Prime Video's Fourth Wing Series Can Learn 3 Lessons From The Wheel Of Time

Published Aug 29, 2026, 7:25 PM EDT Dani Kessel Odom (they/them) is an autistic lead writer and TV critic who covers sci-fi shows like Doctor Who and Pluribus, fantasy shows like The Magicians and Percy Jackson, and horror of all kinds. They also cover Marvel and DC TV shows and movies, with a robust knowledge of comic books. Their TV reviews can be found on Rotten Tomatoes. Dani is also part of ScreenRant's books team, using their fiction writing and literature studies as the backbone for their book analyses. They have covered events, such as the Denver Fan Expo. Professionals in the field, such as Damien Leone and Lucy Hale, have shared their articles. Their review of Ponies was quoted in the show's TV trailer. In university, they majored in English Writing with a minor in psychology. They have always had a passion for analyzing TV and movies, even taking filmography and scriptwriting classes in university. They also studied and participated in onstage and onscreen acting extensively from the ages of 7 to 18. Aside from working at Screen Rant, Dani has worked as a freelance editor and writer over the past decade, often in a ghostwriting capacity. Fourth Wing is one of the most anticipated fantasy series on the way, but the creative team behind the show needs to learn from three big mistakes of The Wheel of Time if they want a shot in hell at surviving. Fantasy TV has boomed in popularity ever since Game of Thrones came out, and the past few years have brought about a boom in streaming shows. Every major streamer out there has at least one big fantasy book adaptation on the way. Prime Video has about half a dozen in development. By far, the most anticipated is Fourth Wing, which will adapt Rebecca Yarros’ The Empyrean series, which is continuing to expand with more books and a game. There’s nothing like dragon combat, magic, and romance to draw in a big audience. As of the time of writing, the show is in the development phase, but it is moving forward steadily. We’ve continued to get confirmation that they’re headed in the right direction. However, like all fantasy TV shows on Prime Video, Fourth Wing needs to tread carefully. Unfortunately, the streamer has a nasty habit of canceling fantasy TV shows. They do it to that genre more than any other. After The Wheel of Time, it has basically been deemed a curse. However, Fourth Wing can address the problems of its predecessor and learn from them, giving it a better chance of lasting. Why Fantasy Fans Don't Trust Prime Video With Fourth Wing There’s a healthy dose of mistrust towards Prime Video when it comes to fantasy, and it will take a while before audiences are willing to believe in them again. The Wheel of Time made mistakes, but it was getting better. People were finally investing their time and energy into it, then the streamer pulled the plug. From Westeros to Middle-Earth to the Continent · Eight Questions How Well Do You Know Fantasy TV? “The night is dark and full of terrors.” 🪨Game of ThronesWinter is coming 👑Rings of PowerOne ring to rule 🗡️The WitcherToss a coin ⚢Wheel of TimeThe Pattern weaves 👻The SandmanLord of Dreams UNROLL THE SCROLL → 01 HBO’s Game of Thrones — the pop-culture juggernaut that made fantasy TV prestige — premiered with the episode “Winter Is Coming.” Across eight seasons it picked up a record 59 Emmy wins. In which year did its first episode air? A2009 B2011 C2013 D2014 ✓ Correct! 2011 — April 17, to be exact. The unaired pilot was so notoriously poor (after a friends-and-family screening, novelist George R.R. Martin reportedly told showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss they had a real problem) that nearly all of it was reshot before broadcast. The retooled premiere immediately became HBO’s biggest hit since The Sopranos. The series ran 73 episodes across eight seasons through 2019. ✗ Wrong. The answer is 2011. 2009 is when the original pilot was filmed (and largely reshot). 2013 is when Season 3’s Red Wedding episode aired. 