More and more often I found myself wishing I had a Zonelets blog to go with my site lately. Sometimes you just feel like writing a silly little post without committing too much, you know? But when I was contemplating finally creating a blog, I wasn’t really sure what to write in my first post. I thought I might perhaps write a bit about how I was in a reading slump, how I just finished an artbook by a really cool artist, how happy I was that it’s finally peony season or how my current hyperfixation was consuming my every thought. I thought my first post would be fun.
Instead, I find myself writing this.
For the past few months (since February, to be exact) I’ve been very much obsessed with the Prime show The Wheel of Time – that’s the hyperfixation I was referring to earlier. As is often the case with hyperfixations, I didn’t see it coming at all, especially since I’ve never been much of a fantasy lover. It’s incredible how the most random things can tickle your brain just so whereas even the most perfect piece of media made specifically for you can miss the mark completely.
Well, folks, The Wheel of Time is now part of the ongoing trend of great shows getting cancelled in their prime (no pun intended) for weird reasons. And that’s the end of that – except it’s not, because I have many things to say and many things to process.
Oh, before I forget: here's a link to the fan campaign where you can sign a petition to save The Wheel of Time. Sometimes miracles do happen.
I feel guilty for being this upset over a cancelled show when there are wars and other terrible things going on. But the truth is, I spent a lot of time being numb to stuff because of those terrible things. There was a time after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine began when I was sure I would never enjoy anything ever again. Weirdly, though, life goes on even when atrocities are being committed as authoritarianism tightens its hold on countries. Finally, I felt like I fully regained my ability to care… and now the thing I care about is taken from me. This is truly such a blow to my mental health. There’s also the autism of it all where I have trouble processing my emotions and regulating them, but that’s neither here nor there.
It’s been a while since I enjoyed something to this extent that was also genuinely good and getting better. I don’t have a heartwarming story of finding friends through this fandom like many people do and I haven’t even been watching WoT for that long. However, I’ve been having so much fun theorizing and reading as much of the lore as I could without getting too spoiled and then infodumping to my best friend via voice memos and 3-hour phone calls (to be loved is to be listened to while you infodump about characters your friend has never heard about). The toxicity of the fandom at large notwithstanding, I’ve been living vicariously through long-time book fans who were experiencing their favorite scenes and characters brought to life on screen (shoutout to Innkeeper Hatch of The Dusty Wheel podcast who’s been a Lanfear fan for however many years). And I really, really loved seeing the cast and crew be so invested in their work (shoutout to Rosamund Pike and Sharon Gilham in particular, but also to literally everyone involved).
Unfortunately, this is hardly the first time a show gets cancelled in its prime with barely any reason; this trend has been going on for years and I know that. But it’s another cruel reminder of the capitalist hellscape we live in, and I’m just sick of it, folks. Sick of capitalism and everything being in shambles because of it. Sick of streaming killing the entertainment industry, of everything needing to be 10 episodes or less and great stories getting butchered in the effort to follow these constraints. Sick of corporations renewing utter garbage just because it’s easy to scroll TikTok to it or to put on while you’re eating or whatever. Sick of the fact that those same corporations are responsible for our shortening attention span and increasing lack of critical thinking.
Are people who crave good stories and good TV really that much of a minority? Is it really how things are these days? Am I the one who’s delusional? Ishamael was right, we should break the Wheel and end the suffering once and for all
I can’t fucking believe H@rry fucking P0tter gets a reboot in the year of our Lord 2025 (not to mention that the author will later use the money from that show to fund anti-trans organizations). I can’t believe the Prime show that used genAI slop got renewed while the artistic masterpiece that is The Wheel of Time got shot down. The article that broke the cancellation news mentions that it was apparently for financial reasons and that executives were happy with the show otherwise, and I just… Wow. Just wow. Despite Amazon doing next to no marketing, season 3 was CONSISTENTLY #1 in multiple countries, had great ratings and was praised by critics, and it was still not enough. If they wanted even better viewership then maybe they should have, I don’t know, actually marketed the show?? That one fan who posted a gif of a woman being sliced in half on Twitter did more to increase viewership than Amazon ever had. The Wheel of Time was a goldmine and they just threw it all away.
It wasn’t a flawless show, by any means, but I feel like quite a lot of what was wrong with it (not everything, mind!) was due to the current state of the industry and general circumstances out of anyone’s control. The show had quite a rocky start because of the COVID-19 pandemic, for example, and they had to recast one of the main characters after season 1 + the production also suffered because of the writers’ strike. Despite all that, the show persevered and continued to get noticeably better, with season 3 being the best one to date. All this perseverance just for some corporate suits to go “sowwy no money” (while continuing to throw money at other fantasy projects that aren’t even on the same level as WoT).
I believe this is also where the source material becomes truly good and it just feels criminal to cancel the show when it’s JUST hit its stride and proved itself. The story barely even began! If anyone needs me, I’ll be in Amazon’s walls making sure they never know peace.
