title: The Hobbit (film series)

text: Cate Blanchett, Sylvester McCoy, Mikael Persbrandt, William Kircher, Ken Stott, and Jed Brophy were cast in December as Galadriel, Radagast the Brown, Beorn, Bifur, Balin, and Nori, respectively. Blanchett was the first returning cast member from "The Lord of the Rings" film trilogy to be cast in the films, even though her character does not appear in the novel. On her casting, Jackson said, "Cate is one of my favorite actors to work with and I couldn't be more thrilled to have her reprise the role she so beautifully brought to life in the earlier films." McCoy, the former "Doctor Who" star, who appeared alongside McKellen in a Royal Shakespeare Company's King Lear, was confirmed to be in negotiations to play a major role as a "wizard" in October 2010, leading to speculation he could appear as Radagast the Brown. During the production of "The Lord of the Rings" film trilogy, McCoy had been contacted about playing the role of Bilbo and was kept in place as a potential Bilbo for six months before Jackson went with Ian Holm. On the casting of Persbrandt, Jackson was quoted as saying, "The role of Beorn is an iconic one and Mikael was our first choice for the part. Since seeing him read for the role we can't imagine anyone else playing this character." On the casting of Stott, Jackson commented "Fran and I have long been fans of Ken's work and are excited he will be joining us on this journey." The casting of Brophy came after his collaboration with Jackson on several films, including "Braindead", "Heavenly Creatures", and all three "Lord of the Rings" films as various creatures.


title: The Hobbit (film series)

text: Elijah Wood joined the cast by January 2011 to reprise his role of Frodo Baggins. As Frodo had not been born during the events of "The Hobbit", his inclusion indicated that parts of the story would take place shortly before or during the events of "The Lord of the Rings". According to TheOneRing.net, "As readers of 'The Hobbit' know, the tale of 'The Downfall of The Lord of the Rings' and 'The Hobbit or There and Back Again,' are contained in the fictional 'Red Book of Westmarch.' In Peter Jackson's LOTR films, the book is shown on screen and written in by Bilbo and Frodo and handed off to Samwise Gamgee ... The fictional book and either the telling from it or the reading of it, will establish Frodo in the film experiencing Bilbo's story. Viewers are to learn the tale of 'The Hobbit' as a familiar Frodo gets the tale as well."


title: The Hobbit (film series)

text: Ian McKellen, Andy Serkis, and Christopher Lee were also cast in January to reprise their roles of Gandalf the Grey, Gollum, and Saruman the White from "The Lord of the Rings" film trilogy. Although McKellen and Serkis were expected to return for their roles, McKellen was previously quoted in July 2010 on TVNZ's "Good Morning" that: "I'm not under contract and my time is running out. I don't want to give the producers the impression that I'm sitting waiting." It was later revealed that Serkis would also serve as second unit director on the films. Serkis stated, "I think I understand Peter's sensibility and we have a common history of understanding Middle-earth. A lot of the crew from "The Lord of the Rings" was returning to work on "The Hobbit". There is really a sense of Peter wanting people around him who totally understand the material and the work ethic." Lee had originally said he would have liked to have shown how Saruman is first corrupted by Sauron, but would not be comfortable flying to New Zealand at his age. Lee went on to say that if a film were made, he would love to voice Smaug, as it would mean he could record his part in England and not have to travel. On 10 January 2011, it was reported that Lee had entered into negotiations to reprise the role of Saruman.


title: The Hobbit (film series)

text: Jeffrey Thomas joined the project in March 2011 as the character of Thrór, as did Mike Mizrahi as Thráin II. Bret McKenzie was added to the cast in April as Lindir. His father Peter McKenzie played the role of Elendil in "The Lord of the Rings".


title: The Hobbit (film series)

text: Ian Holm was added to the cast in April as old Bilbo Baggins. During the early stages of pre-production, former director Guillermo del Toro indicated that he was interested in having Holm reprise the role of Bilbo, but acknowledged that he might be too old to take on such a physically demanding role. On his potential casting, del Toro stated, "[Holm] certainly is the paragon we aspire to. He will be involved in some manner, I'm sure." He indicated that he was open to the possibility of Holm narrating the films. On 3 March 2011, Holm revealed that he had been in talks with the producers about reprising the role, but that he had not heard back from them yet.


title: The Hobbit (film series)

text: In the early stages of production, the role of Thranduil had been linked to actor Doug Jones but on 29 April 2011, Jackson reported on Facebook that the role had gone to Lee Pace. On his casting, Jackson said, "Casting these Tolkien stories is very difficult, especially the Elven characters and Lee has always been our first choice for Thranduil. He's going to be great. We loved his performance in a movie called "The Fall" a few years ago and have been hoping to work with him since. When we were first discussing who would be right for Thranduil, Lee came into mind almost immediately."


title: The Hobbit (film series)

text: Dean O'Gorman was hired in April 2011 for the role of Fíli. Jackson stated, "Dean's a terrific Kiwi actor, who I am thrilled to be working with." O'Gorman was a last minute replacement for Rob Kazinsky had originally been cast for the role in October 2010, but left the film on 24 April 2011 "for personal reasons".