2014 is when Season 4’s “The Watchers on the Wall” reset what TV could do with effects. GoT debuted April 17, 2011. NEXT → 02 Game of Thrones, House of the Dragon and the upcoming A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms are all adapted from the sprawling A Song of Ice and Fire universe. Name the author whose unfinished novels (the next book has been pending since 2011) underpin every adaptation. ABrandon Sanderson BGeorge R.R. Martin CPatrick Rothfuss DJoe Abercrombie ✓ Correct! George R.R. Martin (born 1948). The first ASOIAF novel A Game of Thrones came out in 1996; the most recent in the main sequence (A Dance with Dragons) in 2011. The Winds of Winter is now over 13 years overdue. Martin has remained heavily involved in the HBO universe through House of the Dragon, the upcoming A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms (2026), and an in-development Aegon’s Conquest series. ✗ Wrong. The answer is George R.R. Martin. Brandon Sanderson is the Cosmere/Stormlight Archive author (and the writer Robert Jordan’s estate hired to finish Wheel of Time). Patrick Rothfuss is the Kingkiller Chronicle author with his own infamous-publication-delay reputation. Joe Abercrombie writes the First Law series. ASOIAF is Martin’s. NEXT → 03 Netflix’s The Witcher (2019–) adapted Andrzej Sapkowski’s novels with a lead actor who’s a famously hardcore fan of the source material — he wore the white wig, did much of his own swordplay, and personally pushed back against Lauren Schmidt Hissrich’s scripts before departing after Season 3. Name him. AHenry Cavill BLiam Hemsworth CAidan Turner DSam Heughan ✓ Correct! Henry Cavill. He played Geralt of Rivia for three seasons before exiting in 2022 over creative differences with the show’s writers’ room (the books-vs-show approach being the open wound). Liam Hemsworth was announced as his replacement and takes over from Season 4 (2025). Cavill’s exit was widely treated as a major moment of fan-vs-streamer tension and contributed to the late-2022/2023 Netflix-fantasy-slate scrutiny. ✗ Wrong. The answer is Henry Cavill. Liam Hemsworth replaces him as Geralt from Season 4 (2025) onward. Aidan Turner played Kili in The Hobbit films. Sam Heughan is Outlander’s Jamie Fraser. The Witcher’s original Geralt is Henry Cavill, through Seasons 1–3. NEXT → 04 House of the Dragon — the Game of Thrones prequel chronicling the Targaryen civil war known as the Dance of the Dragons — is set how long before the events of the original series? A~50 years B~100 years C~200 years D~500 years ✓ Correct! Approximately 200 years before A Game of Thrones (172 years before Robert’s Rebellion, more precisely). The series adapts material from George R.R. Martin’s Fire & Blood (2018), a fictionalised in-universe history of the Targaryen dynasty. House of the Dragon premiered in August 2022, drew 9.99 million viewers across HBO’s simultaneous-platform debut and Season 2 followed in 2024 with the Battle of Rook’s Rest as its climactic setpiece. ✗ Wrong. The answer is ~200 years. The Targaryen kings featured (Viserys I, Aegon II, Rhaenyra) reign during the Dance of the Dragons (129–131 AC), which is roughly 172 years before Robert’s Rebellion in the original series. Martin’s Fire & Blood is the in-universe history that the show mines for source material. NEXT → 05 The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power — reportedly the most expensive TV series ever made, with a five-season commitment from its streamer at well over $1 billion total budget — is set in Middle-earth’s Second Age, thousands of years before The Hobbit. Which streaming service is it on? ANetflix BHBO Max CAmazon Prime Video DApple TV+ ✓ Correct! Amazon Prime Video. Amazon paid $250 million just for the rights from the Tolkien Estate in 2017, then committed to a five-season run with reported per-season budgets of $400–$465 million on Season 1 alone. Showrunners J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay were given access to the appendices of The Lord of the Rings (specifically the Second Age material) but not The Silmarillion proper, leading to many adaptation choices that have divided Tolkien purists. ✗ Wrong. The