit. The truth is that this particular version of the show, one that mistakes slow pace for serious drama, doesn’t exist in this form without the HBO juggernaut. And yet it’s almost as if no one involved here understood what made that show great.
The first volume of Robert Jordan’s 14-book series came out in 1990. For that entire decade and much of the next one, Jordan’s books were massive hits, creating a new world for fans of fantasy storytelling, which meant that Hollywood quickly came calling. “The Wheel of Time” has been in the production pipeline for over two decades. NBC optioned the screen rights for the first time in 2000 but couldn’t get the project off the ground. It was sold in 2004 to a company called Red Eagle Entertainment, who produced a notoriously horrendous FXX pilot of the show with Billy Zane in 2015 just to hold onto the rights.
This leads us to 2017 when this version, developed by Rafe Judkins, finally started to take flight. Sony and Amazon came on board, along with Uta Briesewitz to direct the first two episodes. Despite some COVID delays, Amazon was reportedly so happy with this high-budget production that it’s already been renewed for a second season.
“The Wheel of Time” is another show about a “chosen one” in a broken world. It’s led by a powerful woman named Moiraine (Rosamund Pike, so overqualified for this role that one can almost see her getting bored), a member of a group of female magicians called Aes Sedai. She travels with a loyal assistant in Lan Mondragon (Daniel Henney) and tells him of the rumors and prophecies about the return of something called “The Dragon,” a being that will either destroy or unite the planet. “The last dragon broke the world, but the next one will save it,” goes the prophecy.
Moiraine believes she’s found the new Dragon in the form of one of five young people in the small village of Two Rivers: Rand (Josha Stradowski), Nynaeve (Zoë Robins), Egwene (Madeleine Madden), Mat (Barney Harris), and Perrin (Marcus Rutherford), none of whom seem like a future hero. Even though they’re skeptical of Moiraine, she forces them into a journey to test them, reveal their strengths and weaknesses, and keep them one step ahead of the forces of evil who want the Dragon to themselves. This leads to a lot of talking & traveling scenes about dark ones, chosen ones, and other ones. It’s a show that is so serious in terms of tone and dialogue as to verge on parody. There’s so little personality here, which is a hole into which almost all of the mediocre “Game of Thrones” riffs fall—forgetting that every conversation about chosen ones needs a relatable moment or a character like Peter Dinklage’s Tyrion Lannister to modulate the tone. The writing on “The Wheel of Time” grinds to a halt under its clichés, never allowing its characters any room to breathe.
The structure of it clearly leans Young Adult in its premise—another Harry, Katniss, etc. shall be born—but the creators here reportedly wanted to avoid that and so aged some of the teen characters and dropped in some bursts of violence for good measure. It’s not the only aspect of the program that feels muddled and poorly considered. It’s as if the creators wanted a little YA and a little George R.R. Martin and so got lost in the valley in between. This leads to a show with basically no tone or demographic at all outside of the fans of the books. The young leads blend together into a bland paste through the first few episodes, although it’s hard to blame the performers when the writers have given them almost no distinguishing characteristics or personalities.
These young actors are also let down by a complete lack of world-building. Reports are that Amazon spent a fortune on this show, but it’s not on the screen. The costumes look like Renaissance Fair cast-offs, the sets look drab, and even the effects lack thrills. The premiere climaxes with a bloody sequence that basically ends with poor Rosamund Pike waving her arms around as the music swells and bodies fly.
It’s interesting that Amazon has already renewed this show since it has also devoted a great deal of energy and budget to a reboot of the world of “The Lord of the Rings,” which will premiere on the streaming service in TV series form next Fall. J.R.R. Tolkien’s story is one of the most beloved about an unexpected hero and was a clear influence on Jordan’s narrative. The success of the Peter Jackson films and HBO show kind of made a TV version of “The Wheel of Time” inevitable, and that kind of dynamic, one driven by business more than creative passion, often leads to disappointments like this one, a show that feels like it needed to be made even if no one really wanted to make it. [D]
“The Wheel of Time” debuts on Amazon Prime Video on November 19.