The Wheel of Time is an American epic fantasy television drama series streaming on Amazon Prime Video. The series is based on Robert Jordan’s novel series of the same name and is produced by Sony Pictures Television and Amazon Studios. Thus far, three episodes have been released and the series has already been renewed for a second season!
The premise of series, reads pretty much like most fantasy tales –
The Wheel of Time follows Moiraine, a member of the Aes Sedai, a powerful organization of women who can use magic. She takes a group of five young people on a journey around the world, believing one of them might be the reincarnation of the Dragon, a powerful individual prophesied to either save the world or destroy it.
So yes of course, there is a quest and it involves a magical mentor, unlikely peasant protagonists, beastly monsters and a Dark Lord (!) If this all sounds like your stereotypical Lord of the Rings type fantasy tropes, well it is. In fact, the first three episodes have strong echoes of The Fellowship of the Ring, too close for comfort at times.
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The folks behind The Wheel of Time will no doubt hope the series will capture global imagination in the same way Game of Thrones did. Based on the first three episodes, absolutely no chance. The characters are bland and the action sequences are familiar to the point of being boring. There is hardly any intrigue – political or otherwise – and there is nothing here to quicken the pulse whatsoever, if you know what we mean.
Rosamond Pike is the recognisable face here, as Moiraine, but her lack of charisma certainly offers no assistance in engaging the audience. The only intriguing character is Lan Mandragoran, (Daniel Henney), Moiraine’s Warder – looking like a Shaw Brothers swordsman of yore – and he is only a sidekick at best. The rest of the cast is mundane and unimpressive. Not promising at all, it has to be said.
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