God, this show deserved so much better. It deserved longer seasons, for one thing. I hate that a fantasy series that consists of FOURTEEN LONG-ASS BOOKS (fifteen if you count the prequel) had to be adapted in eight episodes per season. Eight!!! All that source material, all those overarching stories, all those characters had to be packaged into eight hour-long episodes per season, with the story having to be bent accordingly. That’s madness! The writers and directors did all they could to use every minute of screentime available, and for everything to end like this?? Man, fuck that. This is the worst timeline. Can’t even enjoy a good thing while waiting for the impending climate apocalypse anymore.
My favorite thing about The Wheel of Time was the amount of focus it put on middle-aged/older women. I loved the young main cast too, but what I really was watching the show for (apart from my beloved Lanfear, whom I’ll be talking about soon) was the Aes Sedai politics and the complex dynamics between them. And oh, the sheer power of the actresses playing them! Rosamund Pike, Sophie Okonedo, Kate Fleetwood, Meera Syal, Priyanka Bose, Shohreh Aghdashloo… Where else would we find this many complex older female characters portrayed by such great talent, in fantasy or otherwise?
The cast was diverse, too, despite some issues with colorism. I’ve heard many people refer to it as the most diverse cast in fantasy TV yet, and I’m inclined to agree. As a queer woman, I also appreciated the casual queerness of this universe. I loved Moiraine and Siuan’s achingly beautiful relationship. I loved Alanna, Maksim and Ihvon and all the other references to polyamory. I loved Elayne and Aviendha, and the dream Elayne had in 3x05. Since I live in a very homophobic country, all of this was a welcome distraction and a reminder of how things can and should be.
This post is about a kilometer long already, and I haven’t even touched on the artistry that went into the costumes, make-up and VFX… I’ve never had any particular interest in costuming and I barely know how to use a sewing machine, and yet I watched and read pretty much every interview Sharon Gilham (the costume designer for seasons 2 and 3) did, at least the ones for the latest season. The amount of thought, love and care she and her team put into dressing those characters is INSANE! I love seeing people be this passionate about their work. The story of the armor plate Moiraine wears during her fight with Lanfear in the desert is particularly mind-boggling, as is the Eelfinn costume (and makeup!), as is the fact that they created meticulously thought-through outfits for scenes that are literally seconds long (the costumes for the main five + Elayne as their Forsaken selves). Not to mention the huge undertaking of dressing the extras… God, I could go on and on. The dedication to the craft is awe-inspiring.
And now, the Lanfear of it all. My favorite character, my favorite villain and the reason I decided to give the show a chance in the first place (I saw a gif of an attractive woman on Tumblr and became interested, you know how that happens). Natasha O’Keeffe delivered a showstopping performance as Lanfear. I don’t think I would’ve enjoyed this character quite this much if she’d been played by someone else – but then again, I can’t even picture someone else in this role. Natasha O’Keeffe is a perfect fit, 10/10, no notes. She IS Lanfear now. I feel like this is such a tricky role to play because of all the layers this character has and the way she presents herself. She’s camp, she’s dramatic, she’s manipulative, she’s batshit crazy, but she’s also complex and even vulnerable sometimes. Judging by stuff I read online, she had potential in the books, but wasn’t handled in the best way. I’m so glad the writers saw that potential, took it and ran with it. I’m so glad it was Natasha O’Keeffe who got the role. She was able to understand Lanfear perfectly and give a nuanced portrayal that is fun to dissect. And, when all is said and done, what’s important is that I discovered a brilliant performer through this show. I know I’ll be following Natasha’s career outside of WoT. Thankfully, she has a new movie coming out this summer, so at least I have that to look forward to.
For the past few weeks I’ve been working on a Lanfear shrine. I started on it two weeks or so before the cancellation and was so excited to fill it with my thoughts and interpretations of this character! Working on it brought me so much joy. I hope I’ll be able to keep working on it and that it’ll become a way for me to process these emotions. Right now, though, I’m just too sad and angry to be composing fun & engaging fandom analysis peppered with memes.
I am so, so bitter. You could say I’m in my Lanfear era right now, actually. God, this show deserved so much better.
We still have the books, of course, which I’m very thankful for. But I fell in love with the show canon first. I want to see the spin THEY put on the books. I want to see THEIR vision. I also wasn’t sure when, or how, or indeed if, I wanted to read the books, but I wanted to make that decision myself rather than be forced by a misguided decision of a corporation.
Of course I *will* move on from this. But it’s going to be hella hard.
If you actually read all of this, wow! Thank you! Here’s a picture of the peonies I bought last week (they have since wilted like my hopes and dreams, but perhaps I’ll manage to buy more before peony season ends. Or perhaps I won’t. Who knows? Does anything really matter anymore?)
