Amazon’s Wheel of Time’s Core Cast Will Be Older Than Book Characters

Several core characters in Amazon’s The Wheel of Time series will be older than they were in the book. Earlier this week, The Wheel of Time showrunner Rafe Judkins answered several questions on Twitter to celebrate the release of several new cast photos of the series. One of the questions was about why Mat Cauthon (played by actor Barney Harris) has a beard in the show. Rafe Judkins responded that they decided to age up several characters as they didn’t want viewers to think that the show was a “young adult” show. “We aged up the Emond’s Field Five from the books because sometimes TV shows with a bunch of 17 year olds as leads feel more like [Young Adult] and Wheel of Time isn’t [Young Adult],” Judkins wrote.

The Wheel of Time is set on a continent still recovering from “The Breaking of the World,” a cataclysmic event caused when the Dragon, a reincarnated male warrior capable of channeling magic, went mad due to his longtime enemy tainting the source of his power. The story begins when Moiraine, a female magic user known as the Aes Sedai, discovers three young men who could be the Dragon Reborn and leads them on a quest to flee the forces of darkness. The upcoming show will star Rosamund Pike, Zoë Robins, Barney Harris, Daniel Henney, Madeleine Madden, Marcus Rutherford, and Josha Stradowski.

“Wheel of Time is the first fantasy series that really dove into the political and cultural worlds of all these different characters,” showrunner Rafe Judkins recently said about why the show is different from other fantasy series. “It was also one of the first to dive into multiple POV characters, so you’re following an ensemble, with each of them having their own agendas and approaches to everything. That’s always felt to me like the missing piece of the fantasy-literature landscape that hasn’t been brought to TV or film yet.”

The Wheel of Time will air on Amazon Prime this November.