Wheel of Time Directors and Producers on the Show’s Big New Season

Adapted from Robert Jordan’s epic fantasy tales, Prime Video’s The Wheel of Time kicked off its second season last week. With three episodes out there in the world, and more coming each Friday through the eight-part season, io9 got a chance to talk to some of the show’s directors and producers.

While season one, which aired back in 2021, had to spend time familiarizing viewers with its world and characters, season two plunges right in—and widens the scope considerably, since the narrative’s many players are now spread across various far-flung lands.

“Season two has a new beginning in a way, because all of the characters are separated, they’re taken into their own separate stories immediately,” director Thomas Napper said. “I didn’t film a single scene with the characters together as a group as they were through the whole of series one. So that brings a very different energy to the storytelling and allows the characters to encounter other new characters. So all of the characters are building these new relationships and finding mentors, challenges, demons, and allies around in these new parts of the story. There’s a lot of new world building, a lot of new locations, and then a deeper dive on the White Tower as well.”

Added fellow director Sanaa Hamrie, who is also an executive producer, “We were able to really take the company throughout the Czech Republic and different parts of Italy and then finally in Morocco, in the Sahara desert, which makes a really big difference in terms of the visuals because we’re actually on these real locations. I feel like we have a lot more organic locations where we are really feeling the elements, whether it’s the sandstorms in the Sahara desert, which was were truly happening, as well as being super cold in the Czech Republic, to the dryness of Italy. Really adding more of these organic, natural materials to this fantastical world—I think that was really important for the vision for season two.”

Producer Holger Reibiger points to the Morocco shoot in particular as presenting season two’s biggest challenge, at least in terms of its locations. “To shoot in Morocco, it’s a big challenge; we shot in one place [where] nobody had shot before. It’s a very, very remote area with no infrastructure. So that was a big challenge for us—but it was important for us to shoot there and to show the audience this location and to incorporate [it] into season two.” Added executive producer Marigo Kehoe, “It’s exciting to show the audience new places—places that they may not have seen before. If we’re able to achieve that, that’s amazing.”

Like most series, The Wheel of Time is overseen by a team of directors who handle different episodes—but as you might expect, care is taken to ensure visual and thematic coherence.

“As an executive producer, I always look to making sure there’s a balance,” Hamri explained. “Season one was kind of like the jumping off point for season two. So within that, I think it’s really important that all departments talk to each other and that we’re all on the same page, because we have various directors such as Thomas, who did an amazing job for our season opener. And therefore we need to kind of continue that language. It’s really about managing that and making sure that we don’t veer off, but we want to make sure that the filmmaker feels like they are doing their own thing as well within the context of the language. It’s about sticking to the language of the world, but add in your particular flair. So to me, it’s about managing that and also managing the looks and the style. We have great department heads, so there were times when I would watch all the footage as it came in, as I’m directing and prepping—and then also making sure I’m available for the directors if they have any questions [so they could] use me as much as possible [as a resource to help maintain] the overall vision of season two.”

As Wheel of Time fans well know, a big part of the story revolves around people who are able to use magic, or “channel.” Visually, it manifests on-screen with the help of swirling, sparkling special effects, but there’s a certain performative element at play as well.

“[Series star] Rosamund Pike, [who plays Moiraine], works with a movement coordinator, Scarlett Mackmin, who’s a former dancer and a choreographer. One of the things that they developed very early on in the show was the idea that the channeling was individual to each person that does the channeling,” Napper explained. “So there isn’t a sort of uniform way of doing it, there’s a personalized way of doing it. Channeling actually has to be a real experience, whether it’s going through your stomach or your hands, your arms, or whichever part of your body. There’s a very tangible, visceral approach to the magic, even though obviously there are no swirling lights and no sparkly anything [on set]. The actors are then given a kind of key into that, to kind of ground it in realism, which—talking to Rafe Judkins, the showrunner, right from the beginning when I arrived at the beginning of this, one of the words that kept coming up again and again was how to make the show grounded. This is a high fantasy with a huge scope and huge ambition, but the performances and the ideas within those performances have to remain grounded and relevant for a contemporary audience. So it’s always the focus: how to make the magic grounded, how to make it feel real, and how to make the performances feel contemporary.”

The Wheel of Time season two streams new episodes Fridays on Prime Video.

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

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