Amazon Prime has announced that Madeleine Madden (Tidelands), Zoë Robins (Power Rangers Ninja Steel), Barney Harris (Clique), Marcus Rutherford (Obey), and Josha Stradowski (Just Friends) have joined Oscar and Golden Globe nominee Rosamund Pike (Gone Girl) in Amazon’s The Wheel of Time series adaptation, based on Robert Jordan’s long-running fantasy epic.
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Madden will play Egwene Al’Vere, Robins will play Nynaeve, Harris will play Mat Cauthon, Rutherford will play Perrin Aybara, and Stradowski will play Rand Al’Thor.
The Wheel of Time, which has sold over 90M books worldwide, is set in a sprawling, epic world where magic exists, but only women can use it. The story follows Moiraine (Pike), a member of the shadowy and influential all-female organization called the ‘Aes Sedai’ as she embarks on a dangerous, world-spanning journey with five young men and women. Moiraine believes one of them might be the reincarnation of an incredibly powerful individual, whom prophecies say will either save humanity or destroy it. The series draws on numerous elements of European and Asian culture and philosophy, most notably the cyclical nature of time found in Buddhism and Hinduism.
Emmy nominee Uta Briesewitz (Westworld, This Is Us, Jessica Jones) will direct the first two episodes. Rafe Judkins (Agents of SHIELD, Hemlock Grove) is developing the series for TV and will serve as showrunner, with Sony Pictures TV co-producing. Judkins is also executive producing alongside 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 produce.
There have been attempts to make films and series based on The Wheel of Time since 2000. There has been a video game, a role-playing game and a soundtrack album based on the sprawling, 14-book series.
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Wheel of Time began with The Eye of the World back in 1990 and ended with A Memory of Light in 2013. The final book was finished by Brandon Sanderson, as Jordan passed away in 2007. The eighth through fourteenth books in The Wheel of Time series each reached number one on the New York Times Best Seller list. The story follows a group of characters lead by Rand al’Thor on the search for the Dragon Reborn. There are 14 novels in the series, which was nominated for a Hugo Award after its completion. Combined, the books have sold more than 90 million copies, second only to fantasy novel champion The Lord of the Rings — which is also being developed into a series for Amazon.
Buy the first book in the series here.
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(Photo Credit: Steven Chee)
