Short stories Jordan wrote two short stories within the franchise in the late 1990s. The first, "The Strike at Shayol Ghul", predates the main series by several thousand years. It was made available on the Internet and was later published in ''
The World of Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time. Jordan also wrote a short story entitled "New Spring", for the 1998 anthology Legends edited by Robert Silverberg. Jordan later expanded this into the stand-alone novel New Spring'' that was published in January 2004. During Brandon Sanderson's work on
A Memory of Light, two sections of the book were cut and later published as short stories in anthologies. The first, "River of Souls", was published in
Unfettered: Tales by Masters of Fantasy (2013). The second, "A Fire Within the Ways" was published in
Unfettered III in 2019. Unlike "River of Souls", "A Fire Within the Ways" is not considered canon.
Companion books In November 1997,
Tor Books published a companion book to the series, entitled ''
The World of Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time, which contains much hitherto unrevealed background information about the series including the first maps of the entire world and the Seanchan home continent. Jordan co-authored the book with Teresa Patterson. Jordan ruled the book broadly canonical but stated that it was written from the perspective of an historian within The Wheel of Time'' universe and was prone to errors of bias and guesswork. On November 3, 2015, Tor published
The Wheel of Time Companion: The People, Places, and History of the Bestselling Series was released in
hardback format, written by Harriet McDougal, Alan Romanczuk, and Maria Simons. Alan Romanczuk and Maria Simons were Robert Jordan's editorial assistants. The book is an encapsulating glossary of the entire series. The authors began compiling material for the volume as early as 2005, and the final book was released after the series' conclusion. On November 8, 2022, Tor published
Origins of the Wheel of Time: The Legends and Mythologies that Inspired Robert Jordan , written by
Michael Livingston. The book contains a brief biography of
Robert Jordan and gives an account of how he came to write
The Wheel of Time. It analyzes Jordan's influences, and how the real world and works of literature influenced or were referenced by the novels. In particular, it outlines the influences of ''
Le Morte d'Arthur by
Sir Thomas Malory,
J. R. R. Tolkien's
Legendarium, and The White Goddess by Robert Graves. One section lists various references to the real world contained within The Wheel of Time'', both confirmed and speculated. The book also contains a foreword written by
Harriet McDougal Rigney (Jordan's widow and editor), a few excerpts from early drafts of the texts, a
deleted scene from
The Eye of the World, and a revised map of the world based on Jordan's feedback on the map included in ''
The World of Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time''. Many references are given linking assertions in the book to the collection of Jordan's personal notes contained at
The Citadel in
Charleston, South Carolina.
Comic books In 2004, Jordan sold the comic rights among others to Red Eagle Entertainment. Dabel Brothers began adapting the series in July 2005 starting with the prequel
New Spring. The series initially ran on a monthly schedule, but then went on a three-year hiatus after the fifth issue. Red Eagle cited delays and changes to the creative team on the DB Pro end. The final three issues were ultimately completed and published in 2009–10. These ran concurrently with
Dynamite Entertainment's
The Eye of the World, which ran for a total of 35 issues between then and March 2013. The 43
New Spring and
Eye of the World comics were later collected together and released as a series of six graphic novels, the last of which was released in February 2015. When asked in a 2013 interview about whether the comics would continue their run, Harriet McDougal replied "Well, eventually, [we'll] do the whole thing, unless it stops selling in a dreadful way. In other words, I don't really know." The series would be inactive for a decade, but returned amid the wave of interest in the franchise during the run of the television series. An adaptation of
The Great Hunt began serialisation in November 2023.
Games There is a
Wheel of Time MUD, identified as such or by the
initialism WoTMUD, which is based on a world like that of the Wheel of Time but set in a time frame around 30 world years prior. It has been in operation almost continuously since 1993. Notably, the
WoTMUD had gained written permission from the author to use his creation including all but major characters. A computer game named
The Wheel of Time was released in 1999. Over the course of the game, Aes Sedai must track down a robber following an assault on the White Tower, and prevent the Dark One from being released prematurely. She eventually learns of and executes a long-forgotten ritual at Shayol Ghul to ensure the Dark Lord remains sealed within the prison. While Jordan was consulted in the creation of the game, he did not write the storyline himself. Starting in 1999, Precedence Entertainment released three sets of
The Wheel of Time Collectible Card Game.
The Wheel of Time Roleplaying Game was released in 2001 from
Wizards of the Coast using the
d20 rules developed for the third edition of the
Dungeons & Dragons game. The game had a single adventure module published in 2002,
Prophecies of the Dragon. Shortly after the release of the adventure book Wizards of the Coast announced they would not be releasing any further products for the game. Robert Jordan cited some problems with the roleplaying game, such as storyline details in the adventure module that contradicted the books. In early 2009
EA Games announced that they had bought the rights for a MMORPG, with the plan to publish it through the EA Partners-Program. The following year
Obsidian Entertainment announced that they would be working on the project, for a
PlayStation 3,
Xbox 360, and PC release. However, the project was seemingly dropped around 2014. In April 2025, iwot Studios (formerly Red Eagle Entertainment) announced an open-world
action RPG in development for PC and consoles. The Montreal-based studio is led by Craig Alexander, former vice president at
Warner Bros. Games, with a projected three-year development cycle.
Music In 1999,
A Soundtrack for the Wheel of Time was released, featuring music by
Robert Berry and inspired by the books. The German
power metal band
Blind Guardian have written two songs dedicated to the
Wheel of Time series as part of their 2010 album
At the Edge of Time: "Ride into Obsession" and "Wheel of Time". Swedish heavy metal band
Katana also wrote a song, entitled "The Wisdom of Emond's Field", on their 2012 album
Storms of War. The American power metal band Noble Beast, on their 2014 album of the same name, wrote a song entitled "The Dragon Reborn", in reference to Rand al'Thor. The American black metal band Shaidar Logoth takes its name from an adaptation of the city of Shadar Logoth, and lyrically expands on the character Padan Fain. The Austrian metal band Dragony, on their 2018 album "Masters of the Multiverse", released the song "Flame of Tar Valon", referencing the Amyrlin Seat. The Swedish metal band Freternia, on their 2019 album "The Gathering", released the song "Reborn", referencing the Dragon Reborn, Rand al'Thor. The American band Lyra wrote the song "The Sword That Could Not Be Broken", about the history of Manetheren, as well as the song "Betrayer of Hope", in reference to Ishamael. The Dread Crew of Oddwood produced the song "The Gleeman", which refers to Thom's battle with a Myrddraal in Whitebridge. The Scottish metal band Farseer, on their 2016 album "Fall Before the Dawn", released the song "Luck of the Joker", which references the most important events that happen to Matrim Cauthon during the whole series. The Swedish band Withered Beauty, on their self-titled album, released the song "He Who Comes with the Dawn" in reference to the Dragon. The name of the American Black Metal band Horn of Valere is also a direct reference to an artifact from the series. The Spanish power metal band Reveal, on their 2023 album "Still Alive", released the song "Dragon Reborn", referencing Rand al'Thor.. The power metal band Eons Enthroned, on their 2021 album "Into the Arcane", have several songs referencing many different fantasy stories, including "To Sheathe the Blade" in reference to Lan Mandragoran during the Last Battle; "Veins of Gold" in reference to the chapter of the same name, with Rand struggling with Saidin, and "Twisted Red Doorframe", referencing the ter'angreal with the title .. In the tradition of the literature-inspired
symphonic poem, American composer Seth Stewart produced a full-scale orchestral work entitled "Age of Legends", inspired by the eponymous era of myth and magic described throughout the
Wheel of Time series. The orchestral piece was premiered and recorded in 2011 at the
Beall Concert Hall.
Television and film Early attempts In a 2000 chat on CNN.com, Robert Jordan mentioned that
NBC had purchased an option to do a
miniseries of
The Eye of the World. But he expressed doubts that the series would be made stating "key people involved in getting that contract together have left NBC." The series was optioned by
Universal Pictures in 2008 for film adaptations, with plans to adapt
The Eye of the World as the first film. Neither project ultimately emerged. In February 2015, Red Eagle Entertainment paid air time to cable network FXX to air
Winter Dragon, a low-budget 22-minute pilot for a potential
The Wheel of Time series that allowed Red Eagle to hold on to the rights to the series. The pilot, based on the prologue to
The Eye of the World, starred
Max Ryan as Lews Therin Thelamon and
Billy Zane as Ishamael and aired after midnight with no announcements or publicity. Harriet McDougal initially stated she was unaware of the show ahead of time, and that the film rights to
The Wheel of Time were set to revert to the Bandersnatch Group, her company, a few days later on 11 February 2015. Her comments triggered a slander lawsuit with Red Eagle, which was ultimately dismissed during settlement talks that July. In an interview with
io9, Red Eagle Entertainment's CEO Rick Selvage stated "it was more of an [issue of] getting it on the air." A spokesman for FXX stated that the channel was paid to air the show, but Selvage hinted that it was indeed produced with a future series in mind. "We think there's huge demand for the television series internationally, and we're looking forward to producing it and getting it out in the marketplace." On 29 April 2016, Harriet McDougal confirmed that the legal issues had been resolved and that a television series was in development.
Amazon Prime Video series A new adaptation of the series was announced on 20 April 2017, produced by
Sony Pictures Television in association with Red Eagle Entertainment and Radar Pictures, with
Rafe Judkins as
showrunner and executive producer. In February 2018,
Amazon Studios announced a deal with Sony Pictures Television to co-develop the series for distribution on its streaming service
Amazon Prime Video. The series was formally greenlit in October 2018.
Principal photography for the first season began on 16 September 2019, was halted in March 2020 due to the
COVID-19 pandemic, but had resumed by April 2021 and concluded in May 2021. On 20 May 2021, Amazon renewed the series for a second season ahead of the series premiere.
The Wheel of Time premiered on 19 November 2021. Filming for the second season began on 19 July 2021, and concluded in February 2022. On 21 July 2022, ahead of the second-season premiere, Amazon renewed the series for a third season. The second season premiered on 1 September 2023, and combined elements from both
The Great Hunt (1990) and
The Dragon Reborn (1991), the second and third books in the series. The third season premiered on 13 March 2025 and combined elements of the third and fourth books,
The Dragon Reborn (1991) and
The Shadow Rising (1992).
Animated and live-action films In July 2023, iwot productions (formerly Red Eagle Entertainment) and Squeeze Animation Studios announced
The White Tower, a feature-length
3D animated film set before the events of the television series. The film, described as a YA action-adventure about a young girl learning magical powers, is written by
Zack Stentz (
Thor,
X-Men: First Class). In October 2023,
Jay Oliva (
Batman: The Dark Knight Returns) was announced as director. In December 2023, iwot productions announced
The Age of Legends, the first in a planned trilogy of live-action films exploring the origins of the
Wheel of Time universe. Set millennia before the novels, the film focuses on the emergence of the
Dark One and the fall of the Forsaken. The film is directed by
Kari Skogland (
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier) from a screenplay by Zack Stentz, with
Eva Longoria serving as executive producer. == Reception ==