Amazon dropped another clip from The Wheel of Time series on Monday, giving fans their first look at Alexandre Willaume in character as Thom Merrilin. The 36-second video includes some shots from the show itself and some behind-the-scenes glimpses, as well as commentary from stars and producers. Over on social media, fans focused mainly on meeting their favorite gleeman in the flesh.
The Wheel of Time TV adaptation is just one month away now, and it may be surprising to some that Thom hasn’t appeared in any teasers so far. The traveling bard and entertainer is a central character in the first Wheel of Time novel, The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan. Our glimpse of him here doesn’t seem to undersell that significance – Thom sits on a stool with one leg propped higher than the other to support a 6-string guitar in his lap. He looks gray and careworn, though his mustaches lack a bit of the curliness described in the books.
Videos by PopCulture.com
Other scenes from the new clip include shots of the Children of the Light, the Myrddraal and the stars both in and out of character. All of them match the epic scope and tone of the books, and so far the response from fans on social media has been pure, unadulterated excitement.
For those getting refreshed on the books ahead of the show’s premiere, Thom Merrilin is introduced in the beginning as an exceptionally well-versed gleeman – a traveling singer and entertainer, who rides from village to village looking for places to ply his trade. He is described as fairly old, with a gnarled face and stooped shoulders. His hair is white in the books, including his overgrown mustache which he habitually curls around his fingers.
From the looks of it, Willaume’s version of the character differs a bit, but he is still on the rugged side. Willaume is best known for his roles in Countdown Copenhagen, Home Fires, Tomb Raider and Crossing Lines, among other productions.
The Wheel of Time is an epic fantasy series with one of the largest, most detailed fictional worlds ever developed in the genre. Jordan wrote 12 books in the series – including one prequel novel – but even then, it wasn’t finished. Sadly, Jordan passed away in 2007, but he left extensive notes so that another author could complete the story as he’d intended. His widow, Harriet McDougal, selected Brandon Sanderson to write the last three books.
For all those pages, The Wheel of Time is a relatively simple story – it is a series of adventures taken by a cast of small-town teenagers who grow into world leaders and prophecied heroes fighting against the forces of evil for the fate of their world. Jordan played with familiar genre tropes including the concept of destiny, divine right to rule and magically-induced madness, which is why many critics anticipate The Wheel of Time becoming the next Game of Thrones.
The Wheel of Time premieres on Friday, Nov. 19 on Amazon Prime Video. Jordan’s books are available now in print, digital and audiobook formats.
