The Wheel of Time

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Season 1
Season #: 3, 2, 1
User Score
6.5

Generally favorable reviews- based on 459 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 290 out of 459
  2. Mixed: 21 out of 459
  3. Negative: 148 out of 459
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  1. LordBelrick
    Aug 22, 2022
    0
    Very disappointed in the casting, writing, acting and overall execution. This project was run by a super woke crowd that does not understand what true fans want. True fans want the story to be faithfully followed. Stick to the source material with casting and story line and you will have a success story here instead of.......whatever the hell this is.

    This product does not follow the    Very disappointed in the casting, writing, acting and overall execution. This project was run by a super woke crowd that does not understand what true fans want. True fans want the story to be faithfully followed. Stick to the source material with casting and story line and you will have a success story here instead of.......whatever the hell this is.

    This product does not follow the books with any credibility. Don't waste you time with this garbage, Read the books instead, its time well spent.    … Expand
  2. ncsuandrew
    Jun 11, 2022
    2
    Completely butchered the worldbuilding and story of the books. Assassinated or butchered most of the characters. Schizophrenic pacing. Good Trolloc/Myrddraal designs ruined by lighting, atmosphere, and cinematography. One of the worst season finales in history.

    Incredibly annoying omnipresent "music" vocalizations. Terrible sound mixing. Seems to demonstrate active hatred for many book    Completely butchered the worldbuilding and story of the books. Assassinated or butchered most of the characters. Schizophrenic pacing. Good Trolloc/Myrddraal designs ruined by lighting, atmosphere, and cinematography. One of the worst season finales in history.

    Incredibly annoying omnipresent "music" vocalizations. Terrible sound mixing.

    Seems to demonstrate active hatred for many book characters and themes beyond basic incompetence.

