When books are adapted to television, publishers often print new editions of the books in tandem with the show’s release. We received a recent tip that a major publisher is currently planning such an edition of The Wheel of Time series. For their project timeline, they were given an estimated release date window of November 25 to December 25, 2021.
Jon from the WoT Up! Youtube channel said multiple sources have told him that a Black Friday (November 26) 2021 release was Amazon’s initial plan, although subject to change based on numerous factors such as the timely completion of filming.
We recently reported that Season 1 had wrapped principal photography but had a few shots left to complete. Today seems to be the actual last day of filming according to a recent tip from a source. Crew members continue to post on social media celebrating the wrap, but so far the cast has been silent. Perhaps they’re waiting for an official wrap announcement from the show–say, tomorrow for WoT Wednesday? At any rate, finishing filming is a huge milestone for the production, and should remove one of the major roadblocks for planning a release date.
First Teaser? Release Date Announcement?
Based on this estimated release date, we can speculate a bit further about when we might see the first official teaser or a premiere date announcement. We researched several of Amazon’s well known originals to look for marketing patterns for the first season. For consistency, “teaser” refers to the first teaser trailer containing actual footage from the show that is at least 60 seconds long. Several productions released earlier promotional material that were labeled as teasers, but were either very short or filmed specifically for promotional material (e.g. character introductions).
The Boys
Teaser: January 24, 2019 | Link
Trailer: April 17, 2019 | Link
Release date announcement: April 17, 2019 (“Summer 2019” in January 24 teaser)
Premiere: July 26, 2019
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Teaser: N/A
Trailer: October 10, 2017 | Link
Release date announcement: October 10, 2017
Premiere: November 29, 2017
Jack Ryan
Teaser: January 30, 2018 | Link
Trailer: June 11, 2018 | Link
Release date announcement: January 30, 2018
Premiere: August 31, 2018
Carnival Row
Teaser: July 27, 2019 | Link
Trailer: August 6, 2019 | Link
Release date announcement: June 4, 2019
Premiere: August 30, 2019
The Expanse (Season 4)
Teaser: July 20, 2019 | Link
Trailer: November 18, 2019 | Link
Release date announcement: July 20, 2019
Premiere: December 13, 2019
[Note: Amazon picked up the show when SyFy cancelled it after the third season. Season 4 was its first season as an Amazon Original.]
While this isn’t a great sample size, it appears that shows based on established properties had the earliest teasers and release date announcements. Complete originals like The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel had much less advance marketing. Based on the overall variability in the dates, the timing of trailers and announcements is likely dependent on the state of the particular production and the marketing team’s specific strategy.
Looking Ahead
So what does all this mean for The Wheel of Time? Since the series is a very well established property, it’s a reasonable assumption that we’ll see our first teaser trailer 5-6 months out. If the release date rumors are correct, that would put the teaser in May or June of this year. A teaser in this timeframe would also align nicely with the wrapping of Season 1 and the start of filming Season 2. We may not see an official release date as quickly; after all the production delays during the pandemic, Amazon might want to wait on announcing it until they’re absolutely certain.
There’s one other interesting tidbit. Researching other shows makes it clear that The Wheel of Time has received an unprecedented amount of pre-teaser trailer promotional material. No other Amazon show has had anywhere near that level of early engagement, especially not for a first season.
Do you think the show will be released in November or December? When do you think we’ll see our first teaser trailer? And what would you like to see on the cover for the new edition? Let us know!
I'm a longtime SFF fan but Wheel of Time will always be my first love. I want to call myself Green Ajah, but--let's be real--I'm probably a Brown. In my spare time I enjoy cooking, writing, and getting lost in the wilderness.
Yeah this looks like a late November release of the show. I was hoping for October, but at least it’ll be this year.
I wouldn’t be surprised too much of we got a teaser in May. And absolutely stoked!
If you’re projecting for June for a first look at a teaser, it may be possible that they wait til July and release the first look at the teaser AT JordanCon which has been rescheduled for early July… similar to how Lucasfilm dropped sneak premiers of teasers at Star wars’ Celebration and ComicCon events. Just speculation of course… you’re not a Darkfriend if you don’t believe me. 😉
I think we’d all love to see a trailer at JordanCon! I’m not sure it will happen because JordanCon is so small, but man imagine how fun it would be to watch it with everyone there.
comparing wot with other shows isnt relly fair. becuse wot has done alredy 6 episodes and post production on them and so on.
and they filmed lots of it last year and few this year. so post production should be on 1-2 episode at most.. so everything should be completed faster?
You’re right, everything has been turned on its head because of the production delays! However, I expect post-production will still take a good chunk of time for the final two episodes. Assuming they’re 60-80 minutes long, that’s a full length blockbuster movie, and 6-7 months of post production doesn’t seem crazy in that context. Also, Amazon won’t necessarily release it as soon as it’s done. They’ll still want to wait for the best time.
At any rate, I think we can all agree that we want the show to be successful, so I hope that whenever it’s released is the right time to capture the widest audience possible!
A roaming scene like the first book. Travelling from Two rivers on the road. But the actual actors in costume.
Just like The Eye Of The World.
The release date will be 11-29 My birthday. Fingers crossed.
I’m betting on a Black Friday release time frame. They’ve made a huge investment in this franchise and they are going to want to make a big splash to make sure this series gets off to a strong start. No better way to do that than the start of the Christmas shopping season.
I’m going to guess we see, an early teaser for JordanCon, another teaser for CominCom in July. A trailer in September for a Late November premiere.
For having looked into Amazon’s marketing patterns as an Expanse fan, the major factor to keep an eye on when it comes to franchises with an existing fanbase is less the date and more the events closest to a suitable date. Guess the event Amazon plans to use to introduce the fall 2021 shows, and you will have the date around which you can expect the teaser and release date announcement. It’s often one of the big summer conventions. It can also be during Amazon’s week for the summer’s American TV press tour, but that’s usually more for the big mainstream series. For Science-fiction and Fantasy they tend to want the fans involved.