The Wheel of Time showrunner explains the one big benefit of being Prime Video's lesser-known fantasy series: "Amazon's letting us fly our freak flag!"

The Wheel of Time's Rafe Judkins has promised a "weird, edgier" season 3, as the Prime Video show further distances itself from the likes of Game of Thrones and Lord of the Rings – just like Robert Jordan's novel series did when it got to books 4 and 5.

As part of an on-set feature in the new issue of SFX magazine, which features the 30 greatest shows of the SFX era on the cover and hits newsstands on February 26, the showrunner explained the big benefit of being the streamer's slightly lesser-known fantasy show...

"[We're] taking swings," he says, before seemingly referencing The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. "One thing you often find with big shows is that things can get blunted. When you have a huge number of eyes on something, if you do something weird, there's going to be someone who doesn't like it. 

"We're lucky with how [Amazon's] letting us fly our freak flag. It's a weird show! It does strange things and it works best when it's doing that. It's not trying to be normal," continues Judkins. "We don't have as much money as some of the other big fantasy shows, but everyone puts everything they have into making it feel as big as we possibly can."

While the books focus predominantly on Rand al'Thor, a Harry Potter-type who discovers he's the Dragon Reborn, a formidable magic wielder and the world's prophesized savior from the Dark One (if he chooses the right side, that is), the TV adaptation's first two chapters were centered mostly on Rosamund Pike's Moiraine Damodred.

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In season 1, she traversed the Two Rivers in search of youngsters with the potential to become the Dragon Reborn, hellbent on teaching them the ways of the Light before sinister forces had a chance of corrupting their power. Season 2 saw them all learn which one of the candidates was set to step up to the plate, and with that, Rand (Josha Stradowski) will be more of a main player in the new batch of episodes.

While that's sure to please diehard fans of the source material, Judkins assures viewers that the show won't turn into your stereotypical genre fare. "Robert Jordan was asked by his publishers to make them more like The Lord Of The Rings, but he was later allowed to let his freak flag fly," he says. "You can see it around books four, five and six, and that's when they blew up. They are much edgier and much more like television. The earlier books are very skewed to one character and rely heavily on traditional fantasy tropes which would be hard for us to put on TV and not be compared to The Lord Of The Rings."

The Wheel of Time season 3 premieres on March 13. Read more in the latest issue of SFX magazine, which will be available from Wednesday, February 26. Check out the special SFX anniversary cover to look for on newsstands below...

Check out the new issue of SFX! We’re celebrating our 30th anniversary with the 30 greatest shows of the last three decades, as chosen by some of the biggest names in sci-fi and fantasy. On sale 26 February. pic.twitter.com/9myRDfzd3cFebruary 21, 2025

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