Apple TV's 'George R. R. Martin Meets Wheel Of Time' Fantasy Series Can Be Better Than Both
Cathal Gunning has been writing about movies, television, culture, and politics online and in print since 2017. He worked as a Senior Editor in Adbusters Media Foundation from 2018-2019 and wrote for WhatCulture in early 2020. He has been a Senior Features Writer for ScreenRant since 2020.
While a show that blends Game of Thrones with The Wheel of Time might sound too ambitious for any streaming service or creative, Apple TV and Brandon Sanderson are some of the only collaborators who may be able to pull off this intoxicating combo. Ever since Game of Thrones season 1 debuted in 2011, every streaming service and cable network has been chasing the high of the show’s historic success.
HBO’s adaptation of author George RR. Martin’s A Song of Ice & Fire saga was a monumental hit that proved R-rated, unapologetically gory and explicit fantasy shows could be big business on TV. It is unlikely that executives would have taken a chance on Netflix’s League of Legends show Arcane, Prime Video’s Critical Role shows The Mighty Nein and The Legend of Vox Machina, or even AMC’s R-rated Interview with the Vampire without the success of Game of Thrones.
Meanwhile, the Game of Thrones spinoff House of the Dragon was given one of the biggest budgets in TV history thanks to the success of its predecessor. Since then, HBO’s upcoming Harry Potter reboot series has attempted to outdo the Martin adaptation, while Netflix’s The Witcher franchise, HBO's His Dark Materials, Prime Video's The Wheel of Time and their Lord of the Rings prequel The Rings of Power all threw their proverbial hats in the ring, too. Now, Apple TV is finally entering its alternative with the upcoming Brandon Sanderson series Stormlight Archive.
Apple TV's Adaptation Of The Stormlight Archive Can Rule Fantasy TV
A prolific fantasy author with a massive fan base, Sanderson has a massive back catalog of novels, short stories, and novellas awaiting screen adaption. His most famous novel series, the Mistborn books, are currently being adapted as feature films, but Apple TV’s Stormlight Archive series will be based on the first novel in the book series of the same name, The Way of Kings.
With a ten-episode first season on the way, Apple TV’s Stormlight Archive aims to bring Sanderson’s 1000+ page behemoth to the screen with panache and style. This is entirely within the realm of possibility, considering the fact that the streaming service has already turned author Isaac Asimov’s influential but dry Foundation novel series into a pulse-pounding political thriller that feels like a sci-fi spin on Game of Thrones.
The original Foundation novels are infamously dense and dull, but viewers would never know this from Apple TV’s propulsive, addictive, but faithful screen adaptation. Since Sanderson’s books are widely praised for their readable style and charming voice, bringing The Way of Kings to life on screen should prove comparatively easy. However, the show has a lot to learn from both Prime Video's The Wheel of Time and HBO’s Game of Thrones.
What The Stormlight Archive Can Learn From The Wheel Of Time & ASOIAF's TV Mistakes
The biggest lesson that Apple TV’s Stormlight Archive can learn from Game of Thrones is to pay attention to pacing. The HBO show famously dragged out its storytelling in the grim, slow seasons 5 and 6, only to then rush major pivotal plots like Daenerys’s breakdown in the final season. Game of Thrones had the budget and screen time to make these twists work, but the show needed stronger and more consistent pacing.
Although some Game of Thrones fans also criticized the series for getting too gratuitously violent and bleak at times, this shouldn’t be a big issue for Stormlight Archive. Sanderson’s source novels certainly have their dark moments, but the book series isn’t anywhere near as grim as Martin’s saga, so the show has no excuse to feel anywhere near as hopeless as Game of Thrones.
In the case of The Wheel of Time, this otherwise strong adaptation suffered from a weak antagonist that never felt like a tangible threat to the heroes, something Sanderson’s Apple TV adaptation must avoid at all costs. To effectively blend The Wheel of Time and Game of Thrones, Apple TV’s Stormlight Archive needs a villain with teeth.
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