title: The Hobbit (film series)

text: Hugo Weaving returned to the role of Elrond by May 2011. Stephen Fry and Ryan Gage also joined the project in May as Master of Lake-town and Alfrid respectively. Fry spoke of his role, saying "My character is an opportunity for sheer grossness ... [Peter Jackson] had me eating testicles ... gross appetites. I mustn't give too much away but I've got a bald cap and then on top of that a really bad combover wig and this wispy mustache and wispy beard and horrible blotchy skin and disgusting fingernails ... And generally speaking a really unappetising piece of work. And a coward to boot and very, very greedy." Gage was originally cast to play Drogo Baggins in December 2010, though according to Jackson, "Ryan is a great young actor who we originally cast in a small role, but we liked him so much, we promoted him to the much larger Alfrid part".


title: The Hobbit (film series)

text: Orlando Bloom was cast to reprise his role as Legolas by the end of May. Bloom revealed on 25 April 2011 that he had been in contact with Jackson, who had given him a copy of the screenplay and said that there was a high probability that he would return. He was quoted as saying, "I'm going to bet on it ... But I can't really talk too much about it because it's still sort of in the ether. But I would love to go back to work with Peter Jackson. It would be an honour."


title: The Hobbit (film series)

text: Several actors, including Luke Evans as Bard the Bowman, Evangeline Lilly as Tauriel, Barry Humphries as the Great Goblin, and Benedict Cumberbatch as Smaug and the Necromancer, were cast in June 2011. Cumberbatch portrayed both of his roles through motion capture, as did Humphries for his character. The casting of Cumberbatch was prematurely revealed by his "Sherlock" co-star Martin Freeman during the BAFTA Television Awards in May 2011. Speculations of his undisclosed role were further fuelled when Ian McKellen wrote on his blog that Philippa Boyens showed him Cumberbatch's screen test, stating that it was "electrifying, vocally and facially". Peter Jackson finally revealed on his Facebook page that Cumberbatch was set to play Smaug. Following this, it was also confirmed that he would be portraying The Necromancer as well.


title: The Hobbit (film series)

text: Billy Connolly joined the cast in February 2012 as Dáin II Ironfoot. Connolly said of his character "...this guy will terrify the life out of you. I have a mohawk and tattoos on my head."


title: The Hobbit (film series)

text: John Bell plays Bain, Manu Bennett plays Azog, Craig Hall plays Galion, Ben Mitchell plays Narzug, John Rawls plays Yazneg, Stephen Ure plays Fimbul and Grinnah, Kiran Shah plays a goblin scribe, and Stephen Colbert was cast in an undisclosed cameo. Conan Stevens was to play Bolg, but he eventually played a Gundabad Orc, also known as Keeper of Dungeons.


title: The Hobbit (film series)

text: Principal photography began on 21 March 2011 in Wellington, New Zealand. Filming took place at Wellington Stone Street Studios, the town of Matamata and at other undisclosed locations around New Zealand.


title: The Hobbit (film series)

text: The costumes for each of the Dwarves included six wigs and eight beards, which were worn by the actors, stunt doubles, and stand-ins.


title: The Hobbit (film series)

text: During July 2011, scenes from "The Hobbit" were filmed at Pinewood Studios, England. Sets were constructed on the F and N&P Stages for the shoot. Jackson recorded a video blog from the set, which featured Christopher Lee in full makeup and costume as Saruman. All the scenes with Christopher Lee as Saruman were shot in that studio, as he was unable to travel to New Zealand. The Saruman scenes actually in New Zealand were shot with a body double. The scenes with Ian Holm as Bilbo Baggins were similarly shot in Pinewood Studios; Martin Freeman doubles as old Bilbo Baggins in one scene.


title: The Hobbit (film series)

text: The second block of shooting in New Zealand began at the end of August and was completed in December 2011.


title: The Hobbit (film series)

text: During May 2013, additional filming for the second and third films began in New Zealand and lasted for 10 weeks.


title: The Hobbit (film series)

text: The films were filmed in 3D using Red Epic cameras. According to a production diary video, 48 Epic cameras were used during the film's production. The production employed a specialty rig designed by 3ality Technica, using two cameras and a mirror in order to achieve an intraocular effect similar to that of human sight (the distance between the eyes). This is how the depth required for 3D film is achieved.


title: The Hobbit (film series)

text: In April 2011, Jackson revealed through his Facebook page that he would film "The Hobbit" at 48 fps (frames per second) instead of the normal 24 fps.


title: The Hobbit (film series)

text: Additionally, the films were filmed at a 5K resolution, native to the Red Epic cameras, which provides a more detailed picture than the conventional 4K resolution. The films were recorded digitally onto 128 GB solid-state drives that fit into the Red Epic camera.


