So we already have news of a main character being recast for season 2 of the show. Mat, no less.
Aside from the big “describe what’s happening in this series, wrong answers only” energy of the article’s description of the books (“The Wheel of Time, which was renewed for Season 2 in May ahead of its series premiere, is set in a sprawling, epic world where magic exists and only certain women are allowed to access it”, really?), this story doesn’t fill me with confidence. And I was by no means full of confidence, for all that the trailer gave me a big boost of optimism.
So, what this means is, they already need to replace a crucial character because of whatever-the-fuck reason, and from season 2 onwards we all need to get used to Mat being a whole different guy. And we know this already two months before the show even starts.
I remember when Daario was recast in Game of Thrones, but it wasn’t a big deal because nobody knew who he was meant to be anyway. Apparently the Mountain was recast a couple of times, and I didn’t notice that myself. But this is going to hit different.
I find myself hoping they work it into the story. Maybe Mat can vanish into the redstone ter’angreal at the end of the series, in Rhuidean, and emerge in a new body or something? And everyone, on-screen and on-couch, can be confused about it at the same time.
I don’t know. I want to just wave this off, and I am still trying not to get too enthusiastic about this, but it’s not easy with a second-generation megafan in the house. Oh well, Wump was kind of underwhelmed by the original casting anyway, so at least she’ll be happy. Maybe.
That’s it. That’s the news.
Hatboy's Hatstand 
Fucking hell I thought he was well chosen! And they didn’t even provide a reason, does he have cancer, did he try to sexually assault Rosemund Pike, is he a mass murderer???? I mean come the fuck on!
OK that went dark fast but I’m pissed. They’d better write it well, not just have a different face fucking show up in season two. This has taken long enough, it doesn’t need any more strikes against it! I like your idea, something like that.
I’m trying to walk the line between reporting this stuff on the blog because of course I have to talk about this on the blog, but also acknowledging that the majority of monkey-chatter and a lot of the best cynicism is happening on discord now. You at least know this.
Not really any sort of point about your comment, which yeah – I agree completely. Just trying to get my head around how much I will be reporting here. I’m predicting I’ll sort of just distill whatever debate happens over there, as well as passing on news, for posterity.
But this definitely seems like a sucky situation. I’d have to guess that there was some personal reason the actor wanted out of the role, which to be fair is definitely a big commitment if they’re going the whole way with this thing.
I also agree with Daniel Greene here:
But at the same time I agree with the original tweet. It’s not a great sign. It’s just not. It may not say anything about the quality of what they’ve made. But it’s still not great. For confidence in the product alone, it’s not great. If I heard that a lead engineer on an electronic device quit and was replaced just as the 1.0 was being prepared for launch, it would undermine my confidence in the device – a perhaps negligible, but measurable amount.
On yet another hand, maybe it’s cool that they’re being open about this before the show even airs? Get all that bad press out of the way?
Yeah, fully agreed. I can’t keep up with the Discord, maybe you can tell. I will when we’re talking about the show but I’m just not able to chat like that. WAY too much going on, and when there isn’t, I’m trying to freaking game damnit.
It has a voice chat which was nice, I just talked to Wubbles while he did a bit of gaming. Something for us to think about … *peers shyly over top of fan*
Now we’re talking, ser! Keep those good ideas rolling!
But who is gaming? Or both of us? Because I thought you didn’t like the voice call idea generally (Skype for example)….
Very interested in this now. Raid Shadow Legends is calling you bruh. Or Wump….
I mean I’m just as happy having a chin-wag and a drink while watching you play. I do that on Twitch anyway. All depends on the timing of it though, hard to plan. Anyway, it’s an extant option.
We could do that, hmm…it would need to be a Saturday or a Sunday so I could be gaming in what would be your evening, I’d think. So we could both be drinking too!
And I’m not sure, would ANY game I’m playing on my laptop while using Discord allow you to see it, or just some games? Because what I am playing is fun, and I could show you some cool stuff, but if I had to play D3 or something like that…enh.
It was purely a “share your screen / desktop” function, so your only concern would be not tabbing across to
porncompany confidential content.Why would I be ashamed to share such content with a friend?
I was gonna ask what you’re doing this sunday afternoon/evening but I spammed you already so let me know. Doesn’t have to be this weekend obviously but it happens to be a good one for our activities.
Yeah, planning it is unlikely to work. This Sunday we’re going to be at the movies again, in the morning. Afternoon I’m not sure, but we’re busy Friday and probably cleaning up Saturday, so let’s wait and see. I’m not at my computer in any predictable way on weekends. Just one to keep in the back pocket.
So you’re telling me not winging it isn’t really what we do?
Update: I showed Wump the new casting and she declared him “even worse,” so that’s the end of that!
I also rather liked the old Mat casting but I guess it is what it is.
Now, if Rand can wake the new Mat up after their adventure in Rhuidean, and say, “are we … awake?” and then have no further reference to Mat’s race-swap…
*chef’s kiss*