Valentin posted:

rafe says he wanted to do the three boys hunting the horn, but that he couldn't because the actor was gone in season 1. i'm saying the actor being gone in season 1 is irrelevant to that, because they already teleport the actor from where he was at the end of season 2 into the hands of liandrin. they could've put him anywhere they wanted at the start of season 2 and no one would've batted an eye because everyone was extremely aware that season 1 got hosed by covid.

Chef Boyardeez Nuts posted:

It is extremely relevant to that because it forced Matt so far out of the party that it made him dropping in for the hunt impossible.

Natural 20 posted:

Y'know, perhaps Lan's realisation about Moraine should have come more explicitly from him realising that HE doesn't want to die.

That would have actually made sad warder retrospectively relevant.

Valentin posted:

rafe says he wanted to do the three boys hunting the horn, but that he couldn't because the actor was gone in season 1. i'm saying the actor being gone in season 1 is irrelevant to that, because they already teleport the actor from where he was at the end of season 2 into the hands of liandrin. they could've put him anywhere they wanted at the start of season 2 and no one would've batted an eye because everyone was extremely aware that season 1 got hosed by covid.

Screen Rant Interview posted:

When asked about Mat’s season 2 story in a recent interview with Screen Rant, showrunner Rafe Judkins shines a light on why that’s the case, tying it all back to Barney Harris:

Rafe Judkins: It was a complete rewrite of the entire season. We always wanted to tell the story in season 2 of, “Mat is a hero who doesn't think he's a hero,” and I would have loved to tell the story of the three boys on the hunt for the Horn of Valere, but we didn't get to tell that story. In TV, you can never be apologetic about the story you're telling. so [since] we couldn't do that story, we wanted to lean in fully to the story of the five of the Emond’s Field Five being separate for the first time, [with] each of them on their own path.
...
The following exchange confirms that certain season, 1 finale moments departed from the source material in order to set up a new season 2 vision:

Screen Rant: Does that mean Rand making his choice at the end of season 1 was building toward keeping them apart as a result of Mat?

Rafe Judkins: Yeah. That was a big part of it; committing to this idea of all of them being separate was something we needed to do, and so we did, and I think we told really effective storylines of each of them on their own.

Rarity posted:

I always found Rand to be a really bland character in the first couple of books so nothing has really changed for me. He gets hit hard by Main Protagonist Syndrome

DTurtle posted:

Just to have the source and exact text here:

I can't imagine the chaos at the end of season 1 with Covid AND Harris leaving. That said, I still find it impressive that everyone having to do with the show is defending Barney Harris leaving.

Devorum posted:

Having him with The Team ready to find the Horn 6 months later makes as much sense as Liandrin having him for some reason.

nine-gear crow posted:

That's making me think more and more like it was just a complete mental health breakdown exacerbated by the pandemic. Because if he'd just got fired for being an rear end in a top hat or showing up to work horribly late or blasted on drugs and booze ala Johnny Depp or refusing to mask up or get vaccinated to come back to film like Gina Carano did or just randomly walked off set, breached his contract, and ghosted everyone completely, I doubt they'd still be being this charitable to him this far out from it happening, and the fact that his real reasons for leaving STILL haven't leaked out anywhere yet shows how seriously they take whatever the hell happened there.

minema posted:

I don't think it does, their plot has him in the city he was already in with two other characters having a line of dialogue to explain why Liandrin has him - it's clumsy but makes sense. The rest of the gang go through the ways to get to the Borderlands and there's already enough complaints about the world seeming small, if he just popped up on the other side of the world I think it'd seem very cheap, although he has just been Forsaken-ed to Falme so maybe they could have done something similarly handwave-y.

Pleads posted:

But Min goes from the Borderlands to the room next to Mat in the same amount of time and presumably does not take the ways.

minema posted:

I don't think it does, their plot has him in the city he was already in with two other characters having a line of dialogue to explain why Liandrin has him - it's clumsy but makes sense. The rest of the gang go through the ways to get to the Borderlands and there's already enough complaints about the world seeming small, if he just popped up on the other side of the world I think it'd seem very cheap, although he has just been Forsaken-ed to Falme so maybe they could have done something similarly handwave-y.

