The second season of Wheel of Time has only recently ended, but the showrunners have already hinted that fans can expect a bigger role for the Dragon Reborn, Rand Al’Thor, in the forthcoming season 3. Hopefully, the move will address the concerns of The Escapist’s Graham Day.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, showrunner Rafe Judkins made the comments during a Q&A over the weekend. As part of the discussion, he first explained that Rand hasn’t yet had a chance to shine because of the way the show is structured:
“Every season, we sit down in the writers room and one of the things that we do at the very beginning is pick out a couple of the stories that we have to carve out a space to make a whole episode for,” he said. “For seasons two and three, we’ve really carved out two episodes of [each] season that can really be devoted [to] characters. This season was a really big Egweyne and Nynaeve season for us. Next season is a really big Rand [and Perrin] season for us. There are always different characters who are rising in importance.”
Judkins went on to say that beyond centering Rand, Wheel of Time season 3 will introduce new elements from the books, including the city of Tanchico, which Judkins said is “tropical. It’s so different than anything else you’ve ever seen on the show before,” Rhuidean, and the Sea Folk.
In a separate appearance, Judkins revealed that the third season will focus on storylines from the fourth book in Robert Jordan’s series The Shadow Rising, which he said is “one of the best books in the series.” He went on to tease a bigger role for the Forsaken and the debut of a new Forsaken character.
While the second season has just finished, Wheel of Time season 3 was renewed all the way back in July 2022. Filming has already begun, so hopefully fans won’t have to wait another two years, as they did between the first and second seasons.