answer is Amazon Prime Video. Netflix has The Witcher and Sandman. HBO Max has Game of Thrones and HotD. Apple TV+ has Foundation. Rings of Power is Amazon’s flagship original drama and reportedly its single biggest production-budget bet. NEXT → 06 Amazon’s The Wheel of Time (2021–) is adapted from a 14-novel epic fantasy series running from 1990 to 2013. The series’ original author died in 2007 after completing only 11 of the planned books; Brandon Sanderson was hired by the estate to finish the final three. Who was the original author? ARobert Jordan BTerry Brooks CRaymond E. Feist DTerry Pratchett ✓ Correct! Robert Jordan — pen name of James Oliver Rigney Jr. He started The Wheel of Time in 1990 with The Eye of the World and worked on the series for 17 years before dying of cardiac amyloidosis in 2007 with three books left to go. His widow Harriet McDougal hired Brandon Sanderson, then a young Mistborn-era novelist, on the strength of a eulogy he wrote for Jordan; Sanderson finished the series across The Gathering Storm, Towers of Midnight and A Memory of Light. ✗ Wrong. The answer is Robert Jordan (James Oliver Rigney Jr.). Terry Brooks wrote the Shannara saga. Raymond E. Feist wrote the Riftwar Saga. Terry Pratchett wrote the Discworld series. The Wheel of Time is Jordan’s, with Brandon Sanderson finishing the last three books from his notes. NEXT → 07 Netflix’s The Sandman (2022–) adapts a beloved 75-issue DC/Vertigo comic that ran 1989–96 about Morpheus, the Lord of Dreams, and his troubled siblings — the Endless. Whose comics is the show based on? AAlan Moore BGrant Morrison CNeil Gaiman DMike Mignola ✓ Correct! Neil Gaiman. The 75-issue Sandman ran at DC’s mature-readers Vertigo imprint from 1989 to 1996 (with later spinoffs Sandman: Overture, etc.) and is widely cited alongside Watchmen and Maus as proof of comics’ literary potential. Gaiman’s direct involvement was central to the Netflix show’s development. Note that ongoing public controversies around Gaiman from 2024 onward have shaped the show’s future and Season 2’s framing. ✗ Wrong. The answer is Neil Gaiman. Alan Moore wrote Watchmen, V for Vendetta and From Hell. Grant Morrison wrote Doom Patrol, The Invisibles and All-Star Superman. Mike Mignola is the creator of Hellboy. Sandman is Gaiman’s. NEXT → 08 Netflix’s Shadow and Bone (2021–23) wove together the Shadow and Bone trilogy (Alina Starkov, the Sun Summoner) with the Six of Crows duology (Kaz Brekker’s Crows heist crew). Both source novel series are set in the same imagined Tsarist-Russia-coded fantasy world. Whose books are they? ASarah J. Maas BLeigh Bardugo CCassandra Clare DMarie Lu ✓ Correct! Leigh Bardugo. Her Grishaverse spans the Shadow and Bone trilogy (2012–14), the Six of Crows duology (2015–16), the King of Scars duology (2019–21) and various short fiction. Netflix’s adaptation merged plotlines from the two main series simultaneously and was cancelled after two seasons in 2023, with a Six of Crows-focused spinoff that had been in development at one point also abandoned. ✗ Wrong. The answer is Leigh Bardugo. Sarah J. Maas writes the Throne of Glass and ACOTAR series (the latter has a Hulu show in development). Cassandra Clare writes the Shadowhunters Chronicles (which also got a TV adaptation, on Freeform 2016–19). Marie Lu writes Legend and Warcross. The Grishaverse is Leigh Bardugo’s. REVEAL MY RATING → The Maester’s Verdict · Final Tally Your Realm Standing 🪨 / 8 Lord of the Realm — or smallfolk in the keep? ⤴ ANOTHER RAVEN I understand that the decision comes from a business/financial place. Fantasies are extremely expensive to produce, so they want to make sure they’re getting a return on their investment. However, their practical perspective has made them unnecessarily risk-averse. They won’t give a show the time it needs to improve because there’s a chance it won’t bring in enough money to be sustainable. This means viewers will be hesitant, and Fourth Wing has to tread carefully. They need to pay attention to what didn’t work in the canceled shows, especially The Wheel of Time, since it’s based on a wildly popular book series