Barney Harris' Exit Caused Massive Wheel Of Time Season 2 Rewrites
The hit fantasy show suffered a major setback.
Amazon Prime's Wheel of Time, initially marketed as the streaming giant's rival to HBO's renowned Game of Thrones, is also based on a celebrated fantasy book series - Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time cycle. However, Jordan's writing delves much deeper into the facets of epic fantasy than George R. R. Martin's, leading fans seeking intrigue and murder to abandon the show even before the first season had finished.
Nonetheless, the show itself gained considerable popularity among classic fantasy buffs, particularly due to the faithful adaptation of Jordan's original writing in the first season. The problem is the recently concluded Season 2 stunned the fandom by audaciously deviating from the book's storyline. Here's what happened.
Unexpected Ending
When the Wheel of Time resumed filming, something unexpected happened: actor Barney Harris, who portrayed Mat in the show's first season, left the project for undisclosed reasons. The writers had no choice but to hastily rewrite the entire season, even though Donal Finn eventually replaced Harris in the role.
Instead of reestablishing Field Five as a close-knit group of friends with Mat as the focal point, the writers chose to separate the characters and send them each on individual journeys. That marked a significant departure from Jordan's original second book in the cycle, which greatly dismayed fans.
Right Call
However, the majority agreed that such a decision was the right call by the writers, given the beloved actor's sudden departure. By dispersing the crew members, they were able to emphasize other aspects of the character and seamlessly incorporate the recasting into the story.
Showrunner Rafe Judkins undoubtedly struggled to make such a tough decision, but his hands were tied in the end.
'It was a complete rewrite of the entire season. We always wanted to tell the story in season 2 of, "Mat is a hero who doesn't think he's a hero," and I would have loved to tell the story of the three boys on the hunt for the Horn of Valere, but we didn't get to tell that story. We couldn't do that story, so we wanted to lean in fully to the story of the five of the Emond’s Field Five being separate for the first time,' Judkins shared.
Source: ScreenRant.