title: The Hobbit (film series)

text: In a bid to pressure director Peter Jackson to stop using live animals in future films and use instead 100% CGI-inserted animals, animal rights group PETA planned protests as the film was released. In the week prior to the release of the film, PETA broadcast allegations accusing Jackson of animal abuse during filming. The incidents had happened over a year prior, were involved in the housing of animals not the filming, and had been reported to the American Humane Association, who investigated in late 2011 and recommended improvements to the animals' living areas.


title: The Hobbit (film series)

text: The music of "The Hobbit" film series was composed, produced and (in the case of the first film) orchestrated and conducted by Howard Shore, who scored all three "The Lord of the Rings" films. Recording sessions for the first film began on 20 August 2012, at Abbey Road Studios. The second and third films were recorded in New Zealand.


title: The Hobbit (film series)

text: Unlike with the "Lord of the Rings", which only received an expanded release after 2005, each Hobbit soundtrack was released in a two-CD, two-hour release. The music features 64-70 new leitmotives, about 40 leitmotives returning from "The Lord of the Rings", and a variety of non-orchestral instruments, including bagpipes, didgeridoos and a whole Gamelan orchestra.


title: The Hobbit (film series)

text: The score for "An Unexpected Journey" was primarily played by the London Philharmonic Orchestra (as it was for "The Lord of the Rings"), London Voices and Tiffin' Boys choir, although Jackson and Shore chose the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra (which participated in scoring a large section of the Fellowship of the Ring) to score "The Desolation of Smaug" and "The Battle of the Five Armies". Additional musicians, including two gamelan orchestras, and the London Voices and Tiffin' boys choir, augmented the orchestra. Musicians Neil Finn and Ed Sheeran contributed to the score as well as some actors including Richard Armitage and the cast of dwarves, James Nesbitt and Barry Humphries (in the extended edition). Clara Sanabras and Grace Davidson sang the soprano parts.


title: The Hobbit (film series)

text: As with "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy, Weta Digital was involved in the creation of special effects. However, as opposed to "The Lord of the Rings", where the actors who played Orcs portrayed them through full-body makeup and prosthetics, many of those actors in "The Hobbit" had computer-generated faces in order to portray them. Many of the actors who played Orcs in this trilogy portrayed them through performance capture. Joe Letteri served as senior visual effects supervisor on the trilogy.


title: The Hobbit (film series)

text: After Jackson's decision to use High-Frame-Rate (48 frames per second) in high-definition for "An Unexpected Journey" was met with a mixed reception, he decided to make adjustments by altering the visuals of the following two films in the trilogy. During post-production for "The Desolation of Smaug", Jackson commented, "When I did the colour timing this year, the colour grading, I spent a lot of time experimenting with ways we could soften the image and make it look a bit more filmic. Not more like 35 mm film necessarily, but just to take the HD quality away from it, which I think I did reasonably successfully". He also stated, "I was experimenting all the time and trying different things. It’s to do with diffusing the image a little but, using what’s called a Pro-Mist; it’s the saturation of the color. Scene by scene I’d make decisions and choices as to which way to go, so it wasn’t really one magic button to press."


title: The Hobbit (film series)

text: The world premiere for "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" took place on 28 November 2012 in Wellington, New Zealand, with the film's wide release in New Zealand on 12 December. 100,000 people lined the red carpet on Wellington's Courtenay Place for the premiere. The entire event was also broadcast live on TV3 (New Zealand), and streamed over the Internet. Tickets to the film's midnight screenings in New Zealand sold out within minutes of going on sale, prompting director Peter Jackson to say that the fans who missed out "may get something special" which could include getting to see the film "possibly even a minute or two before anyone else". The film was released on 13 December 2012 in the United Kingdom and 14 December 2012 for some other parts of the world. It has a runtime of 169 minutes (2 hours and 49 minutes). The film has grossed over $1 billion at the box office, surpassing both "" and "" nominally.


title: The Hobbit (film series)

text: "The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug" premiered on 2 December 2013 in Los Angeles, and was released internationally from 11 December 2013. It has grossed over $959 million in the box office worldwide. Like the previous instalment, it surpassed both "The Fellowship of the Ring" and "The Two Towers" in nominal box office performance.


title: The Hobbit (film series)

text: The final film "The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies" premiered on 11 December 2014 in London, and was released internationally from 12 December 2014. The release for the third film was originally set for an 18 July 2014 release, but was pushed back when "", was announced to be released on the same date, as direct competition to the third instalment. It has grossed over $962 million worldwide at the box office, and as the previous two films, it surpassed both "The Fellowship of the Ring" and "The Two Towers".


title: The Hobbit (film series)

text: "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" was released on 3D Blu-ray, Blu-ray and DVD in United States on 19 March 2013, and was released in the United Kingdom on 8 April 2013. As of 7 July 2013, DVD/Blu-ray sales in the United States were reported to be around $29,527,413, with almost 3 million units sold. An Extended Edition containing 13 minutes of additional footage and original music was released on 3D Blu-ray, DVD and Blu-ray on 5 November 2013 in the US, and on 11 November 2013 in the UK.


