‘The Wheel of Time’: Five Things Season 2 Needs to Do
Wheel of Time is coming back to Amazon Prime for a second season. The show has a lot of work to do to salvage the show.
Amazon’s The Wheel of Time did not have an amazing first season. That didn’t stop it from getting a second season. That season is coming out next week. With a pretty messy start, season 2 needs to do a lot of work to salvage the show. It has to be better–a lot better–than season 1 if the show wants to go on.
Introduce the Rest of the Main Characters
via Amazon
The Wheel of Time has a lot of characters. Some are minor and some are really major. Most of the really major characters are introduced in the first three books. Those books are going to be covered by seasons 1 and 2. Now Season 1 chose to not introduce a number of important characters that are in the first book (which it covers).
That means season 2 will have to do some extra work, introducing not only the major characters in books 2 and 3 but also the ones from book 1 that were left out. However, some of these characters really need to show up for them to play the roles they need to.
Stick to the Books
via Amazon Studios and EW
The biggest advice I would say for season two would simply be to stick more to the books. Focus on the core cast and let us get to know them for once. Sure you have to change things from the book, but really think about why. With a second season, people are going to be less forgiving and you need to really be more clear about the lore of the world and why people are doing what they are doing. This is going to be particularly hard to do given that the season is combining two books and will likely have to cut them up a ton. Which means…
Season 2 Shouldn’t Add Too Much New Stuff
via Amazon Studios and EW
Cutting a large book like those in The Wheel of Time down into 8 episodes would have been a hard task on its own. However, Season 1 didn’t make its job any easier by adding in a lot of new stuff that was not in the books. It didn’t help that most of the added stuff and major changes were bad.
Season 2 is going to be cutting down two books to fit into one season. That’s a lot. It’s also going to have to add in some things from book 1 as well. The show really really doesn’t need to invent any more of its own new plots that take up a ton of time.
Figure Out How to Handle the Matt Change
One of the reasons that season one stumbled was the loss of a key actor. Mat Cauthon actor Barney Harris left the show midway through the season for unknown reasons. For season 2, and going forward he has been replaced by Dónal Finn. The show will have to figure out a way to handle this recast, or just ignore it. Now the show might just how an out.
In the books, Mat undergoes a healing to free him of the influence of the Shadar Logoth dagger. Following this, he has a radically different personality and for many readers went from a hated character to a fan favorite. It’s possible the show could use this healing as a way to recast him as “a new man” effectively. We will have to see.
Season Two Needs to Win Back the Fans
Ultimately the thing the season needs to do the most, and what it will likely struggle with the most, is to win back the fans. A lot of fans were just plain turned off by season 1. For others, it was an OK season, but ruined by the ending. Very few unequivocally loved it. I think the books have enough goodwill to get a lot of fans to give season 2, or at least the start, a chance. However, if the show wants to have any chance of being a success it’s really got to pull out all the stops to be good and win back fans. And that won’t be easy.
Let us know what you think Season Two of the Wheel of Time needs to do.
