Amazon Gives Series Order to ‘Wheel of Time’ TV Show

It would appear that at long last, the “Wheel of Time” tv series based on the fantasy saga by Robert Jordan (and later completed by Brandon Sanderson) has officially been given the order at Amazon.

Head of Amazon Studios, Jennifer Salke, said in a statement:

“The Wheel of Time is endlessly fascinating and resonates hugely with fans as one of the best-selling global properties, and we were drawn to its timely narrative featuring powerful women at the core. We’re thrilled to extend our relationship with devotees who’ve found the book series transformative and welcome new ones by bringing it to life on Prime Video for viewers worldwide.”

It’s been a long and strange road for the series; back in 2015 in a grasp to maintain control on the property, a ‘pilot’ was secretly made and rushed onto FX (at 1:30am) called Winter Dragon. The reception was mixed, most Wheel of Time fans had NO IDEA what was going on, nor had they actually seen the pilot.

The pilot started a conversation between the head of Jordan’s estate, his widow Harriet McDougal, and the producers of the pilot, Red Eagle Entertainment. And by conversation, we mean a law suit brought forth by the producers of the pilot against McDougal, for McDougal’s comments against Red Eagle on her personal facebook. The suit was eventually dropped.

Back in February of 2018, Amazon Studios purchased several options for fantasy and science fiction novels, including Ringworld, The Dark Tower, and Wheel of Time among others. Amazon obviously had plans to create additional worlds familiar to literary fans, and we were patiently waiting for more news on the status of Wheel of Time.

In July, writer Rafe Judkins revealed that he had completed at least two scripts for the series, and will serve as showrunner and head writer. Rick Selvage and Larry Mondragon of Red Eagle Entertainment, Ted Field and Mike Weber, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle producer Radar Pictures and Shrek Forever After producer Darren Lemke are on board as executive producers. McDougal will be a consulting producer.

I’m thrilled that we will be making Robert Jordan’s WHEEL OF TIME with @PrimeVideo. It’s been a long time in the works – thank you to the producers, execs, and fans for their support, and cheers most of all to @rafejudkins, who is leading the charge. @SPTV https://t.co/Xvkz2MXhcf

— Chris Parnell (@ChrisFParnell) October 2, 2018

This morning, the Amazon deal was announced, and according to a statement from Judkins:

“For so many people, including me, this book series has served as a world to escape to, to lose yourself in, to devour and inhabit completely. And I couldn’t be more honored to be the one finally bringing that world to life on screen, for old fans to lose themselves in all over again and new fans to discover for the very first time.”

We’ll let you know as soon as we learn more about the project. Time to start talking about casting.