‘Wheel of Time’ Showrunner Rafe Judkins Breaks Down the Emond’s Field Five’s Final Triumph Against Ishamael (Plus Why Elayne, But Not Aviendha, Is There)

The Wheel of Time Season 2 finale, “What Was Meant to Be” is an hour of television designed to get hard core fantasy fans hooting and hollering at their screen. There’s an epic battle, a sequence where heroes literally are summoned from the dead to fight evil, and the reveal of a new villainess. However, what might move Wheel of Time fans the most is a simple choice that diverges slightly from the Robert Jordan books. The Prime Video series chooses to reunite its original five friends (plus Ceara Coveney‘s Elayne) to take on Ishamael (Fares Fares) atop a tower in Falme. Seeing Rand (Josha Stradowski) supported at such a critical moment by Mat (Dónal Finn), Egwene (Madeleine Madden), Perrin (Marcus Rutherford), and Nynaeve (Zoë Robins) is moving to say the least. And, according to The Wheel of Time showrunner Rafe Judkins, always a part of the Season 2 plan.

“It is a season so much about what it means for them to be separated from each other and each of them on their own journey. So I think the whole season hopefully really builds well to that final moment of them reunited,” Judkins said.

**Spoilers for The Wheel of Time Season 2 finale, now streaming on Prime Video**

The Wheel of Time Season 2 Episode 8 “What Was Meant to Be” finally sees Rand arriving in Falme to rescue Egwene from the Seanchan, even though he knows it’s a trap. What he doesn’t realize is all of his closest friends have also converged on the city with similar purposes. Oh, and the Whitecloaks have invaded the city in a separate attempt to oust the invading Seanchan.

What follows is a massive battle that tests all of our characters, but perhaps none so much as Rand. When Rand finally finds Egwene, she has already freed herself and killed her sul’dam Renna (Xelia Mendes-Jones). They are barely reunited when Ishamael blows Egwene away and orders High Lady Suroth (Karima McAdams) to command her damane off the coast to shield Rand as a prelude to potentially gentling him. This means that Rand cannot defeat Ishamael alone. He needs the help of all of his friends from the Two Rivers, plus Moiraine (Rosamund Pike), Lan (Daniel Henney), and even Elayne, to gain the strength needed to kill the first among the Forsaken.

What results is a thrilling sequence that evokes that iconic moment in The Avengers, where all six superheroes gather together to defeat evil. Rand, Egwene, Mat, Perrin, Nynaeve, and Elayne band together in a single shot on top of a tower overlooking Falme. Sure, Rand is the focus. He is the Dragon Reborn standing below a fiery dragon banner while his ta’veren nature pulls the attention of the cheering crowds below. But it’s a moment that lionizes these six main Wheel of Time characters in a way that feels true to the source material even if this moment never happens in Robert Jordan’s books.

“So I think in the books, you get this sense of the characters all coming back together when they’re on the page together and they’re in the same city together. But like, they don’t actually all stand side by side in Falme at the end of the books,” The Wheel of Time showrunner Rafe Judkins admitted to Decider. “I think for the visual medium of television, it’s really important that we build to that visual of the five of them truly together in the same frame because that’s the only way you as an audience feel that reconnection of this group that you feel when you read the books. That’s the way we had to convey it.”

“From the beginning of the season, we planned that the first time that all five of them are back together is right there on the top of the tower at the end of the season.”

Of course it’s not just the Emond’s Five who are on that tower. Elayne is there, too. In fact, she is the one who stitches up Rand’s wound, marking the first time the Dragon Reborn and the Daughter Heir of Andor have met. Book readers know that they have an important relationship in the overall series — and that they both have equally important relationships with Aviendha (Ayoola Smart). So why wasn’t the Aiel Maiden of the Spear up there, too?

“Well, we talked about Aviendha’s character in this moment. The important thing for her is seeing the proclamation of Rand and what he is and what that drives for her into the next season,” Judkins said. “But, you know, I think there’s a good chance that those characters do all three meet in the future…”

Consider us even more hyped for The Wheel of Time Season 3…