So as you all know I’m a huge fantasy fan and one of the biggest and best fantasy series I’ve read so far is the Wheel of Time books. I’m a big fan of the incredible world that Robert Jordan built which I’d argue hasn’t been bettered since.
A few days ago Amazon released their first trailer for the upcoming epic TV series based on the books. If you follow the Twitter for the show, they’ve been posting teaser imagery and some small teaser clips that have kept us fans intrigued but this was the first proper footage we’ve seen and WOW what a trailer it was.
The trailer itself is over two minutes long and shows SO much of the show which I loved. Below I’ve given my initial impressions on the trailer and some of the ideas I have coming off the back of it.
So my initial impressions…
When I watched the trailer for the first time I was quite blown away – the amount of visual effects and characters they showed throughout was great to see. We got to see all of the main characters and quite a few of them in actual action rather than just walking or something.
The visual effects look really good so far! Usually, in trailers, the visual effects aren’t as good as they’re still a few months away from finalising them, but so far they look fantastic in this. The magic, the CGI cities and some of the prosthetics/CGI used for the beasts really gave me confidence that they care about the end result.
When I first saw the casting of the characters, I was a little sceptical as I’d never heard of any of them other than Rosalind Pike. However, the more I thought about this, the more I enjoyed it and the more I realised it made sense. You see, if you’re looking to start a huge new long-running series you’re going to want to have young and up-and-coming actors take on the roles so they can progress through the series’. Additionally, this shoe has a huge budget but if they can save money on hiring younger lesser-experienced actors, it gives them more leeway to spend the funds on the set and post-production elements.
Do I think it will be the same as the books?
So I’ve heard that it will stick to the stories within the books quite closely for the first season or two at least. I’ve also read that the first TV series will cover the first two books at least to cut down on the potential of there being fourteen series (6 or 7 sounds far more feasible).
Within this trailer itself, there are loads of hints at what plot we’re going to see. We’re introduced to the main heroes’ homestead Emond’s Field, we’re shown the main characters throughout the book and we’re given some glimpses of some of the weapons and moments that suggest where the plot will go. I don’t want to give away any spoilers for those who haven’t read the book yet, so I’ll avoid mentioning too much about what I’ve noted from the books. However, you can rest assured I can see plenty of moments in this trailer from the first couple of books
Wheel of Time TV Series trailer summary
I was pleasantly surprised by the trailer. With such a loved book series that contains some complex creations, I was going in with some hesitancy. However, from the CGI shots I’ve seen, the costumes worn, the props used and the moments created, I am very much looking forward to it again.
With the likes of The Witcher recently coming out, a new Lord of the Rings series being announced and obviously the unfathomable success of Game of Thrones, high-budget fantasy series are well and truly here to stay and I can see a lot more epic fantasy novels being turned into series on Amazon, Netflix and HBO over the coming years. Hopefully, Wheel of Time will be a huge success and will be well into its story by then.
If you’ve been reading this and have absolutely no idea what the Wheel of Time series is, I’d highly recommend picking up the first book in the series either on Kindle or in Paperback. They’ve recently redone the covers to be more in line with the TV Series and they look quite good! Alternatively, go and read my review of The Eye of the World, the first book in the series.