    Actors are generally competent, and some of the sets are notable. But the costumes are mediocre and the direction, writing, and editing are mind-numbingingly bad.    … Expand
  3. dkamanae
    May 5, 2022
    1
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Could have been it's own ok action fantasy show, but is a poor adaptation of the book series. The actors are almost universally great, but the writing and story structure can't be fixed by that. Yet another generic "mystery" box story where the so-called mystery is actually just hiding information from the audience. Showing different edits/fx of prior scenes in later episodes as flashbacks or skipping parts of pov characters' stories until a flashback do not a mystery make.
    I was still holding out hope that they would turn things around, until the final episode, which is the worst of the season.    … Expand
  4. zarifebolsu49
    Apr 8, 2022
    0
    this series really sucks. far from the books. egotistical screenwriters have destroyed yet another legendary series. Costumes, effects, acting are also bad.
  5. sirdiddymus
    Jan 25, 2022
    0
    I started off trying to forgive change after change from the books but the show just asks too much in the end. I don't need a one for one adaption but when you change all the core themes of the show & characters then i do have a problem. This all culminates in that absolute travesty to Robert Jordan's legacy; episode 8. Completely changed everything I enjoyed about the characters & story.I started off trying to forgive change after change from the books but the show just asks too much in the end. I don't need a one for one adaption but when you change all the core themes of the show & characters then i do have a problem. This all culminates in that absolute travesty to Robert Jordan's legacy; episode 8. Completely changed everything I enjoyed about the characters & story. While episode 8 just threw any hope or want i had left to continue to watch. First witcher, now wheel of time. Really hurts to see these beautiful stories dissected apart & turned into husks of their former selves by people who have no love or respect of the material. LOTR & Game of Thrones season 1-6 were as popular as popular gets & they dine it by respecting the source material & making a recognisable adaption. Both Wheel of Time & The Witcher spit in the face of the material & it shows in the quality of the production. Won't be watching season 2.… Expand
  6. joeyjoe123456
    Jan 24, 2022
    0
    I understand that you need to condense source material and leave things out for the sake of taking a book to the big screen, but this adaptation completely ignores the source material. Not only does it leave tons of lore and worldbuilding out (as well as losing all the comedy relief) it totally changes the relationships between characters, the way the power works, and most major plotI understand that you need to condense source material and leave things out for the sake of taking a book to the big screen, but this adaptation completely ignores the source material. Not only does it leave tons of lore and worldbuilding out (as well as losing all the comedy relief) it totally changes the relationships between characters, the way the power works, and most major plot points. On top of that, this completely 'NEW' story is boring rushed and makes no sense. Loved the books hate this show.… Expand
  7. Gcampo
    Jan 11, 2022
    1
    I'm not sure if the screenwriter didn't read the books or was in a hurry to finish the story. He didn't develop any of the characters or the story, he took a collection of events from the book and put it in anyway. It's a sin what they did to history.
  8. Roshimbo
    Jan 8, 2022
    0
    The story is nothing like the books. Poorly written and paced. All male charecters have been relegated to the bench instead of being used properly. Rafe Judkins should be fired and his entire team.
  9. j_man
    Jan 6, 2022
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Extremely disappoint dumpster fire of the best selling book series. Calling it based on or an adaptation is just a lie.… Expand
  10. GhostMaker1
    Jan 5, 2022
    2
    I was excited about this adaptation of my favorite fantasy series of all time. However this show is a train wreck. Does not address thr main world building themes at all in order to not offend. There are key elements that have to be maintained or the heart and soul of the series is lost and this series is dead. It is only Wheel of Time in name and character names. The charactersI was excited about this adaptation of my favorite fantasy series of all time. However this show is a train wreck. Does not address thr main world building themes at all in order to not offend. There are key elements that have to be maintained or the heart and soul of the series is lost and this series is dead. It is only Wheel of Time in name and character names. The characters themselves barely match what is found in the books. It is as if the writes attempted to make their version of WoT better than the original creator Robert Jordan. Game of Thrones and The Witcher are so much better done it is pathetic in comparison. If you have never read the Wheel of Time and truly want an epic fantasy series please buy the books or borrow them from your local library, but this TV 'adaptation' is a poor attempt at bringing this world to life and I wish anyone else would have made it instead of Amazon amd its awesome writers amd Show Runner., I have no doubt they would have made a more true to the original adaptation.… Expand
  11. cmurray1357
    Jan 4, 2022
    0
    The book series was amazing. Amazon's show is not a faithful adaptation whatsoever. Absolute garbage. It's like they hired Rafe Judkins to neuter all male characters, "empower" all the female characters and try to copy Game of Thrones as much as possible. There are so many liberties taken, book scenes removed, characters removed, and changes that don't make sense. You can no longer callThe book series was amazing. Amazon's show is not a faithful adaptation whatsoever. Absolute garbage. It's like they hired Rafe Judkins to neuter all male characters, "empower" all the female characters and try to copy Game of Thrones as much as possible. There are so many liberties taken, book scenes removed, characters removed, and changes that don't make sense. You can no longer call this The Wheel of Time.
    This show has no hope of coming back on track and being anything close to Robert Jordan's original series. Too far gone.    … Expand
  12. DasBearJuden
    Jan 2, 2022
    1
    1. Bad editing.
    2. Awful casting (Why is Matt 30?! They're like 17 in the books for good reason!)
    3. Completely don't grasp fantasy. Why is Rand's hair cut and styled? He's a peasant farmer. 4. Woke garbage. Why is there a hard feminist agenda present immediately? Especially since the female characters in the story are already kick-ass awesome! Don't shove the feminist crap down    1. Bad editing.
    2. Awful casting (Why is Matt 30?! They're like 17 in the books for good reason!)
    3. Completely don't grasp fantasy. Why is Rand's hair cut and styled? He's a peasant farmer.
    4. Woke garbage. Why is there a hard feminist agenda present immediately? Especially since the female characters in the story are already kick-ass awesome! Don't shove the feminist crap down our throat.
    5. Not at ALL faithful to the source material. Perrins wife?!! Are you @$@#! crazy?!    … Expand
  13. internetporn
    Jan 1, 2022
    0
    Super disappointed - it's clear that Brandon Sanderson and Robert Jordan's widow were not involved in this. The hubris of the showrunners to think that they will make a better story than Robert Jordan. So many changes which at first were acceptable to maybe streamline the story a bit, became truly unacceptable changes whose repercussions are inevitable. What a waste of talent and money and time
  14. Starkkid
    Dec 31, 2021
    2
    Very poorly written. Full of inconsistent dialogues, no fantasy rules, no world building, poor lightning, no stakes, loose plot, focus, and no immersion.
  15. Rosseyn
    Dec 24, 2021
    1
    After a slow start, the show settled into a great sequence, and promptly threw away all goodwill earned in a terrible finale.
  16. masatrim
    Dec 23, 2021
    2
    Not a good adaption of the novels.
    Lazy writing
    Plot holes
    Some terrible costumes
    CGI for the sake of CGI
    Weak characters
    2/10 a weak fantasy world.
    At least they got some good drone landscape footage.
  17. LunaticInk
    Dec 22, 2021
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Since Metacritic is now deleting negative reviews at Amazon’s behest I will repost. This show is absolute garbage from the first episode through episode 7. I have continued to watch this train wreck purelu out of morbid curiosity. It is nothing more than the the Shannara Chronicles 2.0.

