The Wheel of Time Season 3 Finally Reveals First Look at Fan-Favorite City

The Wheel of Time Season 3 will take us to some strange places, including the fabled city of Tanchico. A new batch of preview images were released on Wednesday showing Mat (Dónal Finn), Nynaeve (Zoë Robins), and Min (Kae Alexander) strolling through the city — and dressed appropriately. It’s unclear if they are trying to go unnoticed, but ironically, the best way to blend in in Tanchico would be to look as flamboyant as they do here. We haven’t seen this location on the show yet, but in the books it is the capital of the nation of Tarabon and one of the oldest settlements in the known world. Read on for our first glimpes of Tanchico and what they might say about the upcoming season.

The Wheel of Time Season 3 premieres on Thursday, March 13th on Prime Video, and while we know it will be roughly adapting the fifth and sixth books in The Wheel of Time series, there are a lot of unanswered questions about where this story is going. That’s because the TV series has made many changes to this epic with wide-reaching ripple effects on the plot. Without spoiling anything, I’ll say that the characters do visit Tanchico in the fourth book, but the details of their expedition can’t be the same as it was in the book.

Fortunately, it looks like the depiction of the city itself is spot on. As you can see above, Tanchico is a bustling city known for its thriving markets and trade access. It is situated in Tanchico Bay — a very favorable harbor — and much of its infrastructure is flexible to acommodate whatever comes its way. Further from the shore, Tanchico has some impressive fortresses, growing in splendor until reacheing the Panarch’s Palace, which we haven’t seen on screen yet.

Mat has done his part to blend in in Tanchico, but judging by his expression behind the veil, he may not be too happy about it, as you can see below. The most troubled member of the Two Rivers party is definitely dressed to the nines, and we can only assume Min is looking smug behind him.

Nynaeve, unfortunately, can’t hide her obvious discomfort behind a veil, but if anyone tries to say anything about it, they’ll be sorry. She had some huge moments in Season 2, and while she has some big things coming up as well, she may need to hand off some screentime to other characters. Depending on how the story plays out, Nynaeve may need to act as an audience-insert character once again in Tanchico, learning some relevant exposition so that we can hear it as well.

Following the Season 2 finale, much of the story will now be about meeting the different peoples of this world and persuading them to believe in the Dragon Reborn, and other prophecies. Their political, military, and magical support may be needed in the wars to come, but that doesn’t mean their interests can be set aside easily. This series really set the tone for much of the fantasy that has followed by earnestly asking how the rulers of the world would look at a magical threat and a proposed savior.

The Wheel of Time Season 3 premieres on Thursday, March 13th on Prime Video. Previous seasons are streaming there now. The novels are available in print, digital and audiobook formats.