So I've been reading the Wheel of Time since I was in the 7th grade, when I started there were the first 6 books published and the 7th was published as I began getting into it. I have loved the story, setting, and characters for a long time and have pined for it to be a TV series which is finally happening now. I once made a diorama of that first Myrddraal sighting for my 7th grade English reading assignment. Movies I felt would never have the space to tell the story adequately and with the rise in prestige TV (thanks Game of Thrones) it will be possible to see this epic fantasy story brought to life. I've started a reread to get myself back into it before this launches (the books are long and it'll be a while before we see real action on the show) and that's where the jump off for me on this project is.
I have spent a lot of time trying to organize for myself how that would work and that's what I plan on doing here with this outlet. I've bounced the idea around, but having restarted the series it seemed like the best time to try and tackle it. My goal will be to break down each of the books so that chapters can be organized into episodes. I have no set idea for how many each season would encompass, and I picture it sort of like Stranger Things, that each seasons run time will be dependent on how many I think it would take to tell each story. I do firmly believe that while it is 14 books and a prequel novel the TV series shouldn't be longer than 10 seasons and could be feasibly done in as few as 8. I think keeping it within 10 will be my goal, and given how prestige TV works I think that each season being in the range of 8-12 episodes a piece would be appropriate.
As an early outlook I think the most condensing of the story for TV will occur during books 8-10. That I suspect will be turned into 1 long season or perhaps 7-10 will be 2. The later books are dense, but far more focused and I think that some of the length that comes from how descriptive Jordan (and Sanderson) were will be more quickly related in a visual medium.
No surprise there will be spoilers, even as early as this first post.
When I think about this venture, I do see a few distinct challenges that the real producers and directors will need to address and over come.
1) Massive amounts of internal personal dialogue that informs actions, and helps us grasp who the characters are. There is a ton of exposition that occurs in each narrative characters head which will be difficult to do without long stretches of them talking to themselves. This is fine for a book, but will be a challenge for TV. For Rand I think his internal battle with Lews Therin is actually the easiest one to build into, but that's because his disconnected voice could be overlayed in such a way we know only Rand is hearing it (i expect it to start sort of as his voice then blend until it is solely LTT voice we hear over time helping to show that slip for Rand [are they his thoughts are aren't they?]). How they manage to bring that exposition into the show will be interesting, although I don't have a suggestion about it at this time.
2) Special Effects - Especially as it regards use of the One Power. Some of this is straight forward, particularly a lot of the combat uses for the one power. However, especially in relation to the female Aes Sedai, I think there will be a real challenge in how certain aspects are presented. How do you show the weaves? How will they present a battle like the one between Nynaeve and Moghedien we get at the end of TSR? That is entirely hidden skills that only women users can "see". Given how the books are structured with one narrative point of view, I'll be curious to see how they address that. The halo in particular that women users of the One Power can see and sense will be a telling visual cue to who the narrative lead is in any given scene. Monsters are straight forward, and visual settings won't be a struggle (although they will be pricey I expect), but I do think when it comes to the One Power how it's depicted, & hidden when necessary, will be interesting to see how its tackled.
3) Long term casting - not so much in regards to the core cast, but there are a lot of side characters who you will probably want to have around (now that doesn't mean recasting can't happen, but it would be nice if enough continuity was invested to not need it). I'm primarily thinking of familiar regional characters; Two Rivers townsfolk (Cenn Buie, the mayor etc), some of our innkeepers who get revisited, Seanchan officials etc, who can not appear for books at a time but we know they'll play a role we should have them around for. Maybe those folks get their stories trimmed or altered, but the world is tightly interconnected (or woven go go pattern puns) that given we have the space in a TV run to include most of the minutia it shouldn't be simply shaved for the sake of shaving them.
4) Transitions & End points for season narrative arcs. The big difference between the books and this TV show I suspect will be, given the ability to look ahead, I think you'll see some changes in set points for where each season starts and ends. I'll provide a few examples I'll elaborate on when I start breaking down the books into seasons/episodes. I think that you probably end Season 1 with the prologue to the Great Hunt, perhaps as an after credits sequence that has some length to it. We have the ability to pick a bit from the next sequences, and it'll be important to establish despite what Rand thinks, the battle is far from over and our three prime protagonists are only going to face more trouble as the story continues. Similarly I think there could be an argument made for ending season 5 with the battle at Cariheien and not finishing with the assault on Rahvin in Camelyn. I think it could serve the narrative better to start season 6 with the excitement of that sequence to allow for the finale to carry serious weight (Rand starts as showing his superiority, but is badly humbled at the end of the season). 7-10 I think this will be a way more interesting debate as those end up with a lot of concurrent story telling over those books timeline wise that will require a lot more organizational thought to how you mesh it all. The narrative smooths out to more like the first 1/3rd of the series toward the end as we start wrapping up the plot lines.
5) Ethnicity for Casting - unlike say Tolkien or even GRRM, Jordan's world has a great deal of cultural and visual diversity. I think it will be important to establish those frameworks early (even before some groups appear) so that consistency and continuity can be preserved. I have thoughts on that and it'll probably be one of the things I spend some time looking at before I get too deep into breaking out the seasons. I think this show should provide a great chance for a lot of actors of color to get prime positions in the show and reflect our world more so than the traditional fantasy setting.
My goal will be to do a large season over arch, then a dive into the relevant logic for why I grouped certain chapters together. I suspect I'll be way off the mark when it finally comes, but perhaps along the way I and any readers I gather can enjoy the exercise of trying to fit this much material into a new medium!
There are no beginnings or endings to the Wheel of Time, but this is a beginning...
