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http://www.tor.com/2016/04/28/tv-rights-to-the-wheel-of-time-optioned-by-new-studio-with-jordan-estates-approval/

Spoiler:
Harriet McDougal, wife of the late Robert Jordan, dropped some exciting news late Thursday: the TV rights to Jordan’s Wheel of Time fantasy epic have been acquired by a major studio.

In the wake of the success of Game of Thrones, and considering the staggering amount of fantasy and sci-fi book properties that have been optioned for TV and film, the absence of The Wheel of Time has been eyebrow-raising. (Or in the parlance of the series itself, perhaps the better term is “sniff producing”?) Fans of the series were given a glimpse into the legal tangle preventing WOT’s emergence onto the small screen on February 9, 2015, when a sudden pilot episode dubbed “Winter Dragon” aired in the early A.M. hours on the FXX Network. McDougal released a statement clarifying that the pilot was made without her knowledge, prompting Red Eagle Entertainment, the production company behind the pilot, to issue a lawsuit. (Which they later withdrew.) A more detailed account of the behind-the-scenes machinations can be found at io9, but regardless of the details, overall it seemed as if fans would have to wait a very long time to see Jordan’s work on screen in a large-scale production.

Now, the wait is seemingly over.


Received from Team Jordan moments ago. #WoTpic.twitter.com/cETgZnH9L6

— Dragonmount.com (@dragonmount) April 28, 2016

From the Wheel of Time Google Plus group:

Announcement
The following is a press statement that has been approved by the studio involved in contract negotiations:

Update: Wanted to share with you exciting news about The Wheel of Time. Legal issues have been resolved. The Wheel of Time will become a cutting edge TV series! I couldn’t be more pleased. Look for the official announcement coming soon from a major studio —Harriet
McDougal’s update is all the information we have at the moment. As she mentions, the announcement will be coming from the acquiring studio, who are certainly eager to cross all the t’s, dot all the i’s, and get to heralding the big news. Further, it should be noted that this announcement does not mean that a TV series is ready to be put into production, merely that a new studio has acquired the rights to do so.
Still, it’s heartening to hear that Jordan’s work has emerged safely from the path of daggers, ready to make the jump to television!


Not sure if anybody saw the Pilot that was put on FX(I didn't), but it looks like the series is getting a second chance here. Not sure if it will be an FX thing or not, I am doubting it considering how they went about doing that pilot without her consent. His widow seems to be very excited about it.
   
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Fort Worth, TX

I would love me some WoT TV as much as anyone, but I'm pragmatic enough to realize that it's probably too ambitious of a project to really succeed. Unless some major chopping is done to the story (like, say, focusing on Rand's story and sidelining almost everyone else), you're looking at potentially 100+ hours of content. I just can't really such a show actually reaching the end profitably.

"Through the darkness of future past, the magician longs to see.
One chants out between two worlds: Fire, walk with me."
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"You listen to me. While I will admit to a certain cynicism, the fact is that I am a naysayer and hatchetman in the fight against violence. I pride myself in taking a punch and I'll gladly take another because I choose to live my life in the company of Gandhi and King. My concerns are global. I reject absolutely revenge, aggression, and retaliation. The foundation of such a method... is love. I love you Sheriff Truman." - Twin Peaks 
   
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 Tannhauser42 wrote:
I would love me some WoT TV as much as anyone, but I'm pragmatic enough to realize that it's probably too ambitious of a project to really succeed. Unless some major chopping is done to the story (like, say, focusing on Rand's story and sidelining almost everyone else), you're looking at potentially 100+ hours of content. I just can't really such a show actually reaching the end profitably.



Will be interesting to see how they handle it...

I would think that, if done right, you could have Rand's story and then, if that's successful, spinoff Perrin or Mat's or Egwene's stories.


But then again, if we are going by page counts, there's a LOT of stuff that you could cut out from the books and still have a decent TV show. I think if GoT has shown us anything, it's that you can cut significant chunks from the written story and still have an excellent tv show.
   
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 Ensis Ferrae wrote:
 Tannhauser42 wrote:
I would love me some WoT TV as much as anyone, but I'm pragmatic enough to realize that it's probably too ambitious of a project to really succeed. Unless some major chopping is done to the story (like, say, focusing on Rand's story and sidelining almost everyone else), you're looking at potentially 100+ hours of content. I just can't really such a show actually reaching the end profitably.



