Collider: I feel like my fan reaction to this finale is way less eloquent.
Which is just… holy crap.
But I have actual questions for you, I promise.
RAFE JUDKINS: (laughs) That’s okay.
Holy crap is fine.
Why spool out that narrative thread at this stage in the show, so to speak?
Image via Prime Video
So a lot of the adaptation choices we made were to bring those things up sooner.
And that it broke because of what transpired and that is the threat of what can happen again.
I think that’s a really important core concept of the series.
Image via Prime Video
I wanted to see the moment that happened, even if it’s not in some big battle.
It feels a little quieter, which is really fascinating.
JUDKINS: I loved doing that.
Image via Prime Video
All that kind of stuff, I was just really happy that we were allowed to do that.
They have a big moment in last week’s episode.
And of course, Daniel [Henney] gets to say the iconic Lan line.
Especially considering the Moiraine factor.
It was really important to me, that scene, the iconic Lan/Nynaeve scene that’s in the books.
We really wanted to give the lead up to that in terms of seeing it as an ensemble show.
What were the scenes that led up to that moment?
And sort of giving the audience that backstory so they can see them come together.
It was really important to me.
So I was happy to fight that fight.
It’s almost like a love triangle and a business triangle laid on top of each other.
And there’s something really interesting about that dynamic between Lan and Moiraine and Lan and Nynaeve.
And then Nynaeve and Moiraine and the growing respect that those two women also have for each other.
(laughs) They…
I think those characters actually have a lot more similarities than those characters would like to think they do.
And so I love that triangle and sort of all the different ways it plays through the whole series.
And I’m curious what the thinking was between giving that to the two of them?
And so we take a stab at do the same with the end as well.
in the books, everyone else basically gets knocked out and Rand fights the Dark One.
He teleports to Tarwin’s Gap and levels the whole Trolloc army.
He gets the Horn of Valere.
He does it all, essentially.
So Perrin is now connected to the Horn of Valere and we can see where that story’s going.
And then it felt like Rand’s confrontation with Ba’alzamon was the most important piece for Rand.
She can’t tap into the One Power anymore.
So how is that consequence going to play out for her and Lan heading into Season 2?
And that’s the arrival of…
I’m assuming this is the Seanchan showing up.
How is this group, in particular, going to have an impact on the show in Season 2?
There’s differences in it, but it’s following the storytelling structure.
And it felt so fresh and new.
So we really wanted to have them function the exact same way in the show.
We get this nod to them at the end of the season, but…
Season 2, the Seanchan arrive and they affect the story.
The Seanchan, the way they came together with our production design team, is really cool.
Season 1 ofThe Wheel of Timeis currently available to stream on Prime Video.
