Warning: Spoilers ahead for the Amazon Prime Video series, The Wheel of Time
As this mostly crappy year comes to an increasingly crappy close, one of the rare high points in these Omicron times was getting to watch the finale to the first season of The Wheel of Time. As a longtime fan of the books series, I was elated: seeing The Wheel of Time realized onscreen is something many of us have been awaiting for literal decades and thought would never actually happen. I am amazed and thrilled this thing even exists.
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And it was beautiful, for the most part! The cast and set design were gorgeous (though I have to confess the White Tower was a little squat-looking for my tastes. Otherwise, lovely), and the effects were about a thousand times better than my growing-up-in-the-80s-and-90s self could have hoped for. Generally, there was a lot to love about The Wheel of Time adaptation —especially the pointed acknowledgement that not everyone in the world, even a fantasy world, is white, male and/or straight.
But there is also a lot not to love. Like many TV and film productions, The Wheel of Time was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic, which makes it difficult to determine which of the show’s flaws stem from that, or from within the show itself. Either way, it’s impossible to discuss the series’ issues without acknowledging the elephant in the room: the departure of Barney Harris, who played Mat Cauthon, and how that might have affected subsequent story decisions.
Here’s what worked in The Wheel of Time, what didn’t quite land and what we might expect in season 2.
The Wheel of Time‘s Mat Cauthon problem
Barney Harris was present to shoot the principal photography of the first six episodes of the season. But when COVID-19 struck, the production was shut down in March 2020. The show briefly resumed shooting for the last two episodes of the season in late 2020, before being shut…
Source : time