Will be interesting to see how they handle it...

I would think that, if done right, you could have Rand's story and then, if that's successful, spinoff Perrin or Mat's or Egwene's stories.


But then again, if we are going by page counts, there's a LOT of stuff that you could cut out from the books and still have a decent TV show. I think if GoT has shown us anything, it's that you can cut significant chunks from the written story and still have an excellent tv show.


Well to be fair, 90% of Robert Jordan's writing is describing the world around the characters. They could follow 4 main storylines of Rand, Matt, Perrin, and Egwene fairly well. Especially since Matt and Perrin are around Rand quite a bit in the series.
   
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 Dreadwinter wrote:
Well to be fair, 90% of Robert Jordan's writing is describing the world around the characters. They could follow 4 main storylines of Rand, Matt, Perrin, and Egwene fairly well. Especially since Matt and Perrin are around Rand quite a bit in the series.


Lol, I did joke with one of the guys at my local shop about how Jordan "wastes" the first 100+ pages of every single book redescribing in minute detail the main characters. And I really hope there's a lot of Mat in the show, he's a great sort of "comic relief" character (or at least, I find his sections to often times be the most funny).

I did just think of one problem the show runners are gonna have: They need to find a ginger who looks good with a beard
   
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 Ensis Ferrae wrote:
 Dreadwinter wrote:
Well to be fair, 90% of Robert Jordan's writing is describing the world around the characters. They could follow 4 main storylines of Rand, Matt, Perrin, and Egwene fairly well. Especially since Matt and Perrin are around Rand quite a bit in the series.


Lol, I did joke with one of the guys at my local shop about how Jordan "wastes" the first 100+ pages of every single book redescribing in minute detail the main characters. And I really hope there's a lot of Mat in the show, he's a great sort of "comic relief" character (or at least, I find his sections to often times be the most funny).

I did just think of one problem the show runners are gonna have: They need to find a ginger who looks good with a beard


What about the wildling dude from Game of Thrones. I mean, probably not a good fit for Perrin, but proof they do exist!
   
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Is it by the same studio that did the pilot? Cause I've heard that was cringe-inducing

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Sining wrote:
Is it by the same studio that did the pilot? Cause I've heard that was cringe-inducing


Unsure yet, the studio doing it is supposed to make their own announcement. But honestly, I highly doubt it.
   
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So this will be as good (........) as the Shannara Chronicles then?

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Ugh. Wheel of time dragged on and on! Most boring book series ever lol.

Also, it's worth noting that Game of Thrones first pilot didn't do so well until they recast folks to the current bunch.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2016/04/29 07:24:45


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 angelofvengeance wrote:

Also, it's worth noting that Game of Thrones first pilot didn't do so well until they recast folks to the current bunch.



Pfft... Game of Thrones only does so well because Sean Bean died


@Dreadwinter.... Yeah, there is the guy who plays Tormund Giantsbane... but he's obviously a bit old for the part of Perrin. Then again, technically most of the actors/actresses are older than their literary characters, so who knows?
   
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Keep in mind that a WoT series could go for 10+ seasons, you do want your starting cast to begin young enough so that they don't look too old by the end.

"Through the darkness of future past, the magician longs to see.
One chants out between two worlds: Fire, walk with me."
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Runnin up on ya.

Not sure I want to sit through a TV show that casts men as bumbling buffoons and all of the strong women as manipulative man-haters. I could skip the more egregious sections of the books but it might be a bit harder in a TV show.

Six mistakes mankind keeps making century after century: Believing that personal gain is made by crushing others; Worrying about things that cannot be changed or corrected; Insisting that a thing is impossible because we cannot accomplish it; Refusing to set aside trivial preferences; Neglecting development and refinement of the mind; Attempting to compel others to believe and live as we do 
   
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 Ensis Ferrae wrote:
 angelofvengeance wrote:

Also, it's worth noting that Game of Thrones first pilot didn't do so well until they recast folks to the current bunch.



Pfft... Game of Thrones only does so well because Sean Bean died


Only death pays for life.

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 agnosto wrote:
Not sure I want to sit through a TV show that casts men as bumbling buffoons and all of the strong women as manipulative man-haters. I could skip the more egregious sections of the books but it might be a bit harder in a TV show.


