It has been just
over a year since Game of Thrones concluded. In that time, the backlash to the
eighth and final season has not subsided, and it seems as if it will be a
permanent blot on the legacy of what is otherwise one of the greatest
television series of all time.
Having hugely
popularised the fantasy genre, the adaptation of George R. R. Martin’s
still-unfinished A Song Of Ice and Fire novel series has spawned a slew of
imitators over the past decade, almost all of which flopped in competition
with it and were swiftly cancelled.
Now that it is
finished, there is arguably a gap in the market for a new fantasy juggernaut to
emerge, assuming that there is still an appetite for the genre. Amazon are
shooting for this goal with an adaptation of Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time, a 14-book epic that began in 1990 and finished in 2013, with three
books written after Jordan’s death in 2007 to complete the story.
Comparisons to
Game of Thrones are rampant.
The books enjoy a degree of popularity comparable
to Martin’s creations (approximate worldwide sales of around 85 million versus
90 million), have a fanantical fanbase and the series has a huge budget behind
it.
Here are five moves
it should take to avoid being labelled as just another copycat or making some
of the same mistakes.
