The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and pass. Sometimes those ages include a three-season run on Amazon (AMZN +2.02%) Prime Video followed by social media drama and an unceremonious cancellation.
When Amazon announced its The Wheel of Time TV series back in 2018, I was cautiously optimistic. The 14-book fantasy epic had all the ingredients of a Game of Thrones-level phenomenon: 90 million copies sold, a passionate fan base, and source material deep enough to sustain a decade of storytelling. I wondered whether Amazon had found its flagship franchise in the high fantasy genre.
The show was solid. Not a cultural juggernaut, but good fantasy TV that introduced millions of new viewers to author Robert Jordan's world. The adaptation sparked lots of online drama, as many fans were uncomfortable with changes from the original books. But the production rolled along, earning strong reviews and several award nominations.
Then Amazon walked away last May.
Now, the franchise is getting a second chance, and Amazon is probably not invited this time.
The Wheel of Time Weaves as the Wheel wills. Image source: Getty Images.
New talent, new format
iwot Studios, which owns the Wheel of Time (WOT) collection's intellectual property (IP), just announced a partnership with producer Thomas Vu to develop an ambitious portfolio of new WOT content. The Amazon show will not continue beyond its third season, but there will be an animated TV series, several animated feature films, and a franchise of PC and mobile video games.
Vu's resume should get fans excited. At Riot Games -- now a subsidiary of Tencent -- he helped transform League of Legends from a video game into a global multimedia franchise with over 100 million monthly active players. He also executive-produced Netflix's Arcane, which proved that animation can deliver prestige-level storytelling. The show won an Emmy and drew viewers who had never touched the underlying League of Legends game.
That's the guy now working on The Wheel of Time. My ta'veren senses are tingling.
Why animation might work better
Here's the thing: The Wheel of Time is weird. Gloriously weird.
The magic system involves gendered halves of a cosmic power source, one of which drives men insane. Characters communicate through dreams. One protagonist spends multiple books arguing with a voice in his head that turns out to be a 3,000-year-old past-life memory.
Live-action can handle some of that, but it requires heavy exposition and large CGI budgets. Audiences can lose interest if you mix too much CGI or straight-up artificial intelligence (AI) video into a story with human actors.
Animation doesn't have those constraints. Arcane leaned into stylized visuals that no live-action show could replicate, for instance. If Vu brings a similar out-of-this-world sensibility to WOT, you could get something special on your mobile, theatrical, and living room screens.
What investors should know
There's no direct investing angle here. iwot Studios is a private company, and Amazon has moved on from its WOT project. The producers will surely partner with an exclusive streaming partner later on, and the video games will need shipping channels, too. Those details just aren't known yet. I'm keeping a close eye on WOT's distribution updates.
But the news is a useful data point about IP resilience. The Wheel of Time has now survived its original author's death, a pandemic-delayed TV production, and a series cancellation by one of the world's largest streaming platforms. The books still sell. Serious creative talent still wants to work with the material.
This project is an early-stage development so far, not a fully greenlit production. iwot Studios is betting that strong creative leadership will attract buyers. Given Vu's track record, that's reasonable.
The studio is also hedging its bets with parallel development tracks: Vu's animated shows and films plus a separate live-action film (again, not related to the existing Prime Video live-action show) and an open-world role-playing game from iwot Games Montréal. It's an ambitious transmedia strategy for a franchise rebuilding after cancellation.
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Key Data Points
Will the new production avoid the taint?
I'm not promising this will be the next Game of Thrones. I made cautiously optimistic noises in 2018 and 2021, and while the Amazon series was enjoyable, it didn't conquer the culture. The Wheel weaves as the Wheel wills, and sometimes it just creates a modest three-season run on a streaming platform.
But this is a serious attempt by people who know how to build franchises. Amazon gave up on The Wheel of Time. That doesn't mean the story is over.
Sleep well and wake, iwot.
