In season 3 of Prime Video's The Wheel of Time, prepare to travel to the Three-fold Land and the sacred city of Rhuidean.
Showrunner Rafe Judkins provided the much-anticipated confirmation that The Shadow Rising, book 4 of Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson's epic series, will be the primary focus of the next season of the show.
The fandom is now turning its attention to when season 3 could potentially be released. Season 2 and 3 were both greenlit by Amazon at the same time so fans of the series are hoping for a short turnaround. The lengthy two year wait between seasons 1 and 2 was viewed as exceptionally cruel.
At NYCC, Judkins also revealed a slightly unexpected detail that fans should expect some storylines from book 5, The Fires of Heaven, to be explored.
Some of book 5 being covered is somewhat surprising as The Shadow Rising is one of the densest entries in the series, coming in at a whopping 1,007 pages. In comparison, the Eye of the World consisted of 782 pages, and The Great Hunt clocked in at 706 pages.
This past weekend, Judkins told the crowd at New York Comic Con, "Every season, we sit down in the writers room and one of the things that we do at the very beginning is pick out a couple of the stories that we have to carve out a space to make a whole episode for."
He continued, "We think it’s worth it because those stories will really stand out to an audience, especially that didn’t read the books. They’re given that time, and it’s carved out, so they can really follow that character on that journey."
More interestingly, Judkins divulged, "The first season was more of the group journey that had the one big Moraine episode, but for seasons two and three, we’ve really carved out two episodes of season that can really be devoted characters. This season was a really big Egweyne and Nynaeve season for us. Next season is a really big Rand [and] Perrison season for us. There are always different characters who are rising in importance."
Don't worry Mat Cauthon fans, your day is coming. Post Shadow Rising, Mat's story really picks up as the Son of Battles.
The Wheel of Time is an Equity-cast show, meaning the ensemble that comprises the show's main roles are all members of the European SAG-AFTRA equivalent. As such, filming on season 3 was not impacted by the ongoing Hollywood actor's strike and the production is currently underway in South Africa.
The lives of five young villagers change forever when a strange and powerful woman arrives, claiming one of them is the child of an ancient prophecy with the power to tip the balance between Light and Dark forever. They must choose whether to trust this stranger – and each other – with the fate of the world before the Dark One breaks out of His prison, and the Last Battle begins.