‘Wheel of Time’ Started Filming Season 3 Long Before SAG-AFTRA Strike

While Season 2 of “Wheel of Time” concluded Friday, filming on the Prime Video fantasy series’ third season had already started filming prior to the SAG-AFTRA strike.

“I am speaking to you a day after filming it. We are in the midst of it. We are all energized by everything that’s going on in Season 3,” star Rosamund Pike told TheWrap in a June 28 interview, days before the onset of actors’ guild strike. “We feel like we’ve established the rules of our world, we can explore them and push the boundaries, we can do more experimental camera work and we can try and get a visual language for these incredible concepts that [author] Robert Jordan came up with.”

She said that casting for Season 3 has been shaping up “really, really, really well.” 

“Actors are really flocking to come and be guest stars on our show. They know that we have a show with diversity at its core, where people are embraced to celebrate powerful figures in all their dimensions and we’ve got fantastic actresses of all ages coming to do amazing work on our show, and actors too,” Pike continued. “It is very exciting that people now know that this is a home that they can have for a few months, that they can come and do exciting work and play really unforgettable characters, and you’ll get a glimpse of some of them in Season 2 and way more in Season 3.”

Series co-star Daniel Henney, who said he was on a filming break at the time, teased that Season 3 would be “massive,” adding that there are “so many new cast members.”

“It’s nice because it gives us time to go home and see our families. This is kind of what I hope for when taking a big fantasy show is there’d be so many characters so we could all travel and things like that,” he explained. “So yeah, they’re shooting and we’re being very ambitious this season, with some big traveling plans toward the end of this year for my character specifically, and Moiraine (Pike). So it’s going to be in the same vein. We want it to flow, be darker, same pacing. It’s going to be great.”

A spokesperson for Prime Video did not immediately return TheWrap’s request for comment on the status of filming when the strike began, but it’d be safe to assume the work stoppage will lead to a delay in the series’ return with new episodes.

Pike, however, confirmed that Season 1 director Ciaran Donnelly is returning for Season 3.

“He created the visual language of Min’s visions, which I think was excellent. He also used this bulk camera for the incredible Aiel battle, where we see Rand’s birth in the cold open of Episode 7, Season 1. So he’s back to create more amazing visual concepts and take us on visual adventures for Season 3,” she teased. “All of our directors are being encouraged to let their imagination run riot and really make something cinematic… the visuals of Season 3 are going to be incredible.”

In addition to Pike and Henney, “Wheel of Time” stars Josha Stradowski (“Gran Turismo”), Zoë Robins (“Power Rangers Ninja Steel”), Madeleine Madden (“Dora and the Lost City of Gold”), Marcus Rutherford (“Obey”), Dónal Finn (“Rogue Heroes”) and Ceara Coveney (“Young Wallander”). 

The series, which is based on the best-selling fantasy series by Robert Jordan, was adapted for television by executive producer and showrunner Rafe Judkins (“Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.,” ”Hemlock Grove”) and is a co-production with Amazon Studios and Sony Pictures Television.

Other executive producers include Larry Mondragon and Rick Selvage of iwot productions (“Winter Dragon”), Ted Field of Radar Pictures (“Jumanji: The Next Level,” “Winter Dragon”), Mike Weber (“Jumanji: The Next Level,” “Beirut”), Darren Lemke (“Shazam!,” “Goosebumps,” “Winter Dragon”), Marigo Kehoe (“Outlander,” “The Crown”), Justine Juel Gillmer (“The Survivor,” “Halo”), Sanaa Hamri (“Empire,” “Lovestruck”), and Amanda Kate Shuman (“The Blacklist”).

Pike serves as co-executive producer and Harriet McDougal, Brandon Sanderson, and Lauren Selig are consulting producers.

The first two seasons of Wheel of Time are now streaming on Prime Video

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