Did we read the same books? A lot of the strong women in the series seemed to love men, but they had strong views of what the men should be doing. I think the only group of women who could be considered man haters were the Red Ajah. Others did not hate them, but were definitely wary of men who could use the one power because they did kind of bring on the apocalypse at one point.

Also, bumbling buffoons? I may need some explanation or examples of that.
   
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Runnin up on ya.

 Dreadwinter wrote:
 agnosto wrote:
Not sure I want to sit through a TV show that casts men as bumbling buffoons and all of the strong women as manipulative man-haters. I could skip the more egregious sections of the books but it might be a bit harder in a TV show.


Did we read the same books? A lot of the strong women in the series seemed to love men, but they had strong views of what the men should be doing. I think the only group of women who could be considered man haters were the Red Ajah. Others did not hate them, but were definitely wary of men who could use the one power because they did kind of bring on the apocalypse at one point.

Also, bumbling buffoons? I may need some explanation or examples of that.


You could create entire books by just cutting and pasting the parts where the female characters discuss how they are so much better than the men and if the men would just do what they keep telling them. Look at Rand, how many women did he have hovering around him, trying to tell him what to do? Here he is, basically the messiah and even once they realize who he is, they still insist on somehow knowing what's best for the universe.

There are entire chapters in the books where the men are stepping lightly around or outright avoiding the women so that they won't be nagged or badgered or ordered around, etc.

I found the stronger Red Ajah characters to be refreshingly less annoying in their approach since they didn't pretend to actually like the men while all the other female characters said that they liked men while treating them like witless children.

Traditional role reversals are all well and good but there needs to be a purpose in the story-telling other than pointing out how worthless the men are.

Six mistakes mankind keeps making century after century: Believing that personal gain is made by crushing others; Worrying about things that cannot be changed or corrected; Insisting that a thing is impossible because we cannot accomplish it; Refusing to set aside trivial preferences; Neglecting development and refinement of the mind; Attempting to compel others to believe and live as we do 
   
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Home Base: Prosper, TX (Dallas)

I can't disagree with Agnasto. The repetition got old for me about book 5. I'm currently on a break from trying to read it. Might just pick up at when Sanderson took over and wipe my hands of the rest.

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Runnin up on ya.

 Hulksmash wrote:
I can't disagree with Agnasto. The repetition got old for me about book 5. I'm currently on a break from trying to read it. Might just pick up at when Sanderson took over and wipe my hands of the rest.


It's not so much that I dislike strong female characters, it's that they were so one-dimensional. If you want to read books with strong female characters, Marion Zimmer Bradley does a much better job than Jordan and Sanderson's hamfisted approach.

Seriously, I wanted Nynaeve to be a real person so I could slap her every time she tugged that stupid braid and huffed something about stupid men. Cadsuane was the most real female character and that's because she was just a stereotypical grumpy old lady who treated everyone like they were stupid (as you'd expect from a "living legend").

If I remember correctly, Jordan himself said that he was trying to take the concept of male privilege and flip it to female privilege. The problem is that most men don't treat women as all of the women in the WoT series universally treat the men.


Six mistakes mankind keeps making century after century: Believing that personal gain is made by crushing others; Worrying about things that cannot be changed or corrected; Insisting that a thing is impossible because we cannot accomplish it; Refusing to set aside trivial preferences; Neglecting development and refinement of the mind; Attempting to compel others to believe and live as we do 
   
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 agnosto wrote:
 Dreadwinter wrote:
 agnosto wrote:
Not sure I want to sit through a TV show that casts men as bumbling buffoons and all of the strong women as manipulative man-haters. I could skip the more egregious sections of the books but it might be a bit harder in a TV show.


Did we read the same books? A lot of the strong women in the series seemed to love men, but they had strong views of what the men should be doing. I think the only group of women who could be considered man haters were the Red Ajah. Others did not hate them, but were definitely wary of men who could use the one power because they did kind of bring on the apocalypse at one point.

Also, bumbling buffoons? I may need some explanation or examples of that.


You could create entire books by just cutting and pasting the parts where the female characters discuss how they are so much better than the men and if the men would just do what they keep telling them. Look at Rand, how many women did he have hovering around him, trying to tell him what to do? Here he is, basically the messiah and even once they realize who he is, they still insist on somehow knowing what's best for the universe.