as well. If Fourth Wing manages to learn from the previous series' mistakes, it has a stronger chance of avoiding the dreaded Prime Video cancellation curse. Prime Video's Fourth Wing Needs To Prioritize Worldbuilding & Key Book Events Custom image by Yeider Chacon. Two of the biggest issues that The Wheel of Time faced are the lack of onscreen worldbuilding and the change of key book events. The Robert Jordan series, completed by Brandon Sanderson after his death, had incredible worldbuilding, with depth and nuance that strengthened the story. This didn’t translate to the screen. They put so little time into building the world in the Prime Video show that new viewers couldn’t fully understand what was going on until about season 3. On the other hand, they changed key book events in major ways, isolating the built-in fanbase. It’s the perfect storm of issues to isolate every part of the audience. They finally started to sort out the problems in season 3, but by then viewership had dropped. This led to the dreaded cancellation right as the TV show was starting to get good. If Fourth Wing wants any chance of succeeding, it needs to learn from those mistakes. The Empyrean series has fantastic worldbuilding that drives the main story. The dragon riders are so crucial because Navarre relies on wards to keep enemies and threats out. The dragons have the magic. The humans can weave the wards. Neither can do the job needed without the other. If they don’t bring that worldbuilding onto the screen, the viciousness of Basgaith War College won’t make nearly as much sense. The training is brutal, intentionally designed to weed out weak and unlucky candidates. As for the storyline, I’m not fundamentally opposed to changes when adapting a story when adapting for the screen. Books are books, and TV shows are TV shows. They have different needs, and one doesn’t always translate well to the other without some alterations. However, the Fourth Wing TV show at least needs to ensure it covers all the major events. If they change too much, they are going to upset and potentially isolate the massive, massive fanbase that Rebecca Yarros has built. Fourth Wing Needs To Take Advantage Of Rebecca Yarros’ Expertise While 100% predict what would have happened if different choices were made, I feel pretty confident saying that many of the big issues with The Wheel of Time TV show could have been avoided if the team had used Brandon Sanderson’s expertise. Robert Jordan may have been gone, but Sanderson had to become an expert on the series to write the final three. He broke down his process of dissecting Jordan’s notes, rereading and indexing the storylines, and finishing The Wheel of Time on his website Dragonsteel. Sanderson was credited as a consulting producer on Prime Video’s The Wheel of Time, so he could easily have helped create a great adaptation. Unfortunately, he made it clear in a comment on his YouTube channel after the show ended that the team behind the TV show was more interested in having his name on The Wheel of Time for legitimacy than actually listening to his opinions. He wasn’t involved in any meaningful way. While it was completely within their rights to ignore the author, it was a detriment to the Prime Video show. The Empyrean Books #1 Fourth Wing 2023 #2 Iron Flame 2023 #3 Onyx Storm 2025 #3.5 Threshing Day 2026 (upcoming) #4 Untitled sequel TBD #5 Untitled sequel TBD Creative Fourth Wing: The Official Coloring Book 2025 Fourth Wing lists Rebecca Yarros as an executive producer on the project, which is a step up from consulting producer. She at least has a guaranteed seat at the table. Yarros has expressed confidence in the creative team behind the Fourth Wing TV show, which is great. However, the showrunner, director, and writing team should make sure they consult the books and Rebecca Yarros as resources when necessary. The author created the world. She knows the characters better than anybody else. She can help them make Fourth Wing the best adaptation possible. Network Prime Video Showrunner Meredith Averill Directors Lisa Joy Creator(s) Meredith Averill, Rebecca Yarros