The Wheel Turns, the Portfolio Adjusts

by

The Wheel of Time, as any moderately observant astrologer will tell you (between demands for payment in small, shiny objects), turns. And with each turn, Ages come and go. Some leave behind empires and ballads. Others, a mildly disgruntled fanbase and a three-season commitment to a streaming service, followed by the inevitable cancellation notice. It’s a lesson in diversification, really. Don’t put all your prophecies in one basket.

Back in 2018, when Amazon announced its foray into the world crafted by the late Robert Jordan, I allowed myself a cautious optimism. Ninety million copies sold, a dedicated readership… it ticked a lot of boxes. The potential for a flagship franchise in the high fantasy sector was… palpable. I considered a small, speculative position in Amazon, naturally. One must always keep an eye on potential catalysts. It turned out to be a rather… circular investment.

The show itself wasn’t bad. Solid, even. It introduced a new audience to Jordan’s rather expansive universe. There was, admittedly, a certain amount of online consternation regarding deviations from the source material. Fans are like shareholders, you see. They have opinions. And they’re not afraid to voice them, especially when their preferred narrative is… adjusted. It received decent reviews, a few award nominations. But decent, as any portfolio manager will tell you, rarely translates to exponential growth.

Then Amazon, with a sigh that could be heard in the Lands Beyond, walked away last May. A classic case of failing to see the long game. Short-term profit margins trumping long-term brand building. The folly of it all.1

Now, the franchise is being given a second chance. And Amazon, shall we say, is not on the guest list this time.

New Talent, New Format

iwot Studios, the current custodians of the Wheel of Time intellectual property (a term that always sounds suspiciously like a magical artifact), have partnered with Thomas Vu, a producer with a rather impressive track record. He’s aiming to build a portfolio of new Wheel of Time content. The Amazon series will conclude after its third season, but the plan is to launch an animated television series, several animated feature films, and a suite of PC and mobile video games. Ambitious, certainly. But ambition, when properly managed, is a valuable asset.

Vu’s resume is… noteworthy. At Riot Games (now a subsidiary of Tencent, a company that understands the value of a good long-term investment), he transformed League of Legends from a mere video game into a global multimedia phenomenon with over 100 million monthly active players. He also executive-produced Netflix’s Arcane, a show that proved animation could deliver prestige-level storytelling and attract an audience that hadn’t previously engaged with the underlying game. A shrewd move.2

That’s the fellow now entrusted with the Wheel of Time. My ‘ta’veren senses’ (a term I’ve borrowed from the source material, and which, frankly, sounds a lot like a particularly astute analyst) are tingling.

Why Animation Might Work Better

Here’s the thing: The Wheel of Time is… peculiar. Gloriously, wonderfully peculiar. It’s not a world easily contained within the limitations of live-action. The magic system, for example, involves gendered halves of a cosmic power source, one of which drives men… shall we say, emotionally unstable. Characters communicate through dreams. One protagonist spends multiple books arguing with a voice in his head that turns out to be a 3,000-year-old past-life memory. It’s a complex portfolio of internal dialogues.

Live-action can attempt to handle that, but it requires a lot of exposition and, let’s be honest, a rather substantial CGI budget. Audiences tend to lose interest when they’re presented with too much computer-generated imagery or, even worse, artificial intelligence video. It feels… artificial. Like a poorly diversified investment.

Animation doesn’t have those constraints. Arcane leaned into stylized visuals that no live-action show could replicate. If Vu brings a similar sensibility to the Wheel of Time, we could see something truly special on our mobile devices, in theaters, and on our living room screens. It’s a potential for significant returns, if executed correctly.

What Investors Should Know

There isn’t a direct investment angle here, at least not yet. iwot Studios is a private company, and Amazon has moved on from its Wheel of Time project. The producers will undoubtedly partner with a streaming service at some point, and the video games will require distribution channels. Those details remain unknown. I’m keeping a close eye on those updates.

But the news is a useful data point regarding intellectual property resilience. The Wheel of Time has survived its author’s death, a pandemic-delayed production, and a series cancellation by one of the world’s largest streaming platforms. The books continue to sell. Serious creative talent remains interested in the material. That’s a solid foundation.

This is still an early-stage development, not a fully greenlit production. iwot Studios is betting that strong creative leadership will attract buyers. Given Vu’s track record, that’s a reasonable assumption. They’re also hedging their bets with parallel development tracks: Vu’s animated shows and films, a separate live-action film (unrelated to the Amazon series), and an open-world role-playing game from iwot Games Montréal. It’s an ambitious transmedia strategy for a franchise rebuilding after cancellation. A bit risky, perhaps, but high risk often yields high reward.

Loading widget...

Will the New Production Avoid the Taint?

I’m not promising this will be the next Game of Thrones. I expressed cautious optimism in 2018 and 2021, and while the Amazon series was enjoyable, it didn’t conquer the culture. The Wheel weaves as the Wheel wills, and sometimes it simply creates a modest three-season run on a streaming platform. It’s a reminder that even the best-laid plans can unravel.

But this is a serious attempt by people who know how to build franchises. Amazon gave up on the Wheel of Time. That doesn’t mean the story is over. It merely means the portfolio has been rebalanced.

Sleep well and wake, iwot.

  1. The sheer folly of prioritizing short-term gains over long-term brand building is a recurring theme in both the financial markets and the realms of myth and legend.
  2. A shrewd move, indeed. Diversification is the cornerstone of any sound investment strategy.

Read More

2026-03-21 20:44