If you’re a fan of Prime Video’s The Wheel of Time series, you’re well aware that romance is a huge part of the plot, shaping and influencing the characters’ actions as they navigate a world that may be creeping toward its end. And Wheel‘s love stories come in many different forms: straight, queer, loving throuple, awkward triangle involving some very messed-up dream manipulation, etc. In a new interview, showrunner Rafe Judkins spoke about the show’s approach to relationships, especially the ones that reflect LGBTQ representation.
Judkins, who is gay, told the Hollywood Reporter that the series aims to build upon what was written in Robert Jordan’s books, which released mostly in the 1990s and—adhering to what was more conventional at the time—took a less overt approach to describing queerness. For instance, Moiraine (played by Rosamund Pike on the show) and Siuan (Sophie Okonedo) are described as “pillow friends” in the books; in the show, it’s clear they’re madly in love.
“It felt essential that their relationship be textual,” Judkins explained. “It is one of the most important relationships in the books for how it drives plot. It’s almost like the inciting incident of the show is contained within the relationship between these two. To me, the show didn’t make sense without that relationship being explicit because we are also putting more of the emphasis certainly on Moiraine than there is in the books … I’ve never seen a fantasy show where our lead was just casually a queer character that wasn’t only directed at the queer community. To have that was an important part of why I wanted to tell this story and why I fell in love with the books in the first place.”
The way the relationship between Moriaine and Siuan is portrayed was also carefully considered. “We have these two women … who have to hide their relationship, [but] they’re not hiding their relationship because they’re gay,” Judkins explained. “That’s something that we’ve tried to infuse into the world of the show and is something that comes from the books. Robert Jordan once famously just said casually, ‘I would say 30 to to 50 percent of people in the world of The Wheel of Time are probably not straight.’ That’s a huge thing that he was doing. We’re trying to infuse that in the show and not make it feel like the exception to a rule, but make them feel like a natural and central part of our world.”
Head to THR to read more of the fascinating interview, including Judkins’ insights into how queerness blends into the show’s Aiel culture, which is getting a big spotlight this season.
Season three of The Wheel of Time is underway on Prime Video; you can stream the first five now, and new episodes arrive on Thursdays.
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