The first casting for Amazon’s The Wheel of Time, a live-action TV series adaptation of author Robert Jordan‘s book series of the same name, has been confirmed.

It’s being reported that Rosamund Pike, the Oscar nominated star of Gone Girl, The World’s End, 2005’s Pride & Prejudice, Hostiles, A Private War, and much more, will star in the series. She’ll be playing the show’s central character, an Aes Sedai named Moiraine.

A Turkish Twitter account (via Reddit) first shared a rumor a few days back that Pike had been offered a role. This time the rumor turned out to be true, with confirmation now that Pike will be playing Moiraine.

Here’s the official description of Amazon’s The Wheel of Time:

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. The series draws on numerous elements of European and Asian culture and philosophy, most notably the cyclical nature of time found in Buddhism and Hinduism.

Robert Jordan’s “The Wheel of Time” series began in 1990 with the release of the first book, The Eye of the World. When it was finally completed, there were 14 books total in the series. Jordan passed away in 2007, two years after the release of the 11th book in the series, Knife of Dreams. Author Brandon Sanderson then took over the series, completing Jordan’s epic tale from notes and work he had completed before his passing.

Sanderson, along with Jordan’s widow Harriet McDougal, will help with the adaptation as consulting producers.

Rafe Judkins is credited as the creator of the series, and is adapting the books for television, executive producing, and handling showrunner duties. Judkins’ credits include writing and producing episodes of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Hemlock Grove, as well as writing episodes of Chuck. He also worked on the screenplays for the long-in-development movie adaptation of Naughty Dog’s Uncharted starring Tom Holland as Nathan Drake, and a movie adaptation of Tom Clancy’s The Division game. And on top of all of that, he even had a hell of a run on Survivor: Guatemala back in 2005.

Executive producing alongside Judkins is Red Eagle Entertainment’s Larry Mondragon and Rick Selvage, Radar Pictures’ Ted Field and Mike Weber, Darren Lemke, Marigo Kehoe, and Uta Briesewitz.

Briesewitz is also directing the first two episodes of The Wheel of Time, which according to IMDb will be titled “Leavetaking” and “Shadow’s Waiting.” The other three titles listed on IMDb are “A Place of Safety,” “The Dragon Reborn,” and “The Flame of Tar Valon.”

Briesewitz previously directed episodes of Weeds, House of Lies, Fear the Walking Dead, Black Sails, Orange is the New Black, The Defenders, Altered Carbon, Jessica Jones, Westworld, and Stranger Things among others.

This is one of two highly anticipated fantasy TV adaptations on the way from Amazon, and one of many currently being developed by those hoping to replicate the success HBO had with Game of Thrones—something HBO isn’t done with either, with multiple spinoffs in the works. The other project is a TV series based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, which is costing Amazon an insane amount of coin to make.

Netflix also has a pair of big name fantasy series on the way in The Chronicles of Narnia and The Witcher, while Lionsgate has The Kingkiller Chronicle in development.

Other castings and a release window for The Wheel of Time have not yet been announced, though, going back to IMDb once more, they have it listed for a release sometime in 2021.

Please welcome Rosamund Pike to the Wheel of Time family. Say hello to Moiraine. #WoTWednesday pic.twitter.com/577Hffwy6Y

— Wheel of Time Writers' Room (@WoTWritersRoom) June 19, 2019

[Source: Live Feed]

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