We wait for The Wheel Of Time season 2. With Amazon’s The Wheel of Time season 2 having wrapped filming, and the service having put a full blitz behind Lord of The Rings: The Rings of Power, it certainly feels Prime Video is the new land of big fantasy.
And showrunner Rafe Judkin gave a little detail on when to expect season 2 (essentially, when not to expect it), and how The Wheel of Time season 2 will combine elements from books 2 and 3! Also, Marcus Rutherford has teased a new tone for the season.
On top of that, the fantasy series marked its production wrap by unveiling a behind-the-scenes teaser video. It hints at some new locations and epic action scenes. Prime Video ordered The Wheel of Time season 2 before the series ever debuted, and the new season was already half-filmed when the first season premiered last November. The series, based on Robert Jordan’s bestselling books, polarized longtime fans but seemingly was popular enough to merit more episodes.
The adaptation centers on Moiraine (Rosamund Pike), a member of the Aes Sedai, a powerful organization of women who can wield magic. She visits a small village, seeking an individual prophesied to either save the world or destroy it. As the Last Battle with the Dark One approaches, Moiraine leads five young villagers on a dangerous journey to new lands — in a bid to discover which of them is the Dragon that was foretold.
Here’s everything we know so far about The Wheel of Time season 2.
The Wheel Of Time Season 2 Release Date: When Will The Wheel Of Time Season 2 Air?
Despite the long wait, we still don’t have an official release date for The Wheel of Time season 2 as of our most recent update.
With the first seasons of both The Rings of Power and House of the Dragon now out of the way, there’s space for The Wheel of Time season 2 to have pride of place as a major fantasy series, though it might still be competing with The Witcher season 3 which is due to hit Netflix this summer.
Filming on The Wheel of Time season 2 wrapped back in May 2022, so we’re anticipating that the series will land at some point later this year. As and when we hear anything more official, we’ll be sure to include it here.
If you’re tempted to start reading Robert Jordan’s books whilst you wait for the show to return, be sure to check out our guide on how to read The Wheel of Time books in order.
How Many Episodes Of The Wheel Of Time Season 2 Will There Be?
Like the previous series, The Wheel of Time season 2 will run for eight episodes. The title of the first episode has also been confirmed; back in 2021, the show’s official Twitter page shared a shot of the script revealing the episode title “A Taste Of Solitude”.
The Wheel Of Time Season 2 Cast
Many characters in the cast of the first season of The Wheel of Time will return. Those sure to be back in action are:
- Rosamund Pike as the Aes Sedai teacher Moiraine Damodred
- Daniel Henney as her ward and bodyguard al’Lan Mandragoran
- Josha Stradowski as the Dragon Reborn himself Rand al’Thor
- Madeleine Madden is back as his love interest and Aes Sedai-in-training, Egwene al’Vere
- Marcus Rutherford as Perrin Aybara
- Zoe Robins as the wilful Nynaeve al’Meara
- Kate Fleetwood as Aes Sedai warrior Liandrin Guirale
- Priyanka Bose as Moiraine’s Aes Sedai friend and green warrior Alanna Mosvani
- Sophie Okonedo as the Amyrlin Seat and Moiraine’s love interest, Siuan Sanche
- Kate Alexander as the seer Min Farshaw
- Hammed Animashaun as Loial
Meanwhile, there are plenty of new faces set to join the cast. The new cast members confirmed are:
- Maja Simonsen as Chiad
- Ragga Ragnars as Bain
- Jay Duffy as Dain Bornhal
- Rima Te Wiata as Sheriam Bayanar
- Ceara Coveney as Elayne Trakand
- Natasha O’Keeffe as TBC
- Meera Syal as TBC
However, Barney Harris will not return to the series as troubled Mat Cauthon. The character will be recast in the second season with Dónal Finn playing the role, with no reason yet given for the recast.
Is There A Trailer For The Wheel Of Time Season 2?
We haven’t had an official trailer just yet, but fans were treated to a sneak peek of what’s to come last year.
Watch it below:
The Wheel Of Time Season 2 Plot
Given that the first season of The Wheel of Time is mostly made up of the events of the first novel in the book series, titled The Eye of the World, we can probably expect the second season to tackle events in the second novel, titled The Great Hunt.
This book sees Rand, Perrin, and Mat caught up in the mission of an army of Shienaren guards.
Meanwhile, Egwene and Nynaeve meet the future major character known as Elayne Trakand. These female characters join Moiraine on a trip to the White Tower in Tar Valon to learn the ways of the Aes Sedai.
Events reach another turning point when an army invades the Western Coast. It is unknown if the second run will contain the events from other novels in its episode count.
The opening episode of the second season of The Wheel of Time is entitled A Taste of Solitude.
The Wheel Of Time Season 2: What We’d Like To See
The Wheel of Time season 1 was overall pretty good, though it had notable faults in pacing and writing quality. As a huge fan of the books, I generally enjoyed the first season, though I had many nitpicks about accuracy and such.
With that in mind, I’m ambivalent about The Wheel of Time show as it stands right now. However, I want to see it succeed, so here are some changes I’d like to see in season 2.
Better VFX: The visual effects for The Wheel of Time’s first season were all over the place. Sometimes, they looked great and other times, they looked incredibly low-budget and shoddy. The COVID-19 pandemic certainly threw a wrench in things, so I hope that the production crew can do a better job for this next season.
More consistent writing and structure: While I think the core of the show was fine, the writing was all over the place. Contradictions to the books’ lore and just lackluster writing in places certainly made me raise an eyebrow more than once.
The pacing left a lot to be asked for, and the show wasted its very limited time on superfluous things (like the Stepin arc). And as such, we had few opportunities to get to know the characters, other than Moiraine. I’d like to see season 2 have much more consistency in quality, especially in dialogue.
More immersive set design and costuming: I liked the costume and set design in the first season, but almost everything felt too contrived. I saw one person describe the sets as “just looking like sets instead of places you could go to.”
A frequent complaint I saw throughout the first season was that the costumes were too clean. In the case of the Aes Sedai, this isn’t a problem since they can use One Power to keep their clothing clean. But the rest of the cast looked a bit too pristine. Compare this to the cast of Netflix’s The Witcher, most of whom looked downright filthy when they should have.
Stay truer to the source material: I’m not going to sit here and say the show must be 100% book-accurate. That’s not how an adaptation works. But The Wheel of Time season 1 changed a few too many things from the books and disregarded many other pieces of canon as well, which even a few fans who never read the books thought with raised eyebrows. The show-runners deserve some creative liberty, but at a certain point, an adaptation stops being “based on” its source material and becomes “inspired by” it.