{"id":7509,"date":"2021-11-21T10:00:42","date_gmt":"2021-11-21T09:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/?p=1513738"},"modified":"2021-11-21T10:24:10","modified_gmt":"2021-11-21T09:24:10","slug":"the-wheel-of-times-marcus-rutherford-could-be-the-next-big-thing","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/rss_feed\/the-wheel-of-times-marcus-rutherford-could-be-the-next-big-thing\/","title":{"rendered":"The Wheel of Time\u2019s Marcus Rutherford could be the next big thing"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Huw Fullerton\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Sunday, 21 November 2021 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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After two years in limbo, Marcus Rutherford\u2019s life might be about to change.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of season one started filming in 2019. It\u2019s been a whirlwind,\u201d the 26-year-old actor tells me. \u201cWith COVID, we had two shutdowns that lasted roughly about five months each. It really felt like that first season took forever to get out. I think there\u2019s some shots in the first episode where we look about 10.\u201d<\/p>\n

So far, so standard for the world of COVID drama production \u2013 but Rutherford\u2019s new project The Wheel of Time<\/a> is a little different from your average TV show. Based on a 14-book series of fantasy novels that began over 30 years ago and sold over 90 million copies worldwide, it\u2019s a huge undertaking for the new cast, and a potentially big commitment \u2013 season two is already filming.<\/p>\n

And after two years of working in the shadows, Rutherford and his co-stars now have to stand in the light as the world finally sees what they\u2019ve been working on. If it\u2019s a hit, they could be in for a Game of Thrones-length engagement, forced to move their lives permanently to the series\u2019 production base in the Czech Republic and potentially play the same characters for years.<\/p>\n

Or\u2026it could flop, and they\u2019ll just go back to normal life. No pressure, then.<\/p>

\u201cFinally having this reception that will come in the next week or so, it will be really, really amazing,\u201d Rutherford tells me over Zoom, around a week before Wheel of Time\u2019s release date (three episodes dropped on Amazon on Friday 19th November, with five more coming week to week).<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s something you think about, but I think until we see how people respond to it, you can\u2019t assume that we\u2019ll be doing it forever,\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve not relied on the idea that we\u2019re going to be doing these characters for 10 years or whatever, but I think we\u2019ve definitely thought about where our characters end up, and where they\u2019re going to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

Helpfully, they have a guide in the mighty book series written by the late Robert Jordan, which painstakingly details the lives of Rutherford\u2019s and the other characters as they battle the forces of evil, the darkness within themselves and even each other over the course of the massive, sprawling series.<\/p>\n

Before all that, though, the story starts smaller. Specifically, it starts with five young people from a backwater village, one of whom is the reincarnation of a legendary figure who died thousands of years ago but has been called back to face a supernatural being called The Dark One.<\/p>\n

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