1. The book series is complete. We know how it ends, and the ending (written by BYU's own Brandon Sanderson) is outstanding. GOT's failure will not be repeated. It is also considered one of the great fantasy series, many putting it on par with Lord of the Rings, and it is certainly one of the definitive works of modern fantasy, and most of the current fantasy writers (including George R. R. Martin, Brandon Sanderson, and Patrick Rothfuss) will readily admit to WOT being a highly influential work in their own writing.

2. The book series is incredibly complex and rich, providing plenty of source material for an extended television series. The book series has approximately 4.4 million words. That's more than the Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Hobbit, The Silmarillion, War and Peace, the Harry Potter series, and the Holy Bible, combined.

3. This is a big budget project. As just recently (within the last week) discovered, it appears the total budget for the first season exceeds $90 million - and that's a conservative estimate right now, based on documentation provided by the Czech Republic (where it is being filmed). With an expected 8-episode first season, that's more than $10 million per episode - which was GOT's budget for its final season - GOT's first season budget was about $6 million per episode. The budget for Blackwater, considered one of the better GOT episodes, was $10 million.

4. The showrunner, Rafe Judkins, is both an experienced television writer (including Chuck and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.), and is also a long-time fan of the Wheel of Time series. He says he sought out the project because he heard it had been greenlighted, and as a huge fan, he wanted to make sure it was treated right on television. He's not going to be giving the last season short shrift so he can move on to something bigger and better - this is his dream project.

5. The huge budget has allowed the producers to hire outstanding production staff and crew, with experience on some acclaimed shows, such as Westworld, Carnival Row, Black Mirror, Black Sails, Vikings and Stranger Things (and also GOT), as well as Lord of the Rings.

6. The casting has been very good. There are a couple of well-known names, such as Academy Award nominee Rosamund Pike and Daniel Henney in key roles, but there is a young core of actors in main roles who seem to have some good talent. Most fans of the series have been pleasantly surprised by the fit of the casting so far. Only one significant GOT actor (Michael McElhatton, who played Roose Bolton) has been cast in a significant role in WOT, but in WOT, he plays the father of one of the protagonists, and a good guy. Also, for those who have watched Money Heist, Alvaro Morte (the Professor) plays a major role.

7. Recently, Daniel Henney said in a social media video that he's had production staff who have worked on huge productions like GOT and Lord of the Rings tell him what a huge deal the production sets are - they've never worked on a production with the scope and quality of sets as they're working with on Wheel of Time and are extremely excited to be working on these sets. I'm very glad Henney has been cast in his role - he has martial arts experience, and the swordplay in WOT is unique - kind of a blend of traditional swordplay and martial arts. I'm really anxious to see it play out on screen.

8. There are two main areas where the Wheel of Time author, Robert Jordan, has been lauded for in his work - his worldbuilding and his character development. Both of these strengths will contribute to an unprecedented television series. The world Robert Jordan built is not particularly derivative of Lord of the Rings, as much of fantasy literature is. The magic system is incredibly unique and very suited to some spectacular special effects. There are some outstanding character arcs (i.e., Mat Cauthon, Egwene al'Vere) and a lot of action.

9. I think there is a potential for multiple battle scenes in WOT to dwarf anything we've seen in Lord of the Rings or GOT. There is a "Last Battle" in the final book - I'm listening to the final book in the series on Audible right now, and the "Last Battle" chapter is more than 9 hours long. (This should not be a spoiler - everything in the book anticipates and leads up to a "Last Battle".)

10. I had read the then-existing ASOIAF/Game of Thrones books prior to the series coming out. I knew and anticipated some of the huge surprises in the television series - there are a number of those kinds of anticipated scenes/episodes in WOT that are going to be just as impactful (Dumai's Wells, anyone?) j- scene's I'm every bit as excited to see as anything in GOT.

Six of the expected 8 episodes have been filmed already and are in post-production during the quarantine. The second season has already been written. My guess is this will end up as 8 television seasons of at least 8 (1-hour) episodes each.

It's almost like a perfect storm has come together to help ensure its success. Immense (and complete) source to draw from, including a huge and detailed world, an enormous budget, backed by a huge company (Amazon) which has already made some popular and critically-acclaimed shows, what appears to be a good cast, an experienced showrunner who is also a huge fan of the books, and great and complex storylines and characters.

It has been expected to premiere sometime in 2021, but that's a little up in the air with the pandemic.

While I've been cautiously optimistic about this TV series, things I've been seeing recently make me willing to predict that this will be bigger than Game of Thrones.