    Without getting too deep into spoilers: they destroyed Perrin’s and Matt’s backgrounds, made Rand’s relationship with Egwene some cheap sexual tryst, weakened Alan, and turned Moiraine into a weak shadow of what was portrayed in the novels. This thing stinks to high heaven and watches like YA fiction.

    If you enjoy shows like Twilight you might like WOT. Otherwise stay far away.    … Expand
  18. Zmey
    Dec 21, 2021
    1
    Terrible adaptation.
    This is an example of how to take a gem a turn it into poop.
  19. Gtfomyeggs420
    Dec 14, 2021
    1
    I've read all the books multiple times and the only positive thing about this show so far is if you watch it you will get no spoilers for the books.
  20. metacritiqueur
    Dec 3, 2021
    0
    Forced diversity like Foundation tv series, trashed material source like Foundation tv series. They turned The Wheel of time into a CW show written by a petulant college kid. Buy the books, boycott the GAFAM propaganda.
  21. diana2salem
    Nov 28, 2021
    0
    I will be honest I couldn't finish even 5 minutes it felt cheap and badly written I don't know the why it just felt staring at wet paint drying was far more interesting than this show
  22. deanquartz
    Nov 26, 2021
    1
    even if you ignore that the books exist this "adaptation" is just boring. characters are boring, actors are boring, pacing is boring, even the battles are boring, with aes sedai doing their best wacky waving inflatable tubeman impressions throwing cheap cw level cgi smoke around. and if you read the books the battles were ridiculously well done so having boring battle scenes is no smalleven if you ignore that the books exist this "adaptation" is just boring. characters are boring, actors are boring, pacing is boring, even the battles are boring, with aes sedai doing their best wacky waving inflatable tubeman impressions throwing cheap cw level cgi smoke around. and if you read the books the battles were ridiculously well done so having boring battle scenes is no small feat lol. if they were going to ignore the source material in such a poorly done way i have no clue why they paid for the wheel of time rights in the first place. i came in with low expectations and am still disappointed.… Expand
  23. Hihihahahoho
    Nov 25, 2021
    0
    Die Hollywood! Write your own stories and never take the books! You're destroying everything!
  24. Dodger
    Nov 24, 2021
    3
    Weirdly stilted show that feels extremely low budget even though I'm sure it wasn't. I haven't read the books so I can't compare it to that but from what I've heard it's a big whiff on that side as well.
    They're marketing this as the next Game of Thrones, I wouldn't rate it as high as BBC's Merlin if with sticking with the genre.
  25. Golconde
    Nov 24, 2021
    3
    Just the first 5 minutes of the 1st episode will show you what to expect from this show...It looks like they filmed the 1st scene at the local park down the street from the studio with Go Pro cameras.
  26. RidiculousDeath
    Nov 24, 2021
    0
    Another book was destroyed in the name of "political correctness". They've completely rewritten lore and all the characters to be more "current", and of course for the worse. There are literally "character models" from the author of the books, but they don't care, 80% are race swapped. But even we forget that, actors themselves are just bad. Quality feels like some budget CW show. JustAnother book was destroyed in the name of "political correctness". They've completely rewritten lore and all the characters to be more "current", and of course for the worse. There are literally "character models" from the author of the books, but they don't care, 80% are race swapped. But even we forget that, actors themselves are just bad. Quality feels like some budget CW show. Just another victim of today's Hollywood.… Expand
  27. Bigotegrande
    Nov 23, 2021
    3
    Not a good adaptation of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time and a less than good show overall. Pacing is not good, cinematography is inconsistent and the cgi is already dated. It is incredible that this cost Amazon $10 million per episode.
  28. TotoVoss
    Nov 23, 2021
    3
    I'll keep it simple: It looks like the scripts were written by someone who never read the books, but consider themselves superior to the highly successful, beloved and acclaimed author like Robert Jordan, and produced by someone who has read them and hated everything in them. Honestly the first 3 episodes felt like hate mail toward Robert Jordan and the fans.

