AVClub reports Amazon renewed The Wheel of Time, even though the first season has only wrapped up the shoot in the Czech Republic. In case you’ve forgotten, this is that other adaptation of an epic fantasy book series by Amazon – the first one being The Lord of the Rings, of course. But unlike that insanely expensive production, The Wheel of Time has a much more reasonable budget. The company seems to have a lot of faith in the new show and fantasy genre in general. After all, even HBO is looking to replicate the success of Game of Thrones by producing at least one prequel series.
Rafe Judkins, who worked on shows like Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD and Chuck is producing the series while also serving as its showrunner. Rosamund Pike (Gone Girl) is leading the cast. Other members include Kae Alexander (Fleabag), Maria Doyle Kennedy (Orphan Black), Peter Franzén (Vikings), Daniel Henney (Criminal Minds), Madeleine Madden (Dora and the Lost City of Gold), Michael McElhatton (Game of Thrones), Álvaro Morte (Money Heist), and Sophie Okonedo (Hellboy).
The Wheel of Time is a lengthy series of fantasy novels written by James Oliver Rigney Jr. under the pseudonym Robert Jordan. The first novel – The Eye of the World – came out in 1990. Over the next seventeen years, Rigney produced another ten books. After he died in 2007, a fellow writer and Wheel of Time fan Brandon Sanderson used Rigney’s copious notes to write three final novels and a prequel.
