Is The Wheel of Time appropriate for children?

Though the series is published as adult fantasy fiction, it is age-appropriate for a slightly younger audience. The Wheel of Time series is suitable for kids in their mid-teens and up. That said, there is some violence, gore, and dark situations in the audiobooks, so parents should use their discretion in listening alongside their families.

Where is The Wheel of Time series set?

The series takes place on Earth in an unnamed land, which fans of the series often refer to as Randland, named for the main character (and possible Dragon reincarnation) Rand al’Thor, or simply as the World of the Wheel. Because time is a circle, cyclical in nature, The Wheel of Time series is set in both the distant past and the distant future. The time in this storyline is the Third Age.

How long is The Wheel of Time series?

There are 14 books in the series, plus a prequel. In print, the complete Wheel of Time series, including the prequel, adds up to a whopping 11,898 pages in paperback and 10,173 in hardcover. (The books average 826 pages each.) How long is The Wheel of Time audiobook experience? Well, all said and done, the audiobooks total 19 days, 5 hours, and 25 minutes of material. (Sounds like the perfect reason to take a month off, if you ask us.) Making the listening experience even more incredible are the narrators: Kate Reading and Michael Kramer. This award-winning, wife-and-husband narrator team performs the whole series—yes, all four million-plus words!

What’s the best order to listen to The Wheel of Time series?

If you want to have a good understanding of the continuing storyline, it is highly recommended that you listen to the Wheel of Time series in order, in one of two ways. You can choose to listen by publication date, which means listening to the prequel, New Spring, between Crossroads of Twilight and Knife of Dreams; or you may prefer to listen to the whole series in chronological order, which means diving into New Spring first. Either way works.

Here are 15 brief summaries of the audiobooks in the series. (Tread lightly if you have not listened before, for there are minor spoilers ahead.)

Who are the main characters in The Wheel of Time series?

Since there are more than 2,700 distinctly named characters in The Wheel of Time series, that's a pretty daunting question! However, we've narrowed the answer down to the six players widely considered to be the central characters of the series, with a spotlight on the diverse and talented young cast set to portray them in the upcoming Wheel of Time television series. (Minor spoilers follow!) 

Rand al’Thor 

• Discovered to be the Dragon Reborn spoken of in the prophecies, the defender of the Light in the fight against the Dark. He is destined to face the Dark One.

• In the Amazon Prime Video adaptation, Rand al’Thor will be portrayed by newcomer Josha Stradowski.

Perrin Aybara 

• He is a strong ta'veren, a wolfbrother, and is exceptional in dealing with the Tel'aran'rhiod, the parallel world where all the possibilities of the Wheel of Time connect.

• Another rising star, Marcus Rutherford, will play Perrin in the Wheel of Time television series. 

Egwene al’Vere 

• The Amyrlin Seat, the leader of the Aes Sedai, women who can channel the One Power and have been trained in the White Tower of Tar Valon.

• Australian actor Madeleine Madden will lend her talents to the character of Egwene al’Vere in the screen adaptation.  

Matrim Cauthon 

• Mat, as he is usually called, is a powerful ta'veren, the people around whom all surrounding life-threads of the Wheel of Time are specifically woven.

• Mat will be brought to life by Barney Harris in the first season of the show; it was recently announced that Dónal Finn will take over the role for season two onward. 

Nynaeve al’Meara

• An Aes Sedai of the Yellow Ajah, Queen of Malkier, and one of the most powerful living female channelers.

• No stranger to the fantastical, Power Rangers: Ninja Steel alum Zoë Robins will play the dynamic Nynaeve al’Meara in the Prime series. 

Elayne Trakand

• Queen of Andor and Cairhien and and a powerful channeler of the Aes Sedai of the Green Ajah. 

• You'll have to wait for season two of the show for Elayne's appearance. She will be played by Ceara Coveney.

Other Wheel of Time characters who will be appearing in the first season of the television series include Moiraine Damodred (Emmy winner Rosamund Pike—who’s also among our favorite celeb narrators), Min Farshaw (Kae Alexander of Game of Thrones and BBC’s Collateral), and Siuan Sanche (Tony winner Sophie Okonedo, known best to movie buffs for Hotel Rwanda).

Who wrote the Wheel of Time series?

Two authors are given credit for the Wheel of Time saga: creator Robert Jordan and his successor, Brandon Sanderson.

Robert Jordan

• Robert Jordan was the pen name of James Oliver Rigney Jr., a fantasy writer from South Carolina. Before the success of The Wheel of Time series, Jordan was best known for his work on the Conan the Barbarian stories in the 1980s. His first original novel, Warriors of the Altaii, went unpublished for more than four decades; it was released by Tor Books in 2019. 

• Jordan began work on The Eyes of the World, the first book in The Wheel of Time series, in 1984; it was published in January 1990. From then on, he continued working on the series, creating 11 installments, until his death in 2007, at age 58 of complications from a rare blood disease. Prior to his death, he was working on what he thought would be the final Wheel of Time book, A Memory of Light. Jordan gave his family extensive plot details so the Wheel of Time series could be completed after he died. 

Brandon Sanderson

• Brandon Sanderson is a New York Times best-selling fantasy author from Nebraska. After reading his novel Mistborn: The Final Empire, Robert Jordan's widow, Harriet McDougal, personally chose Sanderson to complete her late husband's masterwork. Sanderson was given Jordan's notes for the end of the series—but he decided there was too much story left to cram it all into one book. So, he wound up telling it over the course of three: The Gathering Storm, Towers of Midnight, and A Memory of Light.

• Before he died, Jordan had mentioned the possibility of more prequels and a trilogy after the completion of the main series. Sanderson, however, felt there was too little material left for him to try and expand on The Wheel of Time in a way that would honor the late author.

How did The Wheel of Time make it to the small screen?

In 2017, it was announced that Sony Pictures had picked up the screen rights to the series and would produce it in association with Red Eagle Entertainment and Radar Pictures. In October 2018, Amazon Studios signed on to produce it and greenlit the series. Rosamund Pike was the first actor cast for The Wheel of Time series in June of 2019, followed by several more cast members in August of 2019. Filming was started in Prague in September of that year, but production was halted in March 2020 by the COVID-19 pandemic, pushing the release date to late 2021.

When does The Wheel of Time television series release?

The Wheel of Time TV series release date is November 19, 2021. The first three episodes will be available for streaming on Amazon Prime Video that very day, with the rest debuting on a weekly basis until the season finale on December 24, 2021. Amazon has already renewed the series for a second season.