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Sony to produce Wheel of Time TV series

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S

Spikematic

Member
Looks like it's happening!

The long-gestating “Wheel of Time” TV series adaptation is moving forward with Sony Pictures Television, Variety has learned exclusively.

Sony will produce along with Red Eagle Entertainment and Radar Pictures. Rafe Judkins is attached to write and executive produce. Judkins previously worked on shows such as ABC’s “Agents of SHIELD,” the Netflix series “Hemlock Grove,” and the NBC series “Chuck.” Red Eagle partners Rick Selvage and Larry Mondragon will executive produce along with Radar’s Ted Field and Mike Weber. Darren Lemke will also executive produce, with Jordan’s widow Harriet McDougal serving as consulting producer.
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http://variety.com/2017/tv/news/wheel-of-time-tv-series-sony-1202390897/

I'm cautiously optimistic about how this may turn out.
 
Q

Qasiel

Member
Is this a proper go at making the series, or just another cheap one-off production like they did with Billy Zane in order to keep the license?

Edit: for those interested: Pilot
 
S

Spikematic

Member
Qasiel said:
Is this a proper go at making the series, or just another cheap one-off production like they did with Billy Zane in order to keep the license?
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It's definitely a proper go this time. You can read the name of all the people they've tapped to write and produce etc. This is actually happening now!

talisayNon said:
on ABC ?

no thank you
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It doesn't say that anywhere. Maybe you misread the part that one of the writer and exec producer worked on shows including ABC's Agents of Shield?

Regiruler said:
Where did you stop?

If you're at book 10 or close then 11 onward is worth it.
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I actually stopped at book 10 myself. There were just way too many characters to keep track of. All those angry sniffing, skirt straightening, braid tugging, hair chewing, glaring ladies... I know the last ones are pretty great and I'll definitely get to them one day. If there's a site or something out there with good summaries of the books I'd love to refresh my memory before continuing.
 
LordOfChaos

LordOfChaos

Member
tumblr_lhpu3rrOkp1qhxr17o1_250.gif



Ahhh!

This is my favorite book series. Please be more GoT than *shudder* Shannara or sword of truth for the Tv adaptation.

Err, is this the same production company as that Winter Dragon pilot though?


Spikematic said:
I actually stopped at book 10 myself. There were just way too many characters to keep track of. All those angry sniffing, skirt straightening, braid tugging, hair chewing, glaring ladies... I know the last ones are pretty great and I'll definitely get to them one day. If there's a site or something out there with good summaries of the books I'd love to refresh my memory before continuing.
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Yeah, you stopped right after the worst speedbump, the next book and the last three are fantastic and well worth it.
 
A

Akuun

Looking for meaning in GAF
I wonder how this would even work. Wheel of Time is way flashier with magic, and would require so much more CG shit than Game of Thrones.

Not to mention I don't know how well the gender relation themes in it will take with an audience today. It's full of women talking down to men and treating them like idiots.

I really liked the book series. It has a fantastic ending that made up for a really shitty middle section. But I dunno if a TV series would work with it.
 
W

Woorloog

Banned
Akuun said:
Not to mention I don't know how well the gender relation themes in it will take with an audience today. It's full of women talking down to men and treating them like idiots.
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Just adapt worst crap out for most part. Obviously the gender contrast plays part in the world due to the magic issue but it can be toned down and the obnoxious part can be removed.

Just have women leading for most part. You know, "show, don't tell" the WoT world society is a bit more matriarchal. Or something like that.
 
S

SpiceMelange

Member
I think I read the first book of that series years ago. I remember being annoyed by the pacing, half the book was descriptive text.
 
LordOfChaos

LordOfChaos

Member
Akuun said:
Not to mention I don't know how well the gender relation themes in it will take with an audience today. It's full of women talking down to men and treating them like idiots.
.
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I hope they have Sanderson consult, because he cut a lot of that crap out in the three he co-authored.
 
T

TheChaos0

Member
I need to finish the last 3 books but it's been so long, I would need to reread the previous ones! I've went through the first 3 books last year.
 
M

Mortimer Brewster

Member
talisayNon said:
on ABC ?

no thank you
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It doesn't mention a network and Sony does deals with a lot of networks. Ideally it goes to one of the Cable networks. Probably be a great fit for Starz who have a good working relationship with Sony and would be an interesting pairing with Outlander and American Gods.
 
P

Patryn

Member
H

HStallion

Now what's the next step in your master plan?
So no one is talking about the fact even if they cut out half the characters and books this is still going to be a long ass series even if every season is hour long episodes and has 13 eps a season. We're talking like 10 seasons.
 
D

Discotheque

Banned
That bootleg ass 'pilot' we got a while ago was hilarious. Half of it was just dude calling out for ilyana haha

Anyways I'm so in for this but for the love of God make it a cable channel. If it's on network then it's already time to worry
 
J

Jinaar

Member
I barely got to book four and then stopped. I guess it wasn't my cup of tea. If the show writers can adapt it well enough for television, they may have something here. Godspeed, dear writers!
 
M

Myze

Member
Spikematic said:
I actually stopped at book 10 myself. There were just way too many characters to keep track of. All those angry sniffing, skirt straightening, braid tugging, hair chewing, glaring ladies... I know the last ones are pretty great and I'll definitely get to them one day. If there's a site or something out there with good summaries of the books I'd love to refresh my memory before continuing.
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I suggest you never read the Book of the Malazan series, then. Great series, but can be very confusing, especially if you take a break between books (like I did after book 3, waiting for each new release). Thankfully they are all out now.

