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WHEEL OF TIME officially optioned for television


Werthead

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1 minute ago, dooog said:

Please be HBO or Netflix.

It'd be a damn shame if a cheapskate network like AMC or Starz got it

I think HBO would be unlikely to start a second second hugely expensive Epic Fantasy series at the same time as GoT. I agree Netflix could be a good choice.

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6 minutes ago, williamjm said:

I think HBO would be unlikely to start a second second hugely expensive Epic Fantasy series at the same time as GoT. I agree Netflix could be a good choice.

But doesn't Netflix has its cup filled with all sci-fi/comicbook shows?

Also, the most important question is who has the money to pull this through.

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Considering that most of the main characters are young, attractive people, I wouldn't be surprised if CW and MTV joined forces to make it. :P

But seriously, I would have some confidence in Netflix, Amazon, and Starz to produce a decent show. I don't want it on any channel where half the allotted hour is commercials. And I still maintain that animation is the better way to go.

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If people think the SFX budget for GoT was monstrous for a TV show then a properly done WoT live action adaptation would be much worse. And consider that if the who was going to do any sort of justice to the books it would have to be at least 200 episodes. I agree with Switchback that this should be animated, With a view to producing 8x24 episode seasons. If they went the GoT route producing just 10 episodes per season they are either facing a 20 season stretch, or they are going to gut the story so much that they might as well tell a completely different story set in the WoT universe.

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It's never going to be an animated. According to some sources, this new deal was comfortably in the eight figures. I'm pretty sure that's a lot more than HBO dropped on GRRM for GoT, and there is zero chance they would spend that much for an animated show.

As for who's got it, the overwhelmingly most likely candidate is Sony TV. They were in "strong" negotiations with Red Eagle when their option ran out and they flew Harriet McDougal (Robert Jordan's widow) to LA to talk about the project. It's perfectly possible they simply stood back whilst the legal battle was fought and the second the dust cleared stepped back in. Either that or someone like Amazon or Netflix flew in, and really it'd have to be someone like them to drop that kind of money at short notice. Sony also have gotten good at picking up long-gestating fantasy projects, clearing the crap and getting them on screen. They've just done the same thing with the Dark Tower movie, which starts shooting imminently.

Sony would have to partner up with a US network and I think AMC would be the logical choice. They did Breaking Bad together and AMC would likely love to have an epic fantasy show to go alongside The Walking Dead and Preacher. Budget would be a concern: The Walking Dead still bats at well under $4 million an episode, which is pretty damn cheap of them considering its success (and they even cut the budget between Seasons 1 and 2, which angered Frank Darabont so much he quit). However, if Sony produce the show themselves and then sell it onwards in return for keeping international distribution rights, that could work. Especially since Sony have a good relationship with AMC but also remember the hoops they made them jump through on Breaking Bad and the shit they've pulled on other shows like Mad Men, so anything that gives them the upper hand might be good. But Starz could also do an okay job. Showtime maybe, they'd need to up their game a bit, but FX I think could be a good home as well.

If it's not Sony, it really has to be Amazon. Amazon have got money to burn and they need a mega-hit, high-profile show to really make their mark. Wheel of Time has also been the biggest-selling epic fantasy series on Amazon since it started (unless you count Harry Potter as epic fantasy), which kind of makes it a really easy pitch. I wouldn't rule out Netflix, but I think it less likely because they've got such a huge amount of stuff going on that taking on WoT as well could start to be logistically taxing.

If this all turns out to be wrong and it's going to be on The CW or something instead, it'd be very annoying :P

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This is awesome news. I'm really hoping it was Amazon that grabbed it. They have the money and the need for a big show. Netflix would also be good, but they have all their Marvel stuff going on and all their other original shows. I think it's a safe bet to rule out HBO. They still have 2 more seasons of GOT, so I can't see them getting into something similar like this right now. I'd definitely take Starz or Showtime though. I really don't want this to end up on AMC or FX or whatever. They could probably do a good job, I just really hate commercials.

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Can't imagine they expect a 14 season megaseries, right? Although EotW was not my favorite book, it would make a great season, provided they found a way to mix the teen-wonder feeling of the Potter movies. Can't imagine how people would keep track a lot of the characters as the series advanced. Partially because so many are dreadfully similar, as opposed to GoT, where viewers have a bit of an easier time differentiating the masses of fantasy characters. 

 

It could be a bunch of fun for five or six seasons! No Bewbbbbs,  more braids. But plenty of chances for some really cool visual stuff from settings, to monsters and magic. Would probably be super expensive to pull off, especially some of the crazy Power battles.