title: The Hobbit (film series)

text: "The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug" was released on DVD, 3D Blu-ray and Blu-ray on 7 April 2014 in the United Kingdom and on 8 April 2014 in the United States. An Extended Edition containing 25 minutes of additional footage and original music was released on 3 November 2014 in the UK, and on 4 November 2014 in the US.


title: The Hobbit (film series)

text: "The Hobbit: The Battle of The Five Armies" was released on 3D Blu-ray, Blu-ray and DVD on 23 March 2015 in the United Kingdom and on 24 March in the United States. An Extended Edition of the film containing 20 minutes of additional footage and original music was released on 17 November 2015 in the United States and on 23 November in the United Kingdom.


title: The Hobbit (film series)

text: "The Hobbit" trilogy was released in Ultra HD Blu-ray on 30 November 2020 in the United Kingdom and on 1 December 2020 in the United States, including both the theatrical and the extended editions of the films.


title: The Hobbit (film series)

text: "The Hobbit" trilogy has received a mixed reception. Complaints have been levelled at its "bloated" length from adapting its source material into three lengthy films, tone, dialogue, lack of gravitas and emotional weight, and the emphasis on computer-generated effects.


title: The Hobbit (film series)

text: "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" has won the "Technical Achievement" award by the Houston Film Critics Society, who also nominated it for "Best Original Song", the award for "Outstanding Virtual Cinematography" by the Visual Effects Society, and the Empire Awards for "Best Actor" and "Best Sci-Fi/Fantasy". Among others, the film has also received three Academy Award nominations, a nomination from the Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association, four nominations from the Broadcast Film Critics Association, six nominations from the Visual Effects Society, and three nominations from the Phoenix Film Critics Society.


title: The Hobbit (film series)

text: The films were shown in some cinemas at 48 frames per second, twice the traditional frame rate, attracting a mixed response; critics noted the added immediacy, but that the "cinematic glow" was lost.


title: The Hobbit (film series)

text: Scholars reflected on Jackson's transformation of Tolkien's children's book to an "epic prequel". Frank Riga and colleagues noted in "Mythlore" that while most film reviewers (65%) and audiences (84%) liked the trilogy, some 35% of "Rotten Tomatoes" reviewers complained about the "violat[ion] of Tolkien's vision"; others objected to the "amplification" of the story. Riga and colleagues did not endorse those views, arguing that Jackson transforms "an episodic, almost picaresque, tale to a chronologically developed and coherent narrative". They write that the film is Jackson's personal rendering of the book, but state that "it is consistently grounded in Tolkien's own work and plans", resulting in an enriched perception of Tolkien's work.


title: The Hobbit (film series)

text: Other scholars were less accepting; Marek Oziewicz, writing in "Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts", called Jackson's version of "The Hobbit" "a beautiful disaster", citing among what he called "Jackson's many missteps" the same "interminable battle scenes, the relentless trivialization of story, [and] the flattening of characters" that in his view characterized Jackson's "Lord of the Rings" trilogy.


title: The Hobbit (film series)

text: On 6 October 2011, Warner Bros. Consumer Products and U.S. toy company The Bridge Direct announced their partnership on worldwide master toy rights for "The Hobbit" films. The toy line will include action figures, playsets and role-play accessories like swords and battle axes representing the characters and weapons in the films.


title: The Hobbit (film series)

text: The first wave of toy products hit store shelves in October 2012, ahead of the release of "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey". U.S. retailers that carry the toy line include Toys "R" Us, Kmart, and Walmart. Games Workshop released miniatures from "The Hobbit" as part of The Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game. The company has had rights to produce miniatures from the original book for some years but has not released any lines, save for a stand-alone game based on the Battle of Five Armies, with original designs not related to "The Lord of the Rings" films.


title: The Hobbit (film series)

text: On 16 December 2011, Warner Bros. and Lego announced the development of figures and play sets based on the upcoming adaptations of "The Hobbit" as well as "The Lord of the Rings". The launch of the "Lego The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" was released to coincide with the release of the film adaptation's first part in December 2012.


title: The Hobbit (film series)

text: Following the expiration in 2008 of Electronic Arts' license to "The Lord of the Rings", Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment acquired the rights to develop a video game based on "The Hobbit". When Guillermo del Toro was set to direct he had stated that a video game, if it were to be made, would not be released to tie-in with "The Hobbit" film, but rather after their release. Del Toro had stated that while he would like to be involved in the video game's creation, making it at the same time as the film would complicate things due to a "tight schedule".


title: The Hobbit (film series)

text: In 2008 British video game developer Traveller's Tales spent $1 million making an Xbox 360 The Hobbit demo in six months. This demo was designed to convince The Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson, and Guillermo del Toro, who at the time was attached to The Hobbit movie, that Traveller's Tales was capable of making a non-Lego game based on the upcoming film. Traveller's Tales built four The Lord of the Rings-themed levels, including two stealth demos featuring Frodo, a Gandalf versus Saruman demo, and a Gandalf versus the Balrog demo, plus five additional tech demos, including an Aragorn combat tech demo. In February 2009, Jon Burton flew to New Zealand to pitch to Jackson and del Toro. Warner Bros. ultimately decided to invest in a game not based directly on the movie, but happened in the same world at the same time.


