Note: This story contains spoilers from “The Wheel of Time” Season 3, Episode 8.
“The Wheel of Time” capped a successful, momentum-gathering third season with Rand (Josha Stradowski) proclaiming himself to the Aiel, Mat (Dónal Finn) confronting the series’ “horror elves” for the first time and a second book-deviating death in as many weeks – all to showrunner Rafe Judkins’ plan.
For many viewers, Season 3 of “The Wheel of Time” was a major leap forward in the series compared to the first two entries. With the show earning the strongest reviews of the show’s run by the end of the season, Judkins told TheWrap it was a part of his initial pitch that the series would really hit its stride in the third year — which is proving true.
“This is the point in the books where they became an explosive worldwide success,” he said. “It’s the part of the books where some of the most uniquely ‘Wheel of Time’ things happen because you’ve done all this groundwork to set up this world so that you can do an episode where you’re flipping through random character stories in the history of the Aiel culture and the audience can go there with you.”
Judkins continued: “I think one of my main pitches for the series when we first came out is that it’s sort of like a reverse ‘Game of Thrones,’ like it gets better as the books go on and that’s what television should do. You want shows to get better as they go … ‘Wheel of Time’ has the potential to be much more like television of the past where it gets better every season and you get deeper into the world. That’s what we’ve always felt about the show and it’s nice to see people think that as well.”
The Season 3 finale wrapped up a number of stories while setting up things down the road. Rand proclaimed himself the Car’a’carn to the gathered Aiel – and took a few more steps down the road to madness doing so. Moiraine (Rosamund Pike) made peace with her fate and suffered a loss, Mat met his prophecy while searching with the Tanchico crew for the male channeler collar and more.
Below, Judkins breaks down all the turns that the finale took, from the creation of Robert Jordan’s “horror elves” and Rand’s mental state, to deciding on majorly deviated deaths from the source material.
Enter the Eelfinn
One of the big moments in the finale is Mat being sucked through the red gate and having his first encounter with the Eelfinn (Robert Strange). It happens in Tanchico in the show despite it happening in Rhuidean while Rand and Moiraine face their visions in the books. The Eelfinn – and the yet unseen Aelfinn – are among the trippier aspects of “The Wheel of Time’s” story and Judkins wanted to make sure that essence remained intact.
“This has so much that could be so trippy, this is Robert Jordan’s version of elves and they’re horror elves so let’s start there,” he said. “Now let’s add the fox element, this is a really important piece of it, and then we sort of build outward from there and always trying to make sure it’s directed towards something that feels right. To me, it feels right when I see it – like it’s not what I had in my head but it feels correct, and I think that’s what we’re always trying to build together.”
The fox-faced Eelfinn grants Mat a handful of wishes – all while planning to trick him into being stuck in this mysterious new location. It was important that Mat’s shock at seeing this new species felt genuine and Judkins said Finn actually brought a pitch to him that helped sell Mat’s reaction.
“He had the idea of never seeing the eelfinn until we shot the first shot, and so you really see it on his face,” Judkins said. “I thought it was a brilliant idea of his to kind of bring that to it. We even had to rehearse the scene where he’s keeping his eyes down so he doesn’t see it. It really works to completely unsettle you because we need his reaction to tell us we’re in a totally different world. That was helped built by the first time Dónal saw it was on camera.”
Deciding to Kill Off Two Characters Who Survive in the Books
The final two episodes of the season feature the shocking deaths of two fan-favorite characters who still have storylines in the 10 unadapted books. Loial (Hammed Animashaun) nobly sacrificed himself during the Battle of Emond’s Field in Episode 7, and Siuan (Sophie Okonedo) was killed by Elaida (Shohreh Aghdashloo) in the White Tower after being deposed as the Flame of Tar Valon in a coupe.
Judkins explained that the writers were thoughtful in their decision to kill off characters who do not die in the source material and that the mechanics of a potentially six- or seven-season TV show with eight episodes per season can’t amass the same amount of characters as a 15-book series.
“Robert Jordan loves his character so much that he lets them all just collect and they all go to The Last Battle – like everyone makes it there,” he said. “Which is wonderful for a book series, but is not something that’s practical when you’re casting actors. So our first and foremost focus is that when they are with us they’re doing something significant and not just standing off to the side of a scene. We can’t really do that. We have actors who are too good to do that.”
Judkins added: “Have everyone do their absolute best moments from the books and then we can bid them adieu instead of collecting people and taking them along for the whole ride. We’re super thoughtful about it, there’s a lot that goes into it in the writers’ room. There were other characters that were discussed as potential deaths, and we moved away from it thinking about the stories that we have to tell hopefully for the next three or four seasons. So it’s never done without extreme amount of thought.”
Forsaken on Forsaken Violence
While Siuan’s death is the big gut-punch of the episode, another significant death happens early on. After Sammael (Cameron Jack) attacked Rand and the Aiel at Cold Rocks Hold, he was taken captive. Moiraine’s hope was that the Forsaken general could help teach Rand to use the male side of the One Power more safely – which would have been another change from how Rand learns in the books. Instead, it all ends up being a fake-out when Moghedien (Laia Costa) shows up to literally pull her fellow Forsaken inside out. Judkins wanted to really hammer home that while all these villains may follow The Dark One, they want each other dead as much or more as they want the heroes gone.
“One thing that’s hugely important in the books is this idea that the Forsaken are fighting each other just as much as they’re fighting our leads,” Judkins said. “Their power is so leveled up above a lot of our main characters, and that disparity can create problems storytelling-wise so seeing that they are just as much after each other and as worried about each other as they are about our leads – sometimes moreso – was really important to us.”
He added: “Having Moghedian kill Sammael – instead of just talking about how she’s going to kill the other Forsaken – we thought it was an important difference to make for the show so that the audience is really registering, ‘Oh, these people aren’t just talking about it. They are coming after each other, and the stakes are real when the Forsaken are up against each other.’”
Rand’s Madness
Rand spent the season diving deeper into his channeling – knowing that doing so will bring him closer to madness. Things came to a head during Sammael’s attack where he became so enamored with his power he withstood the Forsaken’s attack but also killed a young girl in the process. Failing to bring her back from the dead — no amount of channeling can do that — pushes Rand into a coldness that he brings to his proclamation to the Aiel that he is He Who Comes with the Dawn.
“The thing that Rand is learning this season is that he is not just a savior and not just a destroyer – he’s something in between and we’re trying to tell that story with everything we do on the show,” Judkins said. “The relationship with Egwene (Madeleine Madden) versus Lanfear (Natasha O’Keeffe) – highlighting that in this season even though it wasn’t highlighted in the books – it shows these two women who each like a different part of him and he’s realizing he’s got to be both of those things, and that’s what he’s realizing at the end of the season.”
The showrunner did point to a blink-and-you-miss-it moment in the finale that can hint at the madness to come as Rand leans deeper into his power.
“We see a little glimmer of a silhouette on a sand dune in this episode, and that’s the hint of what’s to come for Rand,” Judkins teased.
All three seasons of “The Wheel of Time” are now available to stream on Prime Video.
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