Keep turning that wheel –
“The only way to stop all this pain is to stop the wheel itself.”
Jennifer Owlett –
, based on the novel by Robert Jordan. The new season won’t premiere until sometime next year, but the streaming platform has enough faith in the series to have renewed it for a third season.
(Spoilers for S1 below.)
As I wrote earlier, the series features Moiraine (Rosamund Pike) as Center, she is a member of a powerful all-female organization called Aes Sedai. Magic, known as One Power, is divided into male(saidin) and women( Sedar) taste. The latter is the province of Aes Sedai. A long time ago, a great demon called the man of darkness caused Saidin is so tainted that most men capable of channeling magic go mad. It is Aes Sedai’s job to hunt down these people and disempower them. There is also an ancient prophecy about a reborn dragon: the reincarnation of someone who saves or destroys humanity.
Ars Senior Technical Editor Lee Hutchinson and Senior Technical Reporter Andrew Cunningham is a fan of the book series and is committed to reviewing each S1 episode in detail and candidly assessing how well the series has done in adapting the source material. Their overall assessment after the S1 finale: Despite some huge divergences from the original, the series was mostly entertaining, although they wished the show would spend more time on the story and allow the protagonist to develop more fully. They don’t like “the pathetic fool” Matt (who will be played by Donal Finn in S2), although the book version is a fan favorite. Still, as Andrew says, “If my biggest complaint about your show is that there isn’t enough Among them, I don’t think it’s a bad place for your first season to come out.”
A lot has happened to S1, so I won’t say much here. But the big news (for those unfamiliar with the books) is that Rand was identified as a reborn dragon and went into hiding to avoid his fate and/or harm his friends — but not before he may have accidentally released the Dark Ones. We learn in the ending that there is an ominous fleet of ships heading their way. Moiraine is held captive by the Dark Ones and is either static or shielded to prevent her from channeling, leaving her in trouble. Palin helped unearth the Burning Valerian Horn, which plays a major role in the second book in the series.
NYCC’s trailer starts with a series of quick moments from S1, The new footage begins at about the 23-second mark, voiced by Moiraine’s desperate voiceover. “We didn’t defeat the Dark Ones,” she said, flashing images of our protagonist in danger. “We unleashed his strongest lieutenant. He may be waking up the Forsaken. You have no idea of the power they have.” In the books, the Forsaken are psychics who fight with each other in the battle for power The shadows allied and used their powers for evil. They are then imprisoned by the Dark Ones, and the prospect of their return doesn’t bode well for our troubled protagonist.
