Wheel Of Time: What A Time Jump Could Mean For Season 2

Contains Spoilers for "The Wheel of Time" Season 2

"The Wheel of Time" is one of Amazon Studios' major fantasy adaptations in recent years, with Season 1 airing in 2021. Fans who weren't turned off by the (admittedly necessary but equally significant) changes in the on-screen adaptation of Robert Jordan's epic fantasy novels are eagerly anticipating the release of Season 2 on September 1 of this year.

With so much material to pack into a limited run time, there is bound to be more changes ahead, one of which was hinted at by Marcus Rutherford, who plays Perrin Aybara on the show. Back in February, Rutherford said in an interview with Leftlion (via CBR), "In series one, the naivety of our characters is at the forefront of the story. But in season two, there's a bit of a time jump. They've started to accept and have faith in the prophecy and their destiny, so there's more of a maturity to them. It's darker too, more real and a bit more brutal. The innocence of those kids we find in the village in episode one is long gone, and they're becoming a bit more grown-up. I'm really excited for people to see it."

The idea of some kind of time jump makes sense on multiple levels. The most obvious is that there is technically a small time jump between the first and second books in Jordan's original series. However, this is very small and more or less negligible. The time jump that Rutherford is describing sounds more significant. Whether it's a month, a year, or some other time increment remains to be seen. Nevertheless, there are several reasons a leap forward in the narrative makes a lot of sense for the second installment of Amazon Studios' series.

Whatever amount of time the show skips over, Marcus Rutherford's comments imply that it's enough for some major character development to happen. Some of this could come from the takeaways that the group of protagonists learned throughout Season 1. Others could be new, off-screen experiences. Regardless, there are more reasons than maturity arcs for a time jump to make a lot of sense here.

Another is the sheer quantity of source material. There are 14 gigantic books in the original story, and Amazon Studios has only signed up for eight seasons — assuming it makes it that far. That means we're going to need to see some distilling of the story at some point along the way.

"The Wheel of Time" is famous for juggling dozens of characters and countless locations and spin-off storylines taking place all of the time. At the end of Season 1 alone, we left Rand (Josha Stradowski) in the Blight, Perrin emotionally distraught, and Loial (Hammed Animashaun) dangerously wounded, just to name three examples. Chances are the show will use the hard inter-season breaks to regroup and reset things. Jumping ahead a bit will make that process even easier.

A jump could also distance the production from some of the sour elements of Season 1. COVID-19 disrupted production on the final two episodes, and it showed. They were received critically and ended with a bad taste in many viewers' mouths. Barney Harris also bowed out of his role as Mat Cauthon and needed to be recast. Moving the timeline forward to start Season 2 could be the perfect way to realign with the original vision of the show and distance the Season 2 story from some of these lagging elements.

If "The Wheel of Time" creator Rafe Judkins decides to jump ahead in the story, it could be the perfect move to get the show back on track. It would allow the narrative to skim over some of the boring or slow material. (The books are loaded with traveling scenes and lengthy conversations, for instance.)

This would also make sense because Season 1 already did the grunt work of building the world and setting up the characters. Speaking to TVLine after Season 1 aired, Amazon Studios' Head of Global TV Vernon Sanders praised Judkins for the direction Season 2 was taking, adding, "So we absolutely went into season two with a real conversation about, 'What can we do even better now that we have introduced this giant world and established these characters?'"

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Judkins himself explained, "It's a gift for people who knows the books to watch the show, because they see contained in each of these characters the path that's in front of them. In season 2, we're on that path. By the end of the season, eight episodes later, it's just massive. I'm excited for people to see it."

With bigger, more mature, and faster-paced storylines ahead, a time jump would fit right in. It would serve as a minor palate cleanser for the shaky ending to Season 1 and give the show a spurt of momentum as it dives headlong into the lengthy, dramatic, and all-around epic story that's about to unfold in earnest across the world that "Wheel of Time" fans affectionately call the Randlands.