Amazon Prime Video’s Wheel of Time series adaptation is coming, and no one is more excited than Game of Thrones fans. The HBO fantasy epic credited with changing TV has a lot in common with Amazon’s new show, and many fans expect it to thrive in the same niche. As promotions for The Wheel of Time ramp up, the Game of Thrones fandom is starting to rally.
Game of Thrones fans on Twitter, Reddit and the official A Song of Ice and Fire forum have been diving into author Robert Jordan’s 14-book Wheel of Time series since their beloved show ended in 2019, expecting it to be the genre’s next big hit. That investment is already paying off — this weekend, fansite WinterIsComing.net posted an editorial by Daniel Roman calling The Wheel of Time “the next Game of Thrones,” and the official Wheel of Time Twitter account responded with a friendly wave, welcoming fans in.
Plenty of shows are vying to be the next Game of Thrones. If any one stands a chance at succeeding, it’s The Wheel of Time. Get to know it. https://t.co/3ZCpvg1aKU
— Winter is Coming (@WiCnet) March 21, 2021
The influx of new readers has made the Wheel of Time fandom online nearly as robust as the Thrones fandom, which might be the most important factor in determining the success of the shows.
The Wheel of Time has a lot in common with A Song of Ice and Fire. Jordan and George R.R. Martin were friends before Jordan’s passing, and their two series were published simultaneously, sharing space on the “sci-fi-fantasy” shelves in many bookstores. Both Jordan and Martin praised each other’s writing publicly and admitted that there were aspects of their respective styles they aspired to.
“He was also unfailingly generous towards other fantasists, always ready to offer them support and encouragement,” Martin wrote of Jordan in a 2007 blog post immediately after Jordan’s death. “My own ICE & FIRE series might never have found its audience without the cover quote that Jim was so kind as to provide, back when A GAME OF THRONES was first published. I will always be grateful to him for that.”
The Wheel of Time shares a few important similarities to A Song of Ice and Fire, but vast differences as well. Jordan’s series is more geared towards younger readers — particularly in the beginning. Like Martin, Jordan began with the conceit of writing a more grounded, “realistic” version of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, with more relatable characters responding as real people would, not as mythic archetypes. Fans often refer to this conceit with Martin’s comment: “what was Aragorn’s tax plan?” Jordan set out with similar questions.
However, where Martin’s books spared no gruesome detail in descriptions of war’s brutality, Jordan put more emphasis on how the characters themselves responded to the prophecies and portents that guided their lives. His story is about the rise of a mythic hero, who some believe will save the world and others believe will destroy it. It leads inexorably to an all-out battle between the forces of good and evil, but it takes 15 books to humanize the characters on each side, unlike Tolkien’s trilogy.
Comparisons between Game of Thrones and The Wheel of Time are not perfect, but they are worth making, especially as the latter continues to loom so largely in the public zeitgeist going forward. The Wheel of Time is in post-production now, and is expected to premiere sometime in 2021. An exact release date has not been set yet.
