Rosamund Pike Cast In lead Of Amazon’s Wheel Of Time Adaptation
by Erik Amaya
Oh, hey, Amazon’s Wheel of Time adaptation is finally getting under way.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Gone Girl‘s Rosamund Pike has been cast in the series as lead character Moiraine. Based on the novels of Robert Jordan, the series will see Moiraine trek across magic-infused worlds — and our own mundane world — with a band of young people. She suspects one of them is a prophesied chosen one who will either save the lattice-work of worlds or destroy them utterly. Veteran Chuck writer Rafe Judkins will adapt and serve as showrunner for Sony Pictures Television and Amazon.
Joining Judkins as executive producers are Rick Selvage and Larry Mondragon of Red Eagle Entertainment, Ted Field and Mike Weber of Radar Pictures and Darren Lemke. Harriet McDougal, Jordan’s widow, will serve as a consulting producer. Pike will also be a producer.
Jordan’s saga briefly appeared on television once before as a 22-minute pilot called Winter Dragon. Staring Billy Zane, it aired on FXX in 2015 during a terrible time slot and, like the Roger Corman’s production of Fantastic Four, was a play to hold onto film and television rights.
The Wheel of Time joins Amazon’s The Lord of the Rings series as part of Amazon’s push away from niche character dramas to larger, epic storytelling. And with 15 volumes to work with (the latter three written by Brandon Sanderson after Jordan’s death), Amazon has plenty of epic story to tell. Of course, one has to wonder how Amazon will fund both The Lord of the Rings and The Wheel of Time. Maybe this is the real reason The Tick and other smaller shows bit the dust.