Here is a list of the characters (Warning: Some character Spoilers)
 
S

Spikematic

Member
ZOONAMI said:
So is this going to be on a regular network? Gonna suck if it is.
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I really hope it isn't. Sony's just making the show and networks will then bid for it I guess. Maybe HBO will want a replacement for GoT?! Or perhaps AMC or Showtime want their own fantasy offering? Fingers crossed!

The books actually did have some really fantastic stuff. A good writing team could actually turn this into a pretty awesome project, provided the budget, actors and directors are all on point. Let's hope this turns out more like GoT and less like Legend of the Seeker / The Shannara Chronicles (although I admit I sort of enjoyed both those shows for very different reasons).
 
D

Dreamwriter

Member
I wonder how much influence Red Eagle Entertainment has in this - they were the ones who tried to sneak a really, really crappy pilot onto TV at 2:30am that was made in secret so they wouldn't lose the tv rights. But they did that because Harriet had been talking to Sony about doing the tv show instead of them, and here we have Sony co-producing it.

That writer has done some good shows (loved Chuck!), so that gives me sone hope, though nothing close to the magnitude of what Wheel of Time would need to be; hopefully he isn't jumping in over his head.

Akuun said:
I wonder how this would even work. Wheel of Time is way flashier with magic, and would require so much more CG shit than Game of Thrones.
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Not the first book - the magic in that is minimal. If the series survives long enough to where WoT would need flashier CGI than GoT, it should by then have a decent budget.
 
V

Vincent Grayson

Member
This is my favorite series. I still can't believe they're going to try and do this, and am pretty doubtful it won't get fucked over by budget concerns (if not casting ones, given the length).

That said, I hope like hell this comes out well, because I've been imagining it for the better part of 20 years.
 
B

Barzul

Member
Needs to be a cable network. Starz, HBO, A&E, FX one of those or heck even Netflix. Please not ABC or shudders Fox.
 
ThatStupidLion

ThatStupidLion

Member
YES! really hope it has enough of a production budget though and good scheduling...

I want it to be more along the lines of GoT than Walking Dead.

please be on hbo, and scheduled for when Thrones ends
 
M

Mortimer Brewster

Member
Discotheque said:
That bootleg ass 'pilot' we got a while ago was hilarious. Half of it was just dude calling out for ilyana haha

Anyways I'm so in for this but for the love of God make it a cable channel. If it's on network then it's already time to worry
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Non of the networks will touch it. You noticed they stayed away from High Fantasy even after Game of Thrones is hit critical levels of popularity. Its got Starz or FX written all over it and I say Starz because they seem to be trying to corner the Fantasy Book adaption market in the post GoT world and Wheel of Time is both similar enough and different enough from Outlander and American Gods to match up as it's third big series.
 
S

Spikematic

Member
Mortimer Brewster said:
Non of the networks will touch it. You noticed they stayed away from High Fantasy even after Game of Thrones is hit critical levels of popularity. Its got Starz or FX written all over it and I say Starz because they seem to be trying to corner the Fantasy Book adaption market in the post GoT world and Wheel of Time is both similar enough and different enough from Outlander and American Gods to match up as it's third big series.
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Amazon and Netflix could be potential contenders as well. Both are hungry to build up their respective libraries and a high-profile fantasy series like this could be a pretty big deal. I would vastly prefer them getting this than a broadcast network at least...
 
Hari Seldon

Hari Seldon

Member
Once a channel picks this up I will get excited because at that point I can judge it on its quality. If it is Starz or Netflix I will be hype as fuck. If it is Amazon I will be hopeful. If it is MTV or whatever the fuck ABC Family is now I will know that it is garbage.
 
M

Mortimer Brewster

Member
Spikematic said:
Amazon and Netflix could be potential contenders as well. Both are hungry to build up their respective libraries and a high-profile fantasy series like this could be a pretty big deal. I would vastly prefer them getting this than a broadcast network at least...
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I imagine if they are serious with the team behind makes me believe they are, it's going to become a bidding war. Wheel of Time was A Song of Ice and Fire back when George RR Martin was still writing syndication The Twilight Zone and Beauty and the Beast back in the 80's.
 
T

Turin Turambar

Member
Regiruler said:
Trying to be the next GoT?
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Yep. I'm sure the pitch mainly consisted of saying how it could be the next GoT series.


The thing is, I think WoT needs even more budget than GoT and surely it will get less, so I don't have hopes it's going to be good. It's a more fantasy series than GoT, with fantasy-looking cities like Tar Valon, more monsters like Trollocs, it's more 'globe-throttling' so there are more different cities, costumes, cultures to show off, more use of magic, with more scenes of huge battles, etc.
 
M

Mindwipe

Member
Spikematic said:
Amazon and Netflix could be potential contenders as well. Both are hungry to build up their respective libraries and a high-profile fantasy series like this could be a pretty big deal. I would vastly prefer them getting this than a broadcast network at least...
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And they both buy a fair amount of Sony Pictures originations upfront to market as originals (The Crown, The Get Down, Transparent etc).
 
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