‘Wheel of Time’: Can Amazon Cram Two Books Into Season Two?

Amazon’s Wheel of Time is combing two books for one season’s worth of content. Could this lead into the usual pitfalls of adaptations?

After a long wait, The Wheel of Time Season 2 is finally here. The show is coming out today and we are excited about it. We’ve already discussed how the show is coming out a lot later than people thought. But the timing of the show isn’t all that big a deal anymore.  One of the biggest, and one of the few concrete, things we know about Season 2 is that it will combine 2 books. This could lead to a whole host of pitfalls.

In an interview with the Dragonmount YouTube channel, showrunner Rafe Judkins shed some light on season two of Wheel of Time. We’d long heard that season 2 will combine plot points from books 2 and 3 of the book. Indeed the first teaser we got for season two pointed toward that. In the interview, Rafe confirmed this is indeed the case. The showrunners felt that the plots of the two books were too similar and covered a lot of the same ground.

Warning: book spoilers 

Two Similar Books

via Amazon Studios

Both Great Hunt and Dragon Reborn are fairly similar books. Not so much in the plot as in the theme. Both books see the groups split apart, with Rand having a more solo adventure, while his friends go off on their own, only to all come together at the end. Both books also deal very heavily with Rand coming to terms with being the Dragon Reborn and announcing that to the world. In addition, both end with Rand confronting Ishamael, thinking him to be the Dark One, and beating him… much like the first book also ends.

So yeah, it’s not really hard to see why the showrunners might think that doing these two as separate back-to-back seasons might be hard for audiences to stomach. Having Rand have a fake-out battle with the Dark One, who turns out to be Ishamael, three seasons in a row is kind of silly. It smacks of Skeletor-type villainy. On top of that, you can argue that the real plot of the series, the Dragon Reborn’s fight, doesn’t start until after book 3. I can see why the showrunners want to get there quickly.

A Focus on Book Two

via Amazon

Given what the teasers have shown, it seems likely that The Wheel of Time Season 2 will draw a lot of its plot from book 2, The Great Hunt. We know from the end of Season 1 and the few teasers we’ve seen that the Seanchan will be in the season. That’s good – they’re a major element of the book’s world-building. In fact, they’re such a big deal that the season really needs to focus on them. There isn’t enough room for the conflict in Tear either. Given that, I’d guess the plot will mostly focus on book 2.

Character Beats From Book 3

On the other hand, it seems a lot of the character beats and introductions in The Dragon Reborn will likely be moved to Season 2. For instance, we know that Aviendha, who is introduced in TDR, will be in Season 2. Some of the teasers also imply the same for Gual. It’s not clear if Faile will be in this season. I’d also guess that the showrunners will move Matt’s personality change/separation from The Dagger to early Season 2. They may even use it as an explanation for the actor change.

This shot from the teaser sure seems to be of an iconic Matt scene. The architecture looks like Tar Valon and it’s a pretty classic scene–we’ll just have to see.

Final Thoughts

I do think it could work to combine the two books. The Great Hunt has a more important plot and introduces a lot of major world-building aspects. A lot of characters are introduced in The Dragon Reborn. It also has some really major character developments, but its plot is a lot less important overall.

The big wild card here is Moiraine. After losing her powers at the end of Season 1 she’s on a totally different arc than in the books. Combining two books into one season is a hard enough process. Throwing in some brand new storylines, something they did poorly in Season 1, could lead to a lot of troubles. Luckily we won’t have to wait long to find out if it works!

Let us know if you think this is a good choice down in the comments! 

Author: Abe Apfel

Abe is that rare thing, an Austin local born and raised here. Though he keeps on moving around, DC, Japan, ETC., he always seems to find his way back eventually. Abe has decades of experience with a wide range of tabletop and RPG games, from historicals, to Star Wars to D&D and 40K. He has been contributing to BOLS since almost the start, back when he worked at and then owned a local gaming store. He used to be big into the competitive Warhammer tournament scene but age has mellowed him and he now appreciates a good casual match. He currently covers 40K tactics and lore, as well as all things Star Wars, with occasional dabbling in other topics. Abe remains in mourning over the loss of WFB to this day.