title: The Hobbit (film series)

text: In October 2011, Warner Bros. confirmed that a "Hobbit" video game would be released in 2012, before the first film's release. However, the studio did not confirm whether or not the game would be a tie-in with the film.


title: The Hobbit (film series)

text: Warner Brothers developed two free-to-play online strategy games in collaboration with Kabam for promoting the film series which were "The Hobbit: Kingdoms of Middle Earth" released for Android and iOS on 8 November 2012 and "The Hobbit: Armies of the Third Age" playable online on web browsers and as a Facebook app that was released on 21 March 2013. The full list of mobile and browser games developed to coincide with the films' theatrical releases includes:


title: The Hobbit (film series)

text: Monolith Productions developed "Guardians of Middle-earth", which was released on 4 December 2012 for PlayStation 3 via the PlayStation Network, and 5 December 2012 for Xbox 360 via Xbox Live Arcade. "Guardians of Middle-earth" delivers a multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game set in Middle-earth and crafted specifically for the console systems. Gamers can play in teams of up to 10 players in strategic five versus five competitive multiplayer battle arenas in the epic setting of Middle-earth. Players can develop and master more than 20 guardians, including Gandalf, Sauron, Gollum and many more, forming memorable and unlikely alliances with and against friends. Gamers can connect via an in-game voice communication system, as well as access a comprehensive online stat and leader board system where they can track friends’ victories and defeats. The game featured tie-ins to "" film, released in 2012.


title: The Hobbit (film series)

text: On 25 November, Warner Brothers confirmed "Lego The Hobbit" video game. The game's levels only took place in the first two films. The game was released 8 April 2014.


title: The Hobbit (film series)

text: Another video game which was developed by Monolith Productions is "", this time to promote "". The events of the game take place directly after Sauron fled to Mordor, escaping The White Council, which was shown at the beginning of the film. The game was designed to act as an overlap between The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. It was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 & Xbox One in October 2014 and for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on November 21.


title: Mike Myers

text: Michael John Myers OC (born May 25, 1963) is a Canadian actor, comedian, screenwriter, and producer. His accolades include seven MTV Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. In 2002, he was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 2017, he was named an Officer of the Order of Canada for "his extensive and acclaimed body of comedic work as an actor, writer, and producer."


title: Mike Myers

text: Following a series of appearances on several Canadian television programs, Myers came to recognition for performing on "Saturday Night Live" (1989–1995), which won him the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series. He subsequently earned praise and numerous accolades for playing the title roles in the "Wayne's World" (1992–1993), "Austin Powers" (1997–2002), and "Shrek" (2001–2010) franchises, the latter of which is the second highest-grossing animated film franchise.


title: Mike Myers

text: Myers acted sporadically in the 2010s, notably having supporting roles in "Terminal" and "Bohemian Rhapsody" (both 2018). He made his directorial debut with the documentary "" (2013), which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. He created and starred in the 2022 Netflix original series, "The Pentaverate", and appeared in David O. Russell's "Amsterdam".


title: Mike Myers

text: Michael John Myers was born in the Scarborough district of Toronto on May 25, 1963, to data processor Alice "Bunny" E. (née Hind) and insurance agent Eric Myers. His parents were English immigrants from the Old Swan area of Liverpool. Both were World War II veterans, his mother having served in the Royal Air Force and his father in the British Army. He has distant Scottish ancestry. He has two older brothers: Paul, a musician, and Peter, who worked for Sears Canada. He grew up in Scarborough and North York, where he attended Sir John A. Macdonald Collegiate Institute. He graduated from Stephen Leacock Collegiate Institute in 1982.


title: Mike Myers

text: Myers began performing in commercials at two years old. At the age of 10, he made a commercial for British Columbia Hydro, with Gilda Radner playing his mother. At 12, he made a guest appearance as Ari on the TV series "King of Kensington". At 16, he was the guest star of the season 1 episode "Boy on Wheels" of the TV series "The Littlest Hobo".


title: Mike Myers

text: After graduating from high school, Myers was accepted into The Second City Canadian touring company. He moved to the United Kingdom, and in 1985 he was one of the founding members of The Comedy Store Players, an improvisational group based at The Comedy Store in London.


title: Mike Myers

text: The next year, he starred in the British children's TV program "Wide Awake Club", parodying the show's normal exuberance with his own "Sound Asleep Club", in partnership with Neil Mullarkey.


title: Mike Myers

text: He returned to Toronto and The Second City in 1986 as a cast member in The Second City's Toronto main stage show, Second City Theatre. In 1988, he moved from Second City in Toronto to Chicago. There, he trained, performed and taught at the Improv Olympic.