    The show's creators excuse    I'll keep it simple: It looks like the scripts were written by someone who never read the books, but consider themselves superior to the highly successful, beloved and acclaimed author like Robert Jordan, and produced by someone who has read them and hated everything in them. Honestly the first 3 episodes felt like hate mail toward Robert Jordan and the fans.

    The show's creators excuse that the plot must be compressed to fit the adaptation and for it some storylines and characters needed to be dropped for the pacing and the overall story arc, is laughable a flat out lie, since they've introduced completely new characters and stories that has nothing to do with The Wheel Of Time which take almost 2/3 of the screen time.

    In an adaptation of such a great work that is The Wheel Of Time, with it's amazing descriptions, characters and story, to get the basic core world mechanisms, theology, details and characterizations so painfully wrong is simply inexcusable. And to think that this is just the beginning of the journey, this will be a really rotten one for the fans of the books or for fans in general who like a good story.

    If they really wanted to tell their story that much, and not the one in the books, they only needed to drop the name The Wheel Of Time and call it Amazon's & Rafe's Generic Fan Fiction or something, and unfortunately it still won't be passable TV show.

    The editing is abysmal, diversifying the cast could've work, but it only bogs them down because they've picked the wrong actors, whose acting is so stiff and really bad, the writers are just trying to force the newest and wokest thing of the moment (which will be unacceptable next year when the next woke thing comes along), pacing is all over the place which makes this show completely disjointed and dismal failure.

    The only question about this remains: is this show gonna last 2 or 3 seasons?

    Hopefully Amazon will learn from this debacle and will not make the same mistakes with it's upcoming adaptation of LoTR.    … Expand
  29. propigator
    Nov 22, 2021
    2
    The show looks very cheep, everything is way too clean and the world doesn't feel lived in or believable at all. It is far from the books.
  30. Hawkface
    Nov 22, 2021
    3
    It doesn't feel like it takes anything but names from the books. Even separated from the source material, it's just plain boring. I kept tuning out in the second episode because it was hard to feel invested in anything they were doing. Everything is dark and grim, and the characters feel like they barely care about each other.

    I wish they had figured out a way to add any of the charm from    It doesn't feel like it takes anything but names from the books. Even separated from the source material, it's just plain boring. I kept tuning out in the second episode because it was hard to feel invested in anything they were doing. Everything is dark and grim, and the characters feel like they barely care about each other.

    I wish they had figured out a way to add any of the charm from the books, but no dice.    … Expand
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Awards & Rankings

3
#3 Most Discussed TV Season of 2021

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
55

Mixed or average reviews - based on 24 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 8 out of 24
  2. Mixed: 14 out of 24
  3. Negative: 2 out of 24
  1. i
    Reviewed by: Emily Baker
    Dec 3, 2021
    40
    For such a potentially rich series, The Wheel of Time is curiously flat. Little time is spent on character development or exploring the politics, social hierarchy and cultural touchstones of its world. Instead, there are many beautiful, but unnecessary, sweeping shots of scenery and overdramatic, overextended fight scenes.
    Read full review
  2. Slate
    Reviewed by: Rebecca Long
    Dec 2, 2021
    85
    Wheel of Time succeeds in retaining the earnestness and hope that characterize the novels, and which Game of Thrones lacked. But it also offers viewers something new. ... Wheel of Time is more soft touches and sweeping landscapes.
    Read full review
  3. TV Guide Magazine
    Reviewed by: Matt Roush
    Nov 22, 2021
    50
    While the lavish first season is eventful, it's burdened with clunky exposition, a deficit of whimsy and wonder, and thinly developed characters. [22 Nov - 5 Dec 2021, p.9]
See all critic reviews »