It’s been two years since the final credits faded to black on Game of Thrones. In the time since then, we’ve seen a mad rush to try and create the next blockbuster fantasy television event. Netflix has ‘The Witcher,’ whose second season just dropped. And next year, Amazon will be returning to Middle Earth with their new ‘Lord of the Rings’ series. But first, they’re bringing to life a new world - Robert Jordan’s ‘The Wheel of Time.’
The 14-book epic is set in a fantasy world devastated by a calamity thousands of years ago, locked in battle between servants of ‘The Light’ and ‘The Dark One’. In the present, the Aes Sedai - a magical order of women serving The Light - discover that an ancient prophecy has been fulfilled, foretelling the rebirth of The Dragon, a legendary hero who is humanity’s only hope against The Dark One.
Agents are dispatched in search of potential champions, and our story begins as one such searcher - Moiraine Damodred (Rosamund Pike) - and her guardian al’Lan (Daniel Henney) arrive in a small isolated village to find four young friends, each of whom as the potential to be The Dragon Reborn. Disaster strikes, as it inevitably does in such stories, and the unlikely companions are forced to go on the run.
As I said before, the comparisons to Game of Thrones are immediate. No surprise when the entire fantasy genre has essentially been kept alive on screen by one franchise for the last ten years. But it’s a very different experience. ‘Wheel of Time’ is not as bloody or, well, naked, as ‘Thrones.’ And where David Benioff and DB Weiss micro-dosed magic in their depiction of George RR Martin’s largely grounded world, this is very much High Fantasy, even more-so than ‘The Witcher.’
This ‘World of the Wheel’ (it has no formal name, an infuriating creative choice for a critic like myself to deal with) is much more Middle Earth than Westeros. And this is very refreshing, after ‘Thrones’ gritty, grounded style leaked out into pretty much every other recent fantasy project. Magic is rampant, beasts are monstrous and massive, haunted cities hold dark and deadly supernatural secrets. It’s great to see a setting like this get realized for television, especially when backed by the funds to properly execute it. The CGI isn't perfect, but it gets the job done, and the production design at large is excellent.
The greatest of technical marvels still hinge on story and character, however. And on that ground, ‘Wheel’ gets off to a shakier start. ‘Thrones’ got lucky finding brilliantly talented young no-name actors to pad out their cast. But in the first three episodes of ‘Wheel,’ the difference in experience between the newcomers and seasoned veterans like Pike is very stark. For example, Michael McElhatton (Roose Bolton to ‘Thrones’ fans) has a fairly small role in the pilot, but with his limited screen time invested me more than any of the main heroes.
I certainly mustn’t diminish Pike, here, or Henney. They do outstanding jobs with these parts, and (along with a brief but captivating villainous introduction for Abdul Salis as witch-hunter-of-sorts Eamon Valda) are enough to keep me coming back for now. But Gandalf can’t carry all of ‘Lord of the Rings’ on his own, hard as he might try, and the same is true for Moiraine. If showrunner Rafe Judkins wants his adaptation to be as long-lived as the books, he needs to invest more in the actual leads of the story.
I hate to come off as completely trashing the young cast. The central quartet of Josha Stradowski, Madeleine Madden, Marcus Rutherford and Barney Harris all show promise. In time, as they settle more into these roles and get more hours on set under their belts, they may yet rise to the occasion. They have at the very least one more season to get the hang of it. And I for one hope they do. The creative team has done an impressive job so far of bringing Jordan’s world to life, and it is certainly a tale deserving of a worthy adaptation.
So this winter, as the chills set in and you’re flicking through your TV looking for something new, latch on to ‘The Wheel of Time’ as it goes spinning by. Who knows where it will land? But for now, the ride into a vivid world of magic and adventure is well worth the leap. Much like the power within The Dragon Reborn - the possibilities are endless.
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