title: Mike Myers

text: Myers made many appearances, including as Wayne Campbell, on Toronto's Citytv in the early 1980s, on the alternative video show "City Limits" hosted by Christopher Ward; Myers also made several appearances after the launch of MuchMusic, for which "City Limits" was essentially the prototype. Myers also appeared as Wayne Campbell in the music video for Ward's Canadian hit "Boys and Girls".


title: Mike Myers

text: The Wayne Campbell character was featured extensively in the 1986 summer series "It's Only Rock & Roll", produced by Toronto's Insight Production Company for CBC Television. Wayne appeared both in-studio and in a series of location sketches directed and edited by Allan Novak. Myers wrote another sketch, "Kurt and Dieter", co-starring with Second City's Dana Andersen and also directed by Novak, which later became the popular "Sprockets" sketch on "Saturday Night Live".


title: Mike Myers

text: Myers began appearing on "Saturday Night Live" on January 21, 1989 and eventually became the first repertory player added to the show's cast in over two years. "He quickly became one of the show's biggest draws thanks to his talent for creating oddball characters with memorable catchphrases," according to "Entertainment Weekly". In addition to "Wayne's World" and "Sprockets", Myers starred in the recurring sketches "Lothar of the Hill People", "Stuart Rankin, All Things Scottish", "Lank Thompson", "Middle-Aged Man", "Simon", "Coffee Talk with Linda Richman", "Theatre Stories", "Phillip the Hyper Hypo", and "Scottish Soccer Hooligan Weekly". Myers's last episode as a cast member aired on January 21, 1995 (exactly six years to the day after his first episode aired). He returned to host in 1997 and made an appearance as his movie character Dr. Evil in 2014.


title: Mike Myers

text: Myers made his film debut when he and Dana Carvey adapted their "Wayne's World" "Saturday Night Live" (SNL) sketches into the feature "Wayne's World" (1992). It was among the most successful films of the year and was followed in 1993 by "Wayne's World 2"; Myers starred in "So I Married an Axe Murderer" the same year. He took a two-year hiatus from performing after the end of his time as an "SNL" regular.


title: Mike Myers

text: Myers returned to acting with the film "" (1997), followed by the sequels "" (1999) and "Austin Powers in Goldmember" (2002). Myers played the title role (Austin Powers) and the villain (Dr. Evil) in all three films as well as a henchman (Fat Bastard) and another villain (Goldmember) in the sequels.


title: Mike Myers

text: One of Myers's rare non-comedic roles came in the film "54" (1998), in which he portrayed Steve Rubell, proprietor of New York City's famous 1970s disco nightclub Studio 54. The film was not critically or commercially successful, though Myers received some positive notice.


title: Mike Myers

text: In June 2000, Myers was sued by Universal Pictures for 3.8 million for backing out of a contract to make a feature film based on his "SNL" character Dieter. Myers said he refused to honor the 20 million contract because he felt his script was not ready. Myers countersued and a settlement was reached after several months where Myers agreed to make another film with Universal. That film, "The Cat in the Hat", was released in November 2003 and starred Myers as the title character. It received negative reviews and was unsuccessful at the box office.


title: Mike Myers

text: In 2001, Myers provided the voice of the eponymous character, Shrek in the animated film of the same name, having taken over the role after the originally planned voice actor Chris Farley died in December 1997 before recording all of his dialogue. He reprised this role in "Shrek 4-D" (a theme park ride) in 2003, "Shrek 2" (2004), "Shrek the Third" (2007), the Christmas and Halloween television specials "Shrek the Halls" (2007) and "Scared Shrekless" (2010), and "Shrek Forever After" (2010).


title: Mike Myers

text: Myers received the MTV Generation Award in June 2007, making him the second Canadian to win the award (following Jim Carrey in 2006).


title: Mike Myers

text: In 2008, Myers co-wrote, co-produced and starred in the poorly received "The Love Guru", and in 2009 had a minor role as British general Ed Fenech in Quentin Tarantino's "Inglourious Basterds".


title: Mike Myers

text: In 2018, after an eight-year hiatus from feature films, Myers appeared in supporting roles in "Terminal" (2018) and "Bohemian Rhapsody" (2018).


title: Mike Myers

text: Myers had a cameo appearance in Britney Spears' music video "Boys" as Austin Powers. Britney Spears, in turn, made a cameo in "Austin Powers in Goldmember", performing "Boys". In a 2005 poll to find The Comedian's Comedian, he was voted among the top 50 comedy acts by fellow comedians and comedy insiders.


title: Mike Myers

text: Myers is a member of the band Ming Tea along with The Bangles' guitarist and vocalist Susanna Hoffs and musician Matthew Sweet. They performed the songs "BBC" and "Daddy Wasn't There" from the "Austin Powers" films. In 2011 Myers returned to The Comedy Store in London to perform a one night only comeback of his role with The Comedy Store Players. The UK comedy website Chortle praised his performance.


title: Mike Myers

text: Myers's 2013 directorial debut, "", was selected to be screened in the Gala Presentation section at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival. In 2017, Myers began hosting a reprised version of "The Gong Show" in heavy makeup as a fictional British host known as Tommy Maitland, though his identity was not confirmed until the second season.


