High-stakes sword and sorcery returns is season three of The Wheel of Time – streaming on Prime Video from March 13. Adam Fresco continues to be impressed by this entertaining exercise in high-fantasy world-building.
After two packed seasons of save-the-world sorcery, slick skullduggery, sexy shenanigans, and high-stakes drama and suspense, The Wheel of Time is back. Kicking off from the second instalment’s couch-clutching cliffhanger, viewers are thrown back into the fantastical action and melodrama that make spinning this particular wheel such a good time.
If high-fantasy fiction is your thing, you likely already know Robert Jordan’s hugely popular series of novels on which the show is based, the most popular in the genre since Tolkein’s The Lord of The Rings. So, it was only a matter of a short spin of The Great Wheel of Time before Prime Video snapped up the rights and created a big budget series based on Jordan’s bestsellers.
Like any adaptation, this TV version has at times strayed from the original source material. New characters were created, plot lines altered, gender politics revised, timelines shuffled, and notable characters and events amended or even omitted entirely. But go in with an open mind, either having never read the books, or not expecting the TV series to stay glued the original tales, and The Wheel of Time is a fast-paced, carefully crafted, entertaining exercise in high-fantasy world-building.
As with Game of Thrones, the TV behemoth adapted from George R. R. Martin’s ‘A Song of Ice and Fire’ novels, The Wheel of Time is set in a world fusing disparate elements of human history, politics, religion, and culture to create a frothy broth of medieval-style machinations, magical mystery, and complex characters vying for power, seeking revenge, or simply trying to survive in a world beset by natural and supernatural dangers.
If you have yet to catch up on the first two seasons, then you are in for a treat. Set in a world where the philosophical concept of Eternal Return is a reality, time repeats in an infinite loop, wherein all are destined to live their lives repeatedly. In exactly the same manner. Forever. A bit like Bill Murray in Groundhog Day, only it’s the whole world that hits repeat, and not just for a single day.
The series is set in a time known as “Third Age”. So, the titular Wheel of Time has spun the “Pattern of Ages” twice before. But it’s a pattern that can be altered, by those powerful few known as “ta’veren”. They possess the power to influence the future. There are also those who can channel the “One Power” that spins the Wheel of Time. However, this channeling power can only be wielded safely by women. Hence the “Aes Sedai”, a matriarchal order sworn to protect humanity, while awaiting the prophesised return of “The Dark One”.
As the name implies, The Dark One is not someone you want to invite over for coffee and cake. Glimpsed as a burnt figure, its flesh smoking, its eyes, and mouth full of flickering flames, The Dark One is an evil force intent on remaking the universe in its own damaged image.
Like the books, the TV series contains a lot of lore, heaps of history, and countless characters. But rather than overwhelming viewers with the books’ literal cast of thousands, the focus of the TV series is on a handful of key characters. Most prominent perhaps is Moiraine Damodred, played by the ever-watchable Rosamund Pike, a reliable and recognisable performer, with credits including Jack Reacher, Gone Girl and Saltburn. Pike brings both grace and power to her character, a committed member of the Aes Sedai order who’s on a mission to save the world.
Accompanied by Lan Mandragoran (portrayed with charisma to spare by Daniel Henney), Moiraine sets out on a quest to find the reincarnation of the magician known as “The Dragon”, one of the last surviving males able to wield the magical power that drives The Wheel of Time. A power that, in the wrong hands, can unleash The Dark One and destroy humanity. But whilst knowing The Dragon has been reborn is certain, nobody knows where they are, and in what body.
Spoilers follow, so I suggest you watch seasons one and two before reading on.
Are they gone? Okay, here we go…
So, three seasons in and we know who The Dragon Reborn is. He was reincarnated in the guise of farmboy Rand al’Thor (Josha Stradowski). By the end of season two Rand had fought and defeated Ishamael of the Forsaken. Now openly declared The Dragon Reborn, Rand stands at a perilous crossroads between light and dark, good, and evil, the turning of Time’s wheel, or its destruction.
For like Anakin Skywalker in Star Wars, the person in which the Dragon is reborn doesn’t necessarily have to go full Darth Vader. There is always a choice between walking the path of darkness, or light. Now, as Rand’s actions lead him towards the dark path, his outward appearance changes, and it becomes clear that Moiraine and the powerful, but lowly born Egwene al’Vere (Madeleine Madden), must collaborate to try and guide Rand towards the light.
Supporting the leads are a solid supporting cast, including the likes of Sophie Okonedo (Slow Horses), Daniel Henney (Criminal Minds), Natasha O’Keeffe (Peaky Blinders), Laia Costa (The Diplomat), and Olivia Williams (Dune: Prophecy). It’s testament to the acting abilities and the range of the cast that viewers like me, who have not read all the original books, can keep up with the multitude of characters who crop up, pop in, and add to the sprawling plot.
Without the array of different character actors’ faces, I’d be lost as to who is the Darkfeind, Padan Fain, or Lanfear, also known as “Daughter of the Night”, or Aiel, “Maiden of the Spear”. It’s judicious casting and clear plotting that, by the third season, pay off, rewarding loyal viewers with the realisation that we’ve been slowly schooled in the complex machinations of a detailed fantasy world. That’s no small feat, as anyone familiar with the complex histories of Game of Thrones power-hungry families, or the myriad characters comprising Lord of The Rings knows only too well.
One of my favourite characters is played by British comic and actor Meera Syal, (familiar from her many appearances in the likes of Doctor Who, Paddington 2, Broadchurch, and Doctor Strange). Syal portrays Verin Mathwin, a formidable member of the Aes Sedai member. In a show that could otherwise be criticised for taking itself a tad too seriously at times, Syal adds a welcome lightness of touch and sly humour, and it’s great to see her back for more in season three, advising her female cohort in an early episode: “Always plan for the worst… that way surprises will be pleasant ones”.
Fortunately, there are no unpleasant surprises in season three. From its cinematography, visual effects, costumes and locations, The Wheel of Time continues to roll reliably from mystical melodrama to bloody battles, steamy sex scenes, magical machinations, and classic melodrama. Fantasy fans will delight in the show’s meticulous and vividly realised world-building, and character-driven plots.
Three seasons in and The Wheel of Time continues to roll out the complexities of Jordan’s books in a narrative rendered blessedly easy to follow, replete with characters to root for, villains to boo, and enough plot-twists, tricks, and surprises to keep the story thrilling, and the cliffhanger endings coming at a bingeworthy rate.
