‘The Wheel of Time’: Rafe Judkins on up about twists & turns in novel to book adaptation

Amazon Prime Video's epic fantasy The Wheel of Time, based on the books by late author Robert Jordan has been garnering rave reviews ever since its premiere. Rafe Judkins, the showrunner of the series opened up about twists and turns in the show, that were originally not part of the books. While some netizens claimed that the show was different from the books, fans of the series praised the little tweaks made to this book to screen adaptation and called it a  'promising adaptation'. 

Wheel Of Time showrunner talks about how the series is different from the books

On receiving such grandiosity for the show, showrunner Rafe Judkins spoke about what makes the series a little different from the book. Judkins said, "In the world of The Wheel of Time, one of the most important aspects of it is that men and women use different forms of the One Power -- essentially two halves of the One Source -- and that in the books, the male half of the source has been corrupted. So, for thousands of years now only women have been able to successfully use this form of magic that they call channeling."

Judkins credited the books for exploring both gender and balance in a very complex and nuanced way, and these timely themes are embedded just as deeply in the adaptation. Elaborating on the same, he said "I think The Wheel of Time -- ultimately when it comes to gender -- is a story of balance and how do we find a balance between the two genders and how do we find a balance between male and female, masculine and feminine, and people finding that balance within themselves as well."

Judkins said that he hopes that "the fans of the books and people who come to the show that haven't read the books before -- on the second and third watching -- they will notice little things in the lighting, the production design, the costumes, the lines that the characters say, the music that you hear, all of that should hopefully reveal more the more you listen to it and watch it."

The first three episodes of The Wheel of Time were released on Prime Video on November 19, 2021, following a weekly release of new episodes every Friday thereafter. The fantasy series will be available in English, Hindi, Tamil and Telugu only on Prime Video. The show features Rosamund Pike, Joshua Stradowski, Álvaro Morte, Marcus Rutherford, Zoë Robins, Barney Harris, Madeleine Madden, and Daniel Henney. 

Image: Instagram/@thewheeloftime/@al_the.reader