title: Mike Myers

text: An avid follower of the Monty Python comedy troupe, in July 2014 Myers appeared on stage at the O2 Arena on the final night of their 10 dates live show, "Monty Python Live (Mostly)", and also appears on the documentary telefilm "".


title: Mike Myers

text: From 2017 to 2018, Myers hosted a re-boot of The Gong Show using heavy prosthetics and disguised as "British comedian" Tommy Maitland, a fictional character.


title: Mike Myers

text: In April 2019, "Variety" reported that Myers will be starring in and executive producing a comedy series for Netflix, which will last for six episodes and involve him playing multiple characters. In June 2021, the series title was announced as "The Pentaverate", which serves as a spin-off of "So I Married an Axe Murderer".


title: Mike Myers

text: Myers began dating actress and comedy writer Robin Ruzan in the late 1980s after meeting at an ice hockey game in Chicago, during which Myers caught a puck and used the incident as an icebreaker to strike up a conversation with Ruzan. The couple married on May 22, 1993, and Myers later referred to Ruzan as "his muse". The couple filed for divorce in December 2005.


title: Mike Myers

text: In 2006, Kelly Tisdale confirmed reports that she and Myers were dating. Myers and Tisdale married in New York City in a secret ceremony in late 2010. Tisdale is a scenic artist who works in the entertainment industry and a former cafe owner. They have a son and two daughters. They reside in the Tribeca neighborhood of New York City.


title: Mike Myers

text: Myers is a "Dungeons & Dragons" player and was one of several celebrities to have participated in the Worldwide Dungeons & Dragons Game Day in 2006. He supports the Toronto Maple Leafs ice hockey team, and named two characters in the first "Austin Powers" film Commander Gilmour and General Borschevsky, after then-Maple Leafs players Doug Gilmour and Nikolai Borschevsky. He is also a fan of his parents' hometown football team Liverpool FC.


title: Mike Myers

text: Myers has played for Hollywood United FC, a celebrity soccer team. He played in the 2010 Soccer Aid for UNICEF UK football match, England vs. R.O.W (Rest of the World) and scored his penalty during a sudden-death shootout after the game ended 2–2 (June 6, 2010). The Rest of the World team beat England for the first time since the tournament started.


title: Mike Myers

text: In 2014, Myers starred in a commercial with his brother Peter for Sears Canada, using "humorous banter to spread the message that, despite rumours, Sears wasn't shutting down". Peter at the time was senior director of planning at Sears' head office in Toronto, and he was laid off in 2017 after Sears Canada filed for bankruptcy.


title: Mike Myers

text: In 2016, Myers published a book, "Canada", a memoir interwoven with reflections on his native country's history and popular culture and the renaissance represented by the election of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.


title: Edward VI

text: Edward VI (12 October 1537 – 6 July 1553) was King of England and Ireland from 28 January 1547 until his death in 1553. He was crowned on 20 February 1547 at the age of nine. Edward was the son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour and the first English monarch to be raised as a Protestant. During his reign, the realm was governed by a regency council because he never reached maturity. The council was first led by his uncle Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset (1547–1549), and then by John Dudley, 1st Earl of Warwick (1550–1553), who from 1551 was Duke of Northumberland.


title: Edward VI

text: Edward's reign was marked by economic problems and social unrest that in 1549 erupted into riot and rebellion. An expensive war with Scotland, at first successful, ended with military withdrawal from Scotland and Boulogne-sur-Mer in exchange for peace. The transformation of the Church of England into a recognisably Protestant body also occurred under Edward, who took great interest in religious matters. His father, Henry VIII, had severed the link between the Church and Rome, but continued to uphold most Catholic doctrine and ceremony. It was during Edward's reign that Protestantism was established for the first time in England with reforms that included the abolition of clerical celibacy and the Mass, and the imposition of compulsory services in English.


title: Edward VI

text: In February 1553, at age 15, Edward fell ill. When his sickness was discovered to be terminal, he and his council drew up a "Devise for the Succession" to prevent the country's return to Catholicism. Edward named his first cousin once removed, Lady Jane Grey, as his heir, excluding his half-sisters, Mary and Elizabeth. This decision was disputed following Edward's death, and Jane was deposed by Mary nine days after becoming queen. Mary, a Catholic, reversed Edward's Protestant reforms during her reign, but Elizabeth restored them in 1559.


title: Edward VI

text: Edward was born on 12 October 1537 in his mother's room inside Hampton Court Palace, in Middlesex. He was the son of King Henry VIII by his third wife, Jane Seymour. Throughout the realm, the people greeted the birth of a male heir, "whom we hungered for so long", with joy and relief. "Te Deums" were sung in churches, bonfires lit, and "their was shott at the Tower that night above two thousand gonnes". Queen Jane, appearing to recover quickly from the birth, sent out personally signed letters announcing the birth of "a Prince, conceived in most lawful matrimony between my Lord the King's Majesty and us". Edward was christened on 15 October, with his half-sisters, the 21-year-old Lady Mary as godmother and the 4-year-old Lady Elizabeth carrying the chrisom; and the Garter King of Arms proclaimed him as Duke of Cornwall and Earl of Chester. The queen, however, fell ill on 23 October from presumed postnatal complications, and died the following night. Henry VIII wrote to Francis I of France that "Divine Providence ... hath mingled my joy with bitterness of the death of her who brought me this happiness".


