Trivia / The Wheel of Time (2021)

• Ascended Fanon: Egwene being ta'veren and the existence of a female Dragon counterpart are theories that have circled in the fandom. In the Amazon series, Egwene is explicitly stated to be ta'veren, and while Robert Jordan confirmed there is a female counterpart to the Dragon during an interview in 2001, the Amazon series draws greater attention to it by stating in-universe that the Dragon can be reborn as either male or female.
• Ashcan Copy: On February 9th, 2015 (at 1:30 AM!), Winter Dragon, a 30-minute adaptation of the introductory chapter of The Eye Of The World appeared on FXX. What keeps it from being just another One-Episode Wonder are the circumstances of its production. According to the director's tweets, filming began on January 20th and post-production was completed on February 4th. The TV rights to the Wheel of Time series were set to revert from Red Eagle Entertainment (who has held them since 2004) to The Bandersnatch Group (which is owned by the Robert Jordan estate) on February 11th. Needless to say, Jordan's widow was not pleased. Lawsuits went flying and after being resolved, Harriet announced that what would become the Amazon adaptation was in the works.
• Cast the Expert: The Aiel woman in 1x07 Tigraine, Rand's mother, who fights and kills several enemy soldiers while on the cusp of giving birth, is played by stunt actress Magdalena (Majda) Sittova.
• Cowboy BeBop at His Computer: ScreenRant released a video titled "25 Things You Missed About The Wheel of Time" that includes an egregious error: the narrator praises the show for removing a scene from the first book where Perrin's wife is brutally killed, as it could be seen as an outdated example of "fridging". This is not only wrong, it's backwards: at this point in the books, Perrin has no Love Interest whatsoever, much less a wife, and the character is added and killed off by the show. The really bizarre part though, is that this "fact" is narrated over the scene where Perrin's wife dies. The video has since been made private on YouTube although it is discussed here by Daniel Greene.
• Follow the Leader: Although there had been attempts to make a TV adaptation of The Wheel of Time for over a decade, this one's production went into full-swing in 2018 as Game of Thrones, another popular fantasy series based on novels, was coming to an end. The Wheel of Time aims for a similar epic scope and follows the viewpoints of multiple characters, although in terms of plot and tone they're quite different (Thrones is a gritty, subversive take on the fantasy genre; The Wheel of Time sticks more faithfully to classic high fantasy tropes, although it does take some cues from Thrones, such as aging-up the main protagonists and making it darker and sexier compared to the early books).
• Meme Acknowledgment: During a Ask Me Anything, someone asked Rafe about the little girl in the season one finale, and Rafe answered "THAT LITTLE GIRL HAD IT COMING! (and so did everyone else living on the western shore.)"
• The Other Darrin: In Season 1, Mat is played by Barney Harris, who left the show after the first six episodes were filmed. For Season 2, Dónal Finn takes over the role.
• Real Life Writes the Plot: Barney Harris left the production after episode 6 due to the quarantine lockdown, could not return for episodes 7 and 8 and had to be replaced for Season 2. As a result, Mat doesn't accompany the other main characters to Fal Dara and the Eye of the World. Granted, he did not do much in that segment of the book, making the change less important. But Judkins promised the effect would be felt in the second season, now with both Darkfriends and Red Ajah pursuing Mat.
• Renewed Before Premiere: The show was renewed for a second season in May 2021, six months before its premiere in November, while the show was presumably in editing phase. It was also renewed for a third season half a year before the second season was about to be aired.
• Troubled Production: The writers originally wanted 10 episodes for the first season, but only 8 were greenlit, forcing parts of it to become a Compressed Adaptation. Then COVID-19 seriously disrupted production of the first season, and on top of this, Mat's actor, Barney Harris, left after episode 6, necessitating a last-minute tweak using what remaining footage they had on hand to write him out of the rest of the season.
• What Could Have Been: Rafe Judkins stated he and the writers originally wanted ten episodes, including a two-hour long pilot. However, Amazon only permitted them eight episodes and the first episode, "Leavetaking", was trimmed down to under an hour. Budget constraints stopped the creators from filming Caemlyn and Baerlon scenes along with an essential key character down the line in Shadar Logoth. Instead, Tar Valon was used as a stand-in for the most crucial plot points while missing much from the first book.

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