You probably already know this but he's been cast (Hammed Animashaun) and it was confirmed that they weren't going to change them to more human looking since apparently that was what some fans were afraid of. I don't know much else beyond that, no leaks at the makeup or effects yet.
I realized I was a bit harsh before but as more teasers come (and hopefully a trailer) soon, we'll get a sense of the tone and direction they're going for. The stills have already lead me to believe, it's going to be a good bit different. This is what was being used as the series description in all the early press. The Wheel of Time is set in a sprawling, epic world where magic exists, but only women can use it. Meaning that in this series — women hold the keys to power. The story follows Moiraine, a member of the shadowy and influential all-female organization called the ‘Aes Sedai' as she embarks on a dangerous, world-spanning journey with five young men and women. Moiraine's interested in these five because she believes one of them might be the reincarnation of an incredibly powerful individual, whom prophecies say will either save humanity or destroy it.
Well that was amazing!! Myrddraal looked so scary too! Really liked the scope of it and how little it showed in terms of story.
I don't want to sound foolish and rambling, so I'll just say that every single thing in that trailer hit for me 100%. Holy crap does this look good. Can't believe it's actually happening and we're getting eyes on this thing. Cast in action looks PHENOMENAL, the way they are visualizing the One Power looks extremely cool and intriguing, so many highlights for me.
Right?? We've all got our head canon and some things are different etc but it all looks great. Can't fault them and say that this doesn't look epic. The channelling is a different way than I expected but to be fair, I'm not even sure how that could have been portrayed but I do like it. Even at the end of the trailer, when we see Moiraine channeling in Emond's Field, that was what really got me going.
I'm assuming they're doing New Spring, Eye of the World and perhaps some of Great Hunt so they'd better be 2 hours!
They're definitely making Moiraine the main character, which I'm not sure about. On one hand, she's awesome, but on the other hand it's a huge change from the books (although I'm only through the second one, so correct me if I'm wrong). Also, when can I read the prequel without spoiling anything? I'm already having such a hard time trying to read 15 books without accidentally reading spoilers.
I feel like I am the perfect level of fan of these books for a show like this: I've read the first several books in the series numerous times, I love the world and the history and the lore and all of that, yet I find the writing itself increasingly frustrating and unenjoyable and eventually give up on the series after reading several books. I don't feel overly attached to specifics and minutiae from the books like I do with say, The Lord of the Rings books, and so it is just extremely exciting to see this overall story brought to the screen with passion and respect. Far too often with these types of books you get something like The Shannara Chronicles, and I just can't help but feeling like why even bother? Who is something like that even for? You're obviously going to annoy most fans of the books when material is handled like that, while at the same time, the whole thing is inherently kind of niche. I think I have read / heard that this is the approach for this opening season, but that the plan for the series going forward is to shift focus or expand focus so-to-speak where certain other characters i.e. Rand become more of a main character and more of a focal point of the story.
I was reading comments / reactions to the trailer on YouTube, and someone mentioned that Thom Merrilin looked spot-on for them, only I've scanned the trailer even kinda in slow-mo and I didn't see Thom Merrilin anywhere in there..... Is Thom in the trailer???
Unless I've missed it, he's definitely not in the trailer. People seem to be getting Tam and Thom mixed up though.