The Wheel of Time, Amazon's upcoming series based on Robert Jordan's high fantasy books of the same name, has just received some exciting new casting announcements. Hollywood veteran and Oscar-nominee Sophie Okonedo will be joining the show as Siuan Sanche while Game of Thrones actress Kae Alexander takes the role of Min Farshaw.
Okonedo and Alexander share the casting announcement with several others who have joined the show. Stage and screen star Kate Fleetwood will play Liandrin Guirale, while Clare Perkins from EastEnders and Peter Franzén of Vikings fame come on as Kerene Nagashi and her Warder Stepin, respectively. The show's release date is currently up in the air, as filming has been halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Wheel of Time takes place in a fantasy world where magic exists and time is cyclical, meaning it repeats over and over rather than having a beginning and end. The story itself follows a familiar "group of companions go on a journey to determine the fate of the world" structure, though the books have gained considerable praise for their intricate world-building and cast of characters. Notably, author Robert Jordan unfortunately passed away in 2007 before writing the final book in the series, leaving behind a collection of notes to allow for another author to finish the story. Fantasy and science fiction writer Brandon Sanderson took up the task, completing the narrative with a collection of 3 volumes.
The Amazon series was ordered all the way back in October of 2018, while the following 2 years have seen rather extensive casting and production team announcements. Gone Girl's Rosamund Pike was notably brought on in 2019 to play the lead, Moiraine Damodred, while prolific German director Uta Briesewitz was confirmed earlier that year to helm the first two episodes. Other casting announcements have included Madeleine Madden as Egwene al'Vere and Barney Harris as Mat Cauthon, both part of the series' main cast.
A series as rich with lore and world building as The Wheel of Time is ripe with material to be adapted to the small screen, so it's good to see it being (eventually) brought to a more broad audience. Granted, the book series boasts a considerable fanbase already, spawning an annual convention known as JordanCon in 2009 and still going strong after its 2019 iteration. But just like with the Harry Potter books, as popular as a series of novels could be, bringing it to Hollywood can only make it more so.
While filming is currently halted due to obvious reasons, hopefully production can get underway quickly once everything gets cleared up. The world can always use more high fantasy stories, and The Wheel of Time is arguably one of the most worthy of ascension.
Source: Deadline