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2 hours ago, The Anti-Targ said:

If people think the SFX budget for GoT was monstrous for a TV show then a properly done WoT live action adaptation would be much worse. And consider that if the who was going to do any sort of justice to the books it would have to be at least 200 episodes. I agree with Switchback that this should be animated, With a view to producing 8x24 episode seasons. If they went the GoT route producing just 10 episodes per season they are either facing a 20 season stretch, or they are going to gut the story so much that they might as well tell a completely different story set in the WoT universe.

They wouldn't need to have at least 200 episodes. They could probably get away with 80-90 episodes. Maybe less. The books are long and numerous, but quite a bit of it involves characters pointlessly dilly-dallying around. They could probably cut Crossroads of Twilight out entirely and not miss a beat.

A Song of Ice and Fire may have a smaller word count, but it has much more substance in the writing. That's not to say Martin doesn't put in a good amount of filler in his books; but it's nowhere near to the extent Robert Jordan did.

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24 minutes ago, Direwolves are totally sweet said:

They could probably delete entire nations, four or five Forsaken, fifteen Aes Sedai, and still need 120 episodes to cover all the travelogue'ing. (I would still really enjoy it )

They could certainly make the show as long as they want to, for sure. They don't need to spin their wheels and add filler because they can take as much of the filler from the books as they desire. Although they would probably opt to put in their own filler instead.

Anyway, this turning out to be anything more than a loose adaptation would be shocking, and it's almost assured not to get the kind of reception GoT has, just based on the type of story it is.

People have complained about Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones taking too many deviations, but I'm pretty sure those have been the most faithful to the source material by far. Look at what happened to Legend of the Seeker and Shannara Chronicles, for instance. If Wheel of Time gets the sort of faithfulness that Game of Thrones has it will be a small miracle.

At any rate, the novels are remarkable in the way things fit together so well, and the painstaking plotting that RJ did, but no one can accuse the story of WoT of transcending the generic fantasy story. All the stuff that gives Game of Thrones acclaim - multidimensional characters, a deep plot of intrigue, the white-knuckled uncertainty of where things are headed, the exploration of the nature of power - none of these things apply to Wheel of Time. It's a straightfoward story that we've essentially already seen in the likes of Lord of the Rings and Star Wars.

Still, I do hope for the best, despite how stacked the odds are against this show seeing more than two seasons and actually being decent.

 

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I do think one nice thing about Wheel of time is the Povs. Game of Thrones ends up feeling stretched in the later episodes because there are so many Povs and in an hour there is just not enough time to advance the stories of, Sansa, Kings landing, Dany, Arya, Jon, Dorne, Tyrion and now Jorah and Darrio. Wheel of time should be able to keep each episode to 3 or 4 Povs and be able to cut a lot of filler which should do wonders to make a solid well paced story.

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I agree that HBO is unlikely considering that they already have a huge budget fantasy show in their line-up... but then again by the time this would air, it might only overlap 1 or 2 seasons.... There are not many networks that can pull this off... Netflix has proven itself, but its burning through cash with all of its original programming... Amazon, & Starz could work.... but the channel I've yet to see anyone mention is Showtime...although I'm not a huge fan of the network,  I would imagine that they , would love to "one-up" HBO and GoT

I'm on book three.... I'm enjoying it a lot..... but they could easily condense the story and not betray its essence

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2 hours ago, Humble AK said:

They wouldn't need to have at least 200 episodes. They could probably get away with 80-90 episodes. Maybe less. The books are long and numerous, but quite a bit of it involves characters pointlessly dilly-dallying around. They could probably cut Crossroads of Twilight out entirely and not miss a beat.

A Song of Ice and Fire may have a smaller word count, but it has much more substance in the writing. That's not to say Martin doesn't put in a good amount of filler in his books; but it's nowhere near to the extent Robert Jordan did.

I don't think you understand me. I think if you were to do WoT with all its filler it would be more like 300 episodes. Each WoT book is bigger than each ASoIaF book, and there is double the number of books. If GoT adapted AsoIaF more faithfully and comprehensively it would be nudging 150 episodes, IMO.

I can't see how any TV adaptation can get away with less than 150 episodes for WoT and satisfy most book fans. It's possible, I think to cut the Seanchan and Atha'an Miere, completely as they pretty much serve as roadblocks, and there are enough problems with getting the nations on the continent + the Aiel + the Aes Sedai to get together.

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