There are entire chapters in the books where the men are stepping lightly around or outright avoiding the women so that they won't be nagged or badgered or ordered around, etc.

I found the stronger Red Ajah characters to be refreshingly less annoying in their approach since they didn't pretend to actually like the men while all the other female characters said that they liked men while treating them like witless children.

Traditional role reversals are all well and good but there needs to be a purpose in the story-telling other than pointing out how worthless the men are.


There is a purpose in the storytelling. It is the whole basis of the lore. Men destroyed the world. Specifically men who can channel. These men who can channel also go insane after so long and cause widespread destruction with their powers. That is a pretty good reason for anybody hovering around people like Rand constantly.

It also set the tone for society. Since Men destroyed the world, Men should no longer be trusted and women should step up to take on the burden. This changed and evolved over time until you got to the point where we are now. It is not that far of a leap to assume this is how things would go given the events of the story.

Also, I do not really remember a time when it was pointed out how worthless men are. Except specifically in the case of the Red Ajah. In fact, most women believed that men were absolutely essential. Many of them, Aes Sedai specifically, even agreed that men should begin learn to channel again for the final battle.
   
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Home Base: Prosper, TX (Dallas)

 agnosto wrote:
 Hulksmash wrote:
I can't disagree with Agnasto. The repetition got old for me about book 5. I'm currently on a break from trying to read it. Might just pick up at when Sanderson took over and wipe my hands of the rest.


It's not so much that I dislike strong female characters, it's that they were so one-dimensional. If you want to read books with strong female characters, Marion Zimmer Bradley does a much better job than Jordan and Sanderson's hamfisted approach.

Seriously, I wanted Nynaeve to be a real person so I could slap her every time she tugged that stupid braid and huffed something about stupid men. Cadsuane was the most real female character and that's because she was just a stereotypical grumpy old lady who treated everyone like they were stupid (as you'd expect from a "living legend").

If I remember correctly, Jordan himself said that he was trying to take the concept of male privilege and flip it to female privilege. The problem is that most men don't treat women as all of the women in the WoT series universally treat the men.



Yeah, I've read a plethora of good books with strong female leads done well. David Weber, John Ringo, Jack Campbell, Jim Butcher, Eric Flint, etc. Granted most of those aren't leading characters but to be fair neither are the females in Jordan's books. Also I'd lay the issue at Jordan's feet for Sanderson. I haven't read them yet but my gut is he finished it faithfully to how the characters had acted for the dozen books before he got wrote for the series. As his other female characters have always been solid in his other novels.

@Dreadwinter

To an extent that works. The problem is that we've had several thousand years for that perception to get muted. I'll give you being worried about men who can channel. But the idea that all women have to constantly take care of all men or they'll drown in a spoon of water got old fast. Especially as it was an attitude reflected apparently by everyone high and low, in touch or out of touch. It probably wouldn't have been so bad if it wasn't Jordan because he was a "hit you over the head with stuff" kinda author. I've read novels that are essentially the same but the women don't huff "everytime" something happens they dont' agree with like they seem to in this series. I wonder how many words we could drop from the compendium if we dropped Jordan's descriptions of women being unhappy with what men said or were doing from the books.

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Meh, WoT had a number of problems (though far from the worst) and was generally mediocre with some high points. So, seems about right for TV, so long as they have an attractive cast and suitable nudity and gore.

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Runnin up on ya.

 Dreadwinter wrote:
 agnosto wrote:
 Dreadwinter wrote:
 agnosto wrote:
Not sure I want to sit through a TV show that casts men as bumbling buffoons and all of the strong women as manipulative man-haters. I could skip the more egregious sections of the books but it might be a bit harder in a TV show.


Did we read the same books? A lot of the strong women in the series seemed to love men, but they had strong views of what the men should be doing. I think the only group of women who could be considered man haters were the Red Ajah. Others did not hate them, but were definitely wary of men who could use the one power because they did kind of bring on the apocalypse at one point.

Also, bumbling buffoons? I may need some explanation or examples of that.


You could create entire books by just cutting and pasting the parts where the female characters discuss how they are so much better than the men and if the men would just do what they keep telling them. Look at Rand, how many women did he have hovering around him, trying to tell him what to do? Here he is, basically the messiah and even once they realize who he is, they still insist on somehow knowing what's best for the universe.

