Warning: Includes some SPOILERS from the Wheel of Time books used as hypothetical examples.
It doesn’t look hopeful forThe Wheel of Time, but there might be one option to provide TV fans with a resolution. WithThe Wheel of Time’scancellationjust after the show’s third season, which received applauding reviews from fans and critics, fans of the television adaptation have been in dismay. A petition to save the series has circulated the internet, with over 170,000 signatures and counting, and a billboard has been rented out in Times Square. This passionate viewer base wants to see the show renewed for a fourth season, but it seems unlikely.
Amazon cited financial reasons for the show’s cancellation, meaningthe viewership numbers didn’t amount to the expectations set by its steep budget. Completing the story ofRobert Jordan’sWheel of Timebookson television would require several more seasons of likely declining success, a suboptimal situation given the ongoing struggles of the streaming market on a broader scale, just two years after the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes rattled the industry. Amazon also revealed that they wouldn’t be willing toshopThe Wheel of Timeoutto other platforms, shutting down another potential option.
Amazon Could Make A Wheel Of Time Movie Depicting The Last Battle
A Finale Movie(s) Could Be The Only Option For Quick Closure
WithThe Wheel of Timeseason 3covering the events ofThe Shadow Rising, there are still eleven books remaining in the series. If Amazon isn’t willing to give Rafe Judkins and his team the time to tell that story completely,an option could be to offer fans of the TV show a three-hour finale movie that would specifically cover the Last Battle. The Last Battle is set up early in both the TV series and the books as the “final” battle between good and evil, at least in this age, and would have eventually been the TV show’s ending point.
This hypothetical movie would likely be sacrilegious to many viewers who read the books, but it wouldn’t necessarily be for them. At this point,it’s about the TV show and Amazon throwing a bone to all these dedicated, passionate fans who loved what the streaming platform was building. Characters like Rand and Perrin were left on major cliffhangers, and audiences deserve to see where their stories lead, even if it’s not precisely the same as the books. This would be similar to what happened to the sci-fi TV showFirefly, which received a sequel movie to quickly wrap up its story.
This Would Skip Over Several Books Of Material
Image via Prime Video
The Wheel of TimeTV series, which offered fans eight hours of television per season, was already struggling to maintain its massive ensemble cast, forcing the writers to prematurely kill off iconic characters like Loial and Siuan Sanche. If the TV series couldn’t fit in all of what the books could, a movie would struggle to an exponential degree. Beyond just the sacrifice of an enormous amount of character growth,the Last Battle in Robert Jordan’s books is specifically crafted to incorporate his entire world of diverse cultures and factions, which the show has barely scratched the surface of.
If the TV series couldn’t fit in all of what the books could, a movie would struggle to an exponential degree.
So, ultimately, if someone was watching the TV series to see a live-action interpretation of the books, this movie wouldn’t really be able to provide that. It could utilize some important story beats from the Last Battle, butit would have to be a heavily diluted version, using what’s already been established in the TV show to compose its sides, and minimal time to fill in some necessary gaps, before diving into an extensive, action-packed battle sequence between the Dark One and the forces of the Light.
The Wheel Of Time Needs To Expedite Its Stories
With all that in mind, it’s important to consider what we do have by the end of season 3. The TV show has already introduced the forces of Caemlyn, the White Tower, Fal Dara, the White Cloaks, the Aiel, Tanchico, the Two Rivers, the Trollocs, the Seanchan, and more, which could make for a complex battlefield. Thefirst half of the film could be used to incorporate the rebel Aes Sedai, the Black Tower, and more, using the following steps loosely adapted from the novels:
From there, the pieces would be in place for various battles to take place throughout the world ofThe Wheel of Time. The Seanchan could arrive at the White Tower like in the novels, Rand’s moment atop Dragonmount fromThe Gathering Stormcould occur during the battle, after some training scenes with Logain, and other important sequences that transpire prior to the Last Battle in the books could occur during it. It would be an expedited, messy process, but it’s not impossible. The show has always been diluted from the books; this would just be a further step.
The Wheel Of Time Deserves An Ending, Even If It’s Different
TV Fans Deserve Resolution
Amazon Prime’sThe Wheel of Timeisn’t the books. It’s an adaptation. People who love to read should and will take an interest in Robert Jordan’s novels because of the show’s influence, but there are also television viewers who adored the direction the show was taking and want some closure for that specific version. To some readers,the show was never going to live up to the novels, and making a movie won’t change that. However, it could be the ending that those TV fans wanted.
Robert Jordan’sWheel of Timewill always be the most beloved version of this story, but, as his writing states, “There are neither beginnings nor endings to the turning of the Wheel of Time. But it was a beginning.“The ending he wrote, which Brandon Sanderson later compiled forA Memory of Light,isn’t the ending; it’s an ending.Amazon’sThe Wheel of Timedeserves one too.