I don't I love his plot so far although possibly will help set up his ongoing hatred of magic more but I think they could have done some more interesting stuff without him joining the hunt. I think if they pull his plot off later the two seasons of being just okay will be overlooked so I'm withholding judgement for now.

Hieronymous Alloy posted:

They've actually done a pretty good job of setting up Mat for what should be his big moment tonight.

He's very clearly the show's "YOLO, I'll try it! Cursed Magic? Evil tea? I'm a gonna toot that horn, bitches!" Guy

Hieronymous Alloy posted:

They've actually done a pretty good job of setting up Mat for what should be his big moment tonight.

He's very clearly the show's "YOLO, I'll try it! Cursed Magic? Evil tea? I'm a gonna toot that horn, bitches!" Guy

CainFortea posted:

nine-gear crow posted:

No, Chain of Command was two weeks ago with Egwene

Hieronymous Alloy posted:

Yeah, that's my take too. By process of elimination it has to have been a health breakdown of some kind because anything else would have come out.

seaborgium posted:

Yeah, even if they had really, really strong NDA's someone would have leaked that he had done something bad, rather than something had happened to or involving him.

nine-gear crow posted:

Yeah, I remember when Ruby Rose left Batwoman after one season, like literally EVERY bit of dirty laundry about the show came spilling out in her wake. She was like "the producers were grossly irresponsible and they nearly shattered my spine doing a stunt they assured me was safe and then actually paralyzed another woman on the crew by dropping an unsecured lighting fixture on her head because they ran an unsafe shitshow of a work environment", and then the producers and a bunch of cast members immediately fired back with poo poo like "Ruby Rose was terrible to work with, wasn't ready for the rigors of working on a TV show, showed up late to set all the time, was a miserable bore the whole time and literally nobody liked her as a person."

So Harris's departure from Wheel of Time so far has just been the absolute paragon of professionalism from the rest of the cast, crew, and Harris himself in just not talking about it at a.

Omnomnomnivore posted:

Last week they talked about the Dragon being "bannered in the sky" or something, so I don't think it will be Rand vs. Ishy up there (as much as I wish it would be like that rad Legion clip). Maybe a big magical dragon flying around that everyone sees? Which could the sign for the Aiel that they found their car'a'carn.

Omnomnomnivore posted:

Last week they talked about the Dragon being "bannered in the sky" or something, so I don't think it will be Rand vs. Ishy up there (as much as I wish it would be like that rad Legion clip). Maybe a big magical dragon flying around that everyone sees? Which could the sign for the Aiel that they found their car'a'carn.

Only other thing I'm confident about for tonight is Mat's tootin' that horn and Uno's coming back. 50/50 on Egwene killing Renna when she gets rescued. Leaving her alive could be a narrative hook for later seasons.

nine-gear crow posted:

I think if Egwene doesn't kill Renna then she most definitely collars her and walks away. That's about the only way I can see her willingly letting her walk away alive from the end of that storyline.

Grundulum posted:

You mean like how it happened in the books?

Pleads posted:

I could see them changing things for Renna to die at Egwene's hand when she escapes, as long as Seta (or whoever the other wonder girls collared last ep) is left collared for the Seanchan to find.

Renna doesn't really have any value in her storyline after Egwene gets away, and she ultimately dies like 7 books later making a break for it during the whole Mat-in-the-Circus storyline which may end up being cut (and if not, then it doesn't matter that Renna in particular dies so much as Mat has to give the ok to kill another woman).

eke out posted:

i'm imagining a beautiful future where the WoT tv show is so perfect and beloved that it has the time to do the awful circus plotline

cailleask posted:

I’m confused why people are confused about why Liandrin has Mat? Moiraine literally sent a letter to the Red Ajah telling them to capture Mat. On camera.