Wheel of Time’s Third Season Has Magic but Feels Very Much Like a Midway Point

When last we left Wheel of Time‘s characters at the end of season two back in 2023, the friends from the Two Rivers—including Rand al’Thor (Josha Stradowski), the emergent Dragon Reborn—and their allies had just triumphed over season two’s biggest bad. But that fight was small potatoes in the fantasy epic’s grand scheme; every character in the Robert Jordan adaptation anticipates and/or dreads the great “Last Battle,” in which Rand will face the Dark One (the biggest, biggest bad) to determine the fate of the world.

That puts Wheel of Time season three in a bit of an awkward position. Prime Video has yet to announce another season or potentially seasonsconsidering there are more than a dozen Jordan books. (In an interview with io9 ahead of season three, showrunner Rafe Judkins expressed hope that he and his team would be able to complete the story; whether that means many more seasons of what appears to be an expensive show, or an eventual hasty send-off a la Prime Video’s The Expanseremains to be seen.) Season three draws mostly from the fourth and fifth books, The Shadow Rising and The Fires of Heaven. Though you don’t need to have read the novels in order to enjoy the show, non-readers might be disappointed to find that the Last Battle is, understandably, not coming anytime soon—certainly not in season three.

With that in mind, you just have to be patient and let Wheel of Time move at the pace Jordan intended. There’s plenty to occupy all the show’s many, many characters in the meantime: quests, betrayals, long journeys, bittersweet farewells, joyful reunions, break-ups and make-ups, political maneuverings, undercover operations, dangerous trials, and a whole lot of fights and battles— including the magic face-off that opens the season, and a later mighty brawl that fills an entire episode—to tide you over until the main event.

As the season begins, the Two Rivers crew is still happily reunited; it’s been some time since they defeated Ishamael, knocking out the most powerful among the Dark One’s clan of emissaries known as the Forsaken. Unfortunately, this is a short-lived respite: before he died, Ishamael set all the other Forsaken free for the first time in thousands of years; all of them are eager to cause mayhem, as well as finish off Rand and his friends. However, that doesn’t mean they play nice together, and one of the season’s arcs sees the various Forsaken—particularly the creepy-crawly Moghedien (Laia Costa)—scheming for power rather than teaming up in pursuit of their goal.

The one Forsaken who doesn’t want Rand to die is Lanfear (Natasha O’Keefe), who we met in season two; she has her own complicated motivations and meddles in different storylines as a result. And there are a lot of storylines propelling season three; much like The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Poweranother Prime Video series based on an epic fantasy tale, some of them are more compelling than others.

Most heart-wrenching is the turmoil within the Aes Sedai, where a formerly secret evil faction, the Black Ajah, has split off from the sisterhood to serve the Dark One—and Elaida (Shohreh Aghdashloo), a ruthless former rival of Aes Sedai leader Siuan Sanche (Sophie Okonedo), has suddenly reemerged with her eye on the top spot. Most thrilling is the journey Rand and Moiraine (Rosamund Pike), along with their supporters, undertake to gather the army Rand will need to fight the Last Battle. Most duty-bound is Perrin (Marcus Rutherford), who returns to the Two Rivers and realizes home isn’t what it once was. But most entertaining, by far, are the madcap travails of Nyneave (Zoë Robbins), Elayne (Ceara Coveney), Mat (Dónal Finn), and Min (Kae Alexander) as they chase after the Black Ajah and their sinister leader, Liandrin (Kate Fleetwood).

As mentioned above, it’s not a requirement to have read the Jordan books to dive into the Wheel of Time show—the scripts are careful to explain the meaning behind the show’s magical artifacts, legends, and prophecies, to the point of sometimes over-explaining. The different cities and lands the characters visit are made very clear and distinctive by the production design, which is overall fantastically detailed, and the costumes are especially wonderful too. You can tell the team behind Wheel of Time cares about not just being true to the source material, but also world-building in a way that’s both visually striking and that feels authentically textured, especially important in a series that’s full of so many distinctive cultures.

And for every moment when a viewer might realize that yes, this is yet another scenario in which someone is being tasked with a challenge so dangerous, they’re warned they may make it out alive (this happens at least three times in season three, maybe more), there’s a more refreshingly original character moment, drawn from a cast that seems to be truly invested in the story they’re telling. While season two standout Madeleine Madden, who plays Egwene, is unfortunately less prominent in season three, there are some new scene-stealers afoot, including Coveney (who gets a musical number!), O’Keefe (who brings a poignant complexity to her ostensibly unlikable character), and the great Aghdashloo, who’s just as glamorous as her character on The Expansebut a thousand times more slippery.

The Wheel of Time returns for season three March 13 on Prime Video, with the first three episodes arriving at once. New episodes then arrive weekly until April 17.

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