It’s taken me too long to sit down and try to find the words to express what The Wheel of Time show has meant to me. I began reading the books in the mid-90s when only the first three had been published, and I fell in love with the incredible world that Robert Jordan created. To see it brought to beautiful, glorious life by Rafe and his team has been beyond a dream come true.

When I was young, it was the Emond’s Field characters I adored. I followed step-by-step in their adventures, and I was so entranced with their stories that I began to write my own WoT-based stories through a variety of online platforms that have come and gone (looking at you EZboards!) The series casting is inspired, and I can offer no higher accolade to Josha, Maddie, Zoe, Marcus, and Donal than to say that they have replaced any head canon I had – they simply ARE the characters to me now.

And while it has been an utter joy to watch them being brought to life, my heart belongs to the beautiful, messy, scheming, heroic, magical women of the White Tower. Being a woman of a certain age, it is vanishingly rare to see my demographic on screen getting to be something other than background and wallpaper. The show’s vision for the tower, from set design to costumes, hair, and makeup, is sublime. The casting is perfection. To see Rosamund, Sophie, Shohreh, Kate, Priyanka (and all the others) embody the characters I thought I knew and make them so much more is everything I could’ve ever asked for.

And above and beyond the show, it is the friends I have found through being a part of this fandom that mean so much to me. I have met people whom I would never have crossed paths with without the show bringing us together. I am so grateful for all of you (well, nearly all of you!)

We were only partway through this particular turning of the wheel, and it is heartbreaking to think that this might be all we get to see of Rafe’s vision. I am grateful to Amazon for bringing us what we have so far, and I sincerely hope that someone out there has the courage and vision to pick up the mantle and help this exceptional cast and crew take us on the epic journey we deserve to The Last Battle.