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The Wheel of Time trailer prepares us for Amazon’s other epic fantasy

The series will premiere in November, a year before Lord of the Rings

Austen Goslin (he/him) is an entertainment editor. He writes about the latest TV shows and movies, and particularly loves all things horror.

Amazon has been dropping tiny teasers for its upcoming The Wheel of Time series for months now without ever releasing a full-blown trailer. Thankfully, that came to an end on Thursday with the release of a video that puts Robert Jordan’s fantasy world on full display.

Amazon’s Wheel of Time is based on the book series of the same name, originally created and written by Robert Jordan. Jordan wrote 11 books, but passed away before he could complete it. The final three books were completed by acclaimed fantasy writer Brandon Sanderson. While Amazon has already greenlit another season of the series, it’s unclear if the streamer means to make it through all 14 books or not.

According to Amazon, The Wheel of Time is “set in a sprawling, epic world where magic exists and only certain women are allowed to access it.” The story follows Moiraine (Rosamund Pike), “a member of the incredibly powerful all-female organization called the Aes Sedai, as she arrives in the small town of Two Rivers. There, she embarks on a dangerous, world-spanning journey with five young men and women, one of whom is prophesied to be the Dragon Reborn, who will either save or destroy humanity.”

At San Diego Comic-Con earlier this year, showrunner and executive producer Rafe Judkins spoke to his plans for the adaptations.

“Obviously, I want to stay as close to the books as we possibly can — these are really beloved books, I love them, there’s a great story there, we want to tell it and we want to tell it in the way that’s best for television,” he said. “Thematically, right now a story that is really about balance is something that’s meaningful in the world. [...] it’s really refreshing to see a fantasy series that isn’t so much good versus evil as balance versus imbalance. That is a message worth writing about right now.”

The first three episodes of The Wheel of Time premiere on Amazon Prime Video starting on Nov. 19, with new episodes dropping each Friday through the season finale on Dec. 24.

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