The Wheel of Time showrunner Rafe Judkins recently revealed that Season 2 has the same episode count as Season 1, but the episodes are longer.
Responding to a fan on Twitter, Judkins confirmed that the Prime Video fantasy series' second season will once again comprise eight installments, only this time, the overall runtime has been extended. The Wheel of Time Season 1's episodes ranged between 54 and 60 minutes, which suggests that Season 2's episodes will clock in at over an hour each.
The show's official Twitter account recently shared a Wheel of Time Season 2 behind-the-scenes video teasing what fans can expect from the upcoming batch of episodes. The video includes footage of Moiraine Damodred (Rosamund Pike) and al'Lan Mandragoran (Daniel Henney) walking along a beach, several shots of what appear to be Aiel warriors in the desert, and numerous intense battle scenes. Madeleine Madden's Egwene al'Vere features prominently, as well.
What is Planned for The Wheel of Time Season 2?
Around the same time that the behind-the-scenes video dropped, Judkins revealed a fan-favorite Wheel of Time character's inclusion in Season 2, as well. The showrunner tweeted that wolf Hopper will appear in the second season, after being notably absent from the Prime Video series' first eight-episode run. Hopper debuted in Wheel of Time creator Robert Jordan's original novel, The Eye of the World, and served as a mentor to Perrin Aybara (Marcus Rutherford) as he came to grips with his supernatural "wolfbrother" abilities.
Judkins also recently used the discussion surrounding The Wheel of Time Season 2 to take a jab at HBO's Game of Thrones. Discussing the challenges involved with adapting the multi-strand narrative of Jordan's second novel, The Great Hunt, Judkins quipped that he was trying "to avoid one-hour cross-continent dragon flights." This was seemingly a reference to later seasons of Game of Thrones which often fudged the amount of time needed for characters to traverse the sprawling realm of Westeros.
Judkins will have to work overtime to avoid making this same mistake, especially now that Prime Video has officially renewed The Wheel of Time for a third season. Jordan's novels are famous for their sweeping scale which increases dramatically with each new entry in the series. How Judkins plans to address the story's scope creep in upcoming seasons remains to be seen.
Season 1 of The Wheel of Time is currently streaming on Prime Video. Seasons 2 and 3 do not yet have official release dates.
Source: Twitter