“Game of Thrones” left this mortal plane in 2019, and it is not far-fetched to assume that Amazon hopes “Wheel,” whose first three episodes debut Friday, is its second coming.
The good news for fantasy-hungry viewers is that this lush and ambitious series quickly approaches “Thrones,” and even Peter Jackson’s Tolkien films, in grandeur and polish.
Vast series like Jordan’s can be quagmires to adapt; an abortive pilot aired like a thief in the night on FXX in 2015.
The Gandalfian figure here is Moiraine of the Aes Sedai, an all-female order of enchanters who weave smoky strands of magic.
The twist: She doesn’t know who it is.
The series’s dramatic drive comes from Pike, who gives Moiraine a burdened gravity and fearsomeness.
Even some followers of the Dark One — so far, a vague offscreen threat — believe that their master means to do good by breaking a historical cycle of suffering.
In general, the show’s long game — that is, why you should care enough to commit — is elusive, even as it strings episodes together with matinee-serial cliffhangers.
But listening to one character after another hold forth on the turnings of the Wheel, I longed for a Gollum or an Arya Stark to kick some life into the works.
Early on, the wanderers take refuge in a cursed city, its deserted streets lined with baroque architecture and statuary.