The Wheel of Time spoilers follow.
The Wheel of Time is going to keep on turning for quite some time because Prime Video had already confirmed a renewal six months before the show even made its debut in November 2021.
So, in short, The Wheel of Time season two is a definite. In fact, filming for the second season was completed in spring 2022, and it is now in post-production.
Just before the first finale aired, TVLine chatted to Vernon Sanders, Amazon Studios' Head of Global TV, about the reasons behind the early decision to move forward with a second run:
"We're fans of the show, and as episodes came in and we saw the level of craftsmanship, and as we continued to talk to [showrunner] Rafe [Judkins] about where future seasons would go, we felt really confident that we had something that could go for a very long time for us.
"These are giant investments, so obviously we spent quite a bit of time making sure we were making the right choice here, but it continues to pay off for us. All credit to Rafe and his incredible team, and the cast led by Rosamund [Pike as Moiraine]."
Those investments are already paying off, because The Wheel of Time became Prime Video's most-watched original series of 2021. This bodes extremely well for season two, which will continue to draw inspiration from the original book series by author Robert Jordan.
"[Season one] is a lot of screaming, crying, fighting, and two people talking in a room," Judkins told New York Comic Con in October (via EW). "We did build that groundwork. You know who these people are, and now you get to see them go on these journeys."
"The journeys Robert Jordan created are epic. It's a gift for people who knows the books to watch the show, because they see contained in each of these characters the path that's in front of them. In season 2, we're on that path. By the end of the season, eight episodes later, it's just massive. I'm excited for people to see it."
Join us here at Digital Spy as we cast a spell of foresight and figure out what's coming next for Rosamund Pike's Moiraine and all her magic buddies in The Wheel of Time season two.
The Wheel of Time season 2 potential release date: When will it air on Amazon Prime Video?
Amazon hasn't revealed exactly when The Wheel of Time season two will air just yet.
Filming began July 2021, which led fans to initially expect a spring/summer 2022 release date. However that hasn’t proven to be the case.
There is some good news though. Drum roll please… Filming for Wheel of Time season two has finally wrapped, as announced by the Wheel of Time's official Twitter page.
To mark the end of filming, the show dropped a behind-the-scenes teaser video featuring a snippet of all the hard work that went into the filming of the show's second season.
The snapshot revealed shots of the cast and crew from their table read to on set filming. It also included a glimpse of the sculpting artists deep in the throes of creation as well as some stunt work action. It's brief but packed with excitement, revealing glimpses of new characters, location and costumes.
Since then, there has been nary a peep about when the second season will land! Much to our disappointment.
Though not many details have been confirmed about The Wheel of Time's continued on-screen story, we have gleaned a few nuggets.
The season is to follow the same eight-episode structure as the first series. The official Twitter page also announced that the first episode of the season two saga will be called 'A Taste of Solitude'.
The reveal was made with a post of an image of the script with the words "With this many Ta'veren in one place, one season was never going to be enough." We can't get enough! Give us more details.
Fans went crazy with excitement over this post with some calling for news of a release date or a trailer:
On December 22, 2021, Vernon Sanders shared a new update on season two (via TVLine): "Rafe [Judkins] and his team just sent us their first cuts of the first episodes of season two, and I cannot wait for the audience to see what we have in store."
There was an update for anxious fans from Rafe Judkins himself in December 2022. In an interview with Dragonmount, as reported by CBR.com, he confirmed that while the new season wouldn't be arriving in early 2023 as many hoped, it would definitely be returning later in the year.
"I can say that there's some truth [to the rumours] in that I do believe season two will be premiering in 2023," he said. "I don't think 'early' – there's still a lot of work that we've got to do on the show [in post production], VFX, all of that. So I would not expect it in early 2023, but you can expect it in 2023." So you're saying that's in 2023? Just clarifying. It's coming in 2023.
The Wheel of Time season 2 cast: Who is returning?
As The Wheel of Time's lead actor, Rosamund Pike will definitely return in the role of Moiraine Damodred for season two – and she's completely committed to giving it her all.
In an interview with Access, Moiraine actress Pike declared: "We are putting our hearts and soul towards something that is epic in scale, that has a lot of action. That you care about the characters because ultimately people will be able to see themselves in any one of our characters and I think they'll be fan favourites."
She explained (via EW) what makes Moiraine such a compelling character.
"At first, we only see a fraction of the layers that Moiraine is going to display as the seasons go on," she said.
"She doesn't reveal all her cards; in fact, she reveals very few. What she says to Egwene [Madeleine Madden] in episode two — 'We always tell the truth, but it may not always be the truth you think you hear' — that's a very key piece of advice when dealing with Aes Sedai because they can still mislead the truth."
Pike added: "Moiraine is very driven. By the time we meet her in this series [series one], she's been on a mission for 20 years with a single purpose; she's pursued this mission at the cost of friends and any personal desires. She's very noble in that respect, but it's almost terrifying."
We look forward to more of her character's growth.
She'll be joined by a number of new cast members including: The Amazing World of Emma's Ceara Coveney, Broadchurch's Meera Syal, and Peaky Blinders star Natasha O'Keeffe. Those three will appear alongside actors Guy Roberts, Arnas Fedaravicius, and Gregg Chilingirian, all of whom are set to play recurring roles in season two as Uno Nomesta, Masema and Ingtar Shinowa.
And that's not all. It was announced in April that Killing Eve star Ayoola Smart had also joined the cast. Executive producer Rafe Judkins' revealed the news at fan event JordanCon, and it was later confirmed by The Wrap.
