A series ‘Reborn’: ‘The Wheel of Time’ returns for Season 2

Within the realm of the fantastic, several novels, movies, video games and series exist to tickle the adventure bone. However, despite the plethora of content, few franchises have the hold that Harry Potter, Game of Thrones and The Lord of the Rings do. One series that has recently re-entered the chat, however, is “The Wheel of Time,” which is about to begin its second season on Prime Video.

First written by Robert Jordan beginning in 1990, the 15-book series was expected to comprise just six novels. In 2009, the book series was taken over by fellow fantasy writing powerhouse Brandon Sanderson, following Jordan’s death two years earlier. As time progressed and more books emerged, fans of high fantasy craved a TV or film adaptation that would do the then-still-growing book series justice. Finally, in 2018, following nearly two decades of rights disputes, low-budget pilots and controversy, it was announced that Amazon Studios would partner with Sony Pictures Television to make everyone’s otherworldly dreams come true.

Now, following further setbacks brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic and more, “The Wheel of Time” Season 2 premieres Friday, Sept. 1, on Prime Video.

Already renewed for a third season ahead of the Season 2 premiere, WOT fans can rest easy knowing that the series’ writers did not need to rush to fit several books’ worth of content into one (potentially) final set of episodes. Instead, audiences get another eight episodes in the second season, while looking forward to even more come Season 3 (likely to be released 2024-25).

When Season 1 began, viewers met Moiraine (Rosamund Pike, “Gone Girl,” 2014) as she began her quest to find the Dragon Reborn in the Two Rivers. As a member of the powerful Aes Sedai, an order of women with the ability to channel a form of elemental magic called the One Power, Moiraine has been called upon to find a kind of “chosen one,” the reincarnation of a channeller called the Dragon, who once destroyed the world. After gathering a small group — any of whom could possibly be the Dragon Reborn — Moiraine, her Warder, Lan Mandragoran (Daniel Henney, “Big Hero 6,” 2014), and the four new candidates — Perrin Aybara (Marcus Rutherford, “Bulletproof ”), Mat Cauthon (played by “Clique’s” Barney Harris in Season 1 and replaced by “The Witcher’s” Dónal Finn in Season 2), Rand al’Thor (Josha Stradowski, “High Flyers”) and Egwene al’Vere (Madeleine Madden, “Dora and the Lost City of Gold,” 2019) — begin their quest to defeat a primordial evil known as the Dark One.