title: Edward VI

text: Edward was a healthy baby who suckled strongly from the outset. His father was delighted with him; in May 1538, Henry was observed "dallying with him in his arms ... and so holding him in a window to the sight and great comfort of the people". That September, the Lord Chancellor, Lord Audley, reported Edward's rapid growth and vigour, and other accounts describe him as a tall and merry child. The tradition that Edward VI was a sickly boy has been challenged by more recent historians. At the age of four, he fell ill with a life-threatening "quartan fever", but, despite occasional illnesses and poor eyesight, he enjoyed generally good health until the last six months of his life.


title: Edward VI

text: Edward was initially placed in the care of Margaret Bryan, "lady mistress" of the prince's household. She was succeeded by Blanche Herbert, Lady Troy. Until the age of six, Edward was brought up, as he put it later in his "Chronicle", "among the women". The formal royal household established around Edward was, at first, under Sir William Sidney, and later Sir Richard Page, stepfather of Edward's aunt Anne (the wife of Edward Seymour). Henry demanded exacting standards of security and cleanliness in his son's household, stressing that Edward was "this whole realm's most precious jewel". Visitors described the prince, who was lavishly provided with toys and comforts, including his own troupe of minstrels, as a contented child.


title: Edward VI

text: From the age of six, Edward began his formal education under Richard Cox and John Cheke, concentrating, as he recalled himself, on "learning of tongues, of the scripture, of philosophy, and all liberal sciences". He received tuition from his sister Elizabeth's tutor, Roger Ascham, and from Jean Belmain, learning French, Spanish and Italian. In addition, he is known to have studied geometry and learned to play musical instruments, including the lute and the virginals. He collected globes and maps and, according to coinage historian C. E. Challis, developed a grasp of monetary affairs that indicated a high intelligence. Edward's religious education is assumed to have favoured the reforming agenda. His religious establishment was probably chosen by Archbishop Thomas Cranmer, a leading reformer. Both Cox and Cheke were "reformed" Catholics or Erasmians and later became Marian exiles. By 1549, Edward had written a treatise on the pope as Antichrist and was making informed notes on theological controversies. Many aspects of Edward's religion were essentially Catholic in his early years, including celebration of the mass and reverence for images and relics of the saints.


title: Edward VI

text: Both Edward's sisters were attentive to their brother and often visited him—on one occasion, Elizabeth gave him a shirt "of her own working". Edward "took special content" in Mary's company, though he disapproved of her taste for foreign dances; "I love you most", he wrote to her in 1546. In 1543, Henry invited his children to spend Christmas with him, signalling his reconciliation with his daughters, whom he had previously illegitimised and disinherited. The following spring, he restored them to their place in the succession with a Third Succession Act, which also provided for a regency council during Edward's minority. This unaccustomed family harmony may have owed much to the influence of Henry's new wife, Catherine Parr, of whom Edward soon became fond. He called her his "most dear mother" and in September 1546 wrote to her: "I received so many benefits from you that my mind can hardly grasp them."


title: Edward VI

text: Other children were brought to play with Edward, including the granddaughter of his chamberlain, Sir William Sidney, who in adulthood recalled the prince as "a marvellous sweet child, of very mild and generous condition". Edward was educated with sons of nobles, "appointed to attend upon him" in what was a form of miniature court. Among these, Barnaby Fitzpatrick, son of an Irish peer, became a close and lasting friend. Edward was more devoted to his schoolwork than his classmates and seems to have outshone them, motivated to do his "duty" and compete with his sister Elizabeth's academic prowess. Edward's surroundings and possessions were regally splendid: his rooms were hung with costly Flemish tapestries, and his clothes, books and cutlery were encrusted with precious jewels and gold. Like his father, Edward was fascinated by military arts, and many of his portraits show him wearing a gold dagger with a jewelled hilt, in imitation of Henry. Edward's "Chronicle" enthusiastically details English military campaigns against Scotland and France, and adventures such as John Dudley's near capture at Musselburgh in 1547.


title: Edward VI

text: On 1 July 1543, Henry VIII signed the Treaty of Greenwich with the Scots, sealing the peace with Edward's betrothal to the seven-month-old Mary, Queen of Scots. The Scots were in a weak bargaining position after their defeat at the Battle of Solway Moss in November 1542, and Henry, seeking to unite the two realms, stipulated that Mary be handed over to him to be brought up in England. When the Scots repudiated the treaty in December 1543 and renewed their alliance with France, Henry was enraged. In April 1544, he ordered Edward's uncle, Edward Seymour, Earl of Hertford, to invