FXX Bizarrely Airs “Secret” Wheel of Time Pilot?
So for reasons unknown, FXX aired a Wheel of Time short film in the middle of the night. About a half hour long and titled “Winter Dragon,” it was a fairly faithful adaptation of the opening of the prologue from the first book of the series. The cast includes Max Ryan and Billy Zane.
…and no one knows what’s going on. There was no fanfare, no news… just Lews Therin going crazy in the middle of the night.
And there’s a lot of debate as to what this was? Was it Universal just trying to throw something out there to hold onto the rights? Was it a pilot put on air to get a select group to fill out surveys? AM I GOING MAD LIKE THE DRAGON DID?!
It will likely get pulled down, but someone’s posted it to Youtube all the same. I’ve embedded it below:
From all reports, Harriet McDougal Rigney (The late Robert Jordan’s widow and editor) had no idea this was happening.
Of course, no one seems to know what the hell is happening.
Update: As Steve Stockdale pointed out in our comments section, io9 reached out to Red Eagle Entertainment and confirmed the airing was purely to keep the rights. The airtime on FXX was purchased like an infomercial.
Source, Thanks Wurm for the initial tip
According to io9.com, the airtime was rented out (like an infomercial) by the studio who had made the pilot in order to get it on TV and avoid losing the rights.
I’ve updated the story. Thanks. 🙂
I don’t know if I’m excited about this or scared. As much as I want WoT to make it to the screen, doing it faithfully would require a Game of Thrones type series for many many seasons. This pilot has potential, but standing on its own was only “decent”. The inevitable court battle over this should be interesting.