The Wheel Weaves for the Series with Utah Connections

Season two of The Wheel of Time on Prime debuted with its first three episodes Thursday afternoon. 

I’ve been a fan of the series since I began reading the books in the late 1990s and was really excited to hear that it was being adapted for television. 

Once The Wheel of Time began filming, I started following fantasy and The Wheel of Time content creators on YouTube to be around people who were as excited as I was and as a refresher on book content that I had read years ago. 

The series is based on the fourteen-book series by Robert Jordan and finished by Brandon Sanderson after Robert Jordan’s death in 2007. 

The series has Utah connections with Brandon Sanderson finishing the series and acting as a consulting producer along with Robert Jordan’s editor and widow Harriet McDougal. Utah-born Rafe Judkins is acting as showrunner and executive producer for the series. 

Season one began filming in the Fall of 2019 and wrapped in May of 2021 and was renewed for a second season ahead of its season one premiere. 

Season two of The Wheel of Time has 8 episodes just like season one, but season two doesn’t struggle with Covid-19 filming constraints or the need to write around the recasting of a main character and it shows. 

Season two also has more room to breathe with longer episode runtimes and an increased production budget. Season two also has more room to breathe with much of character introduction and worldbuilding done in season one. 

Season two of The Wheel of Time will mostly cover The Great Hunt and The Dragon Reborn, books two and three in this mammoth series. 

I started my The Wheel of Time marathon Thursday with The Wheel of Time Utah-based YouTuber the Dusty Wheel at 5 p.m. with “Premiere Gai’don”, a 27-hour livestream that also included UK YouTuber Malkier Talks. I didn’t get through all 27 hours, but what I did get through was fun and felt like a party with a bunch of my nerdy friends. 

Episode one, "A Taste of Solitude", made the White Tower so much bigger in scale, the weaves of the one power much more expansive, the Fades even more terrifying, and introduced me to my new favorite character Adeleas. 

Episode two, "Stranger and Friends", broke me with its demonstration of the consequences of slowed aging for Aes Sedai and absolutely nailed its introduction of Elayne and Elyas. 

Episode three, "What Might Be", the Accepted Test and the Seanchan, oh the Seanchan. Seanchan brutality and alienness are on full display in the episode and the Accepted Test shows just what it takes to become a full Aes Sedai. Also, book readers get a glimpse of the Game of Houses played in Cairhien. 

Three episodes in, season two of The Wheel of Time is a solid eight out of ten for me, while season one was a solid seven out of ten. 

You can watch The Wheel of Time on Amazon Prime on Thursday nights at 6 pm Mountain time and follow The Wheel of Time on Facebook here. 

You can also enjoy the beautiful music composed by Lorne Balfe here.

Here are a few links to some more of The Wheel of Time YouTubers I follow including another Utah-based YouTuber Unravelling the Pattern.