Robert Jordan’s best-selling series of novels, The Wheel of Time is an expansive entry into the fantasy TV genre. While many fantasy series talk about fate, destiny, prophecy, and those are all present in WOT, but few take it quite so literally. The idea of death and rebirth is a constant companion; the story we are watching is just an iteration on a battle that has been fought many, many times before, and will be fought again. Many of the characters we meet are literal reincarnations of heroes and villains who died a millennia ago, and that past, as distant as it is, remains relevant. Sooner or later, it always finds them. As do the monsters.

Although the pacing of the shows feels fast, owing to the books having thousands of characters and backstories, this TV series have to move things along in only 8 episodes to find the Dragon Reborn, the latest incarnation of the one person destined to fight the Dark One and either save or destroy humanity in the process. An interesting twist for season 1 was to keep audiences guessing who the Dragon Reborn is until the penultimate episode but the final “boss fight” seems lackluster - perhaps setting up for more the next session? Going cold into the show is probably best as fans of the book will likely disagree with something, but we had an enjoyable time trying to understand the mythology through the concentrated world-building (the series spans 14 novels). Ideas of rebirth, choosing the right and wrong paths are key themes this first season and we look forward to following the story to find out what else is in store.