Smart is expected to take on the role of Aviendha, a character that was first introduced in the third novel of the series. A Wise One, she's known to be one of the strongest female channelers on the page, but the details of her on-screen character arc have been kept under wraps for now. If the script sticks to the source material, Aviendha and Rand al'Thor could be set to get pretty close, as she's one of his main love interests.
What's more, Kate Fleetwood's Liandrin Guirale is set to return – and fans are going to see a very different side in future episodes. During the aforementioned JordanCon panel (via Screenrant), Fleetwood teased the exploration of a "deeper and a darker side" to Guirale, while also promising some "surprises" for the show's second outing.
The rest of season one's cast should also be returning, aside from one big exception. Mat Cauthon, originally played by Barney Harris, has been recast with The Witcher actor Dónal Finn – with fans speculating that this could indicate a darker future for the character.
When asked why this switch had been made ahead of season two, showrunner Rafe Judkins declined to elaborate. But he did tell Deadline that audiences won't find the change too jarring.
"It's always hard but we're really lucky that Barney is so great in the first season; I love him in the show," he said. "And Dónal Finn, who is playing Mat in season two, is amazing. I have seen him up on set doing his scenes now and they're incredible and they fully capture the character."
Another character whose fate seems up in the air following that season one finale is Loial, played by Hammed Animashaun. Thankfully, Rafe has confirmed to EW that Loial is very much alive, after all:
"Loial is not dead. He is alive and well and shooting in Prague. I wanted people to be a little on their toes, because real deaths are coming for characters that don't die in the books. We have to, because we can't hold 2,000 series regulars through multiple seasons. It's coming, and I want people to emotionally prepare themselves. The thought that Loial might be gone will hopefully start to get people emotionally prepared, but I couldn't. He's my favourite."
The Wheel of Time season 2 plot: What will happen?
When TVLine asked about season two and whether it's going to "go even bigger" than the first season, Vernon Sanders gave a very promising response for fans who are eager to see what's coming next.
He said: "Rafe has been a fantastic leader — thoughtful, kind, really dedicated to trying to do this the right way — and Rosamund as well. So we absolutely went into season two with a real conversation about, 'What can we do even better now that we have introduced this giant world and established these characters?' So I will absolutely predict that season 2 will be bigger, bolder, and a more expansive Wheel of Time."
Bigger, bolder, and more expansive is exactly what this show needs to be moving forward because there are 14 novels in the original series, and that's a lot of material to sort through.
The first season covers off the first book, The Eye of the World, and you can buy the second book, The Great Hunt here, as well as the full boxset, or just the first three novels.
Thankfully, showrunner Rafe Judkins seems to be more than up to the challenge, as he told Deadline he sees the show running for eight potential seasons, saying: "I always have to approach it as if we're going to get to tell the whole story that's in the books. If we don’t approach it that way, then we'd set ourselves up to not stick the landing, and these books have such a good ending.
"I really need to set us up to get there if we're able to. That's not up to me ultimately. If people watch it and Amazon wants to keep doing more, I'd love to continue to expand this world further."
Speaking of expansion, you can expect the burgeoning romance between Lan and Nynaeve to grow in season two.
"Moving forward for them, what's cool about their relationship in the books is that it's not one you're used to seeing," Judkins told Collider. "It's almost like a love triangle and a business triangle laid on top of each other. And there's something really interesting about that dynamic between Lan and Moiraine and Lan and Nynaeve.
"And then Nynaeve and Moiraine and the growing respect that those two women also have for each other. And both of them almost trying to pawn Lan off on the other one because they're both martyrs, in their own way.
"I think those characters actually have a lot more similarities than those characters would like to think they do. And so I love that triangle and sort of all the different ways it plays through the whole series."
As for Lan and Moiraine, expect plenty of original content in season two – as there's not much for them in the second book in the Wheel of Time book series, The Great Hunt, the writers are going to have to get creative to continue their story.
"We try to dig into what is in there and then figure out a way to expand it out. And a lot of what happens in that book between them is this exploration of their relationship that I think is super interesting.
"And they go way deeper with it than you would expect them to go and you see the dark sides of it, too. And so we wanted to set up a way to really get at that in Season 2, so the way you see them in Season 1 sets them on this course for Season 2 That really will delve into that relationship and what makes it tick."
Following that dark betrayal towards the end of season one, things aren't looking good for Mat moving forward. Speaking to EW following the finale, Rafe shed some light on this character's surprising journey in season two:
"I think Mat is the character who most clearly struggles with the darker elements of himself. Season two, for all our characters, will be about peeling back the surface and trying to understand what balance between dark and light they're all trying to find within themselves.
"Mat's battle is the most clear and obvious, but I think it lets us put him in an interesting place for season two where we can also hit more of his lightness. The actor Dónal Finn, who's playing him for season two and on, is amazing at comedy stuff. He really brings a lot of lightness to the character. That's so great to see because it really cuts against some of the darker questions Mat has of whether he's a bad person at his core."
The Wheel of Time season 2 trailer: When can I watch it?
As filming for season two began before the first season even finished airing on Prime Video, new footage should be coming sooner rather than later.
We've already had a taste of what's to come from the exclusive behind the scenes teaser video so surely they can’t possibly keep fans waiting much longer. Keep checking in though. We promise as soon as a teaser makes its way online, you can bet your fantasy-loving ass that this trailer will be featured here on Digital Spy.
The Wheel of Time is available to watch on Prime Video, with new episodes released weekly on Fridays.