There are entire chapters in the books where the men are stepping lightly around or outright avoiding the women so that they won't be nagged or badgered or ordered around, etc.

I found the stronger Red Ajah characters to be refreshingly less annoying in their approach since they didn't pretend to actually like the men while all the other female characters said that they liked men while treating them like witless children.

Traditional role reversals are all well and good but there needs to be a purpose in the story-telling other than pointing out how worthless the men are.


There is a purpose in the storytelling. It is the whole basis of the lore. Men destroyed the world. Specifically men who can channel. These men who can channel also go insane after so long and cause widespread destruction with their powers. That is a pretty good reason for anybody hovering around people like Rand constantly.

It also set the tone for society. Since Men destroyed the world, Men should no longer be trusted and women should step up to take on the burden. This changed and evolved over time until you got to the point where we are now. It is not that far of a leap to assume this is how things would go given the events of the story.

Also, I do not really remember a time when it was pointed out how worthless men are. Except specifically in the case of the Red Ajah. In fact, most women believed that men were absolutely essential. Many of them, Aes Sedai specifically, even agreed that men should begin learn to channel again for the final battle.


Perhaps we did read different books. I picked up on the general attitude from the beginning in Emond's Field, women's circle business the Town Council. The women were portrayed as the real power and the men were doddering fools (actually stated outright several times by the women) who just sat around and drank ale. Then throughout the characters' travels, the women would search out whatever local women were in charge instead of dealing with whatever cardboard cut-out male had the actual title of mayor or whatever.

More on topic, there was apparently a pilot done last year that failed miserably to attract attention and then the rights were sold to someone else:




Edit. Billy Zane?

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2016/04/29 17:52:32


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 Dreadwinter wrote:

Also, I do not really remember a time when it was pointed out how worthless men are.



Personally, in the first few books Nynaeve is one of the worst for this.... In the first three books (I forget which one, or ones) where she mentions "Women's Circle Business" and "we just let the village council think they are in charge"

I'm on book 6 atm, and she's still seemingly constantly reminding us how pissed off at Lan she is for being a "fool man"

Personally, I enjoy the Aiel, as their society reminds me of much of the Native Americans and specifically the Apaches living arrangements.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
 Hulksmash wrote:

To an extent that works. The problem is that we've had several thousand years for that perception to get muted. I'll give you being worried about men who can channel. But the idea that all women have to constantly take care of all men or they'll drown in a spoon of water got old fast.



Maybe it's just me, but I don't really notice the huffing and puffing, constantly caring/directing men angle, except from the Emmond's Fielder women. Which is an aspect that you can see in Western films and many other media: small town women apparently have nothing better to do than to make men's lives miserable.

Most of the other characters certainly have their annoying "feminine" traits (if you can even call them that), but for the majority of them, you can ground that in a reasonable explanation. Moraine has made an entire career out of finding and "guiding" the Dragon Reborn. She "knows things" that others don't and get's super annoying and uppity with dangling that knowledge around people. Elayne flip flops from being a completely useless royal character, to a wise "queen in waiting" who knows courtly practices.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
 agnosto wrote:

Perhaps we did read different books. I picked up on the general attitude from the beginning in Emond's Field, women's circle business the Town Council. The women were portrayed as the real power and the men were doddering fools (actually stated outright several times by the women) who just sat around and drank ale.


I do also seem to remember a scene where Rand recalls something Tam (or maybe is was a different set of male characters) in which the elder tells the younger to the effect of "the way to survive is to agree with them where it isn't important, let them think they are in charge so that when the time comes for men to do actual work, the women will see sense in what we say." or something like that... It presents an interesting (IMO) dichotomy.

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2016/04/29 22:22:57


 
   
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The bummer with the Wheel of Time is I only really liked Loial, and Perrin/Faile's story arcs. I think Perrin was probably the most heroic of the main characters, but maybe that's because I love 'everyman' heroes, and Faile's womanly superiority was not grating because a good chunk of it was how her nagging of Perrin was mostly tongue and cheek because she intensely loved him.

Bummed I could never make it through the whole series, though. I liked the theme so much more than Game of Thrones, but the books became ao much of a slog towards the end. i never read the last Sanderson books, which is unfortunate because I absolutely love his own stuff-especially his new WOT-esque saga called the Stormlight Archives, which is awesome.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2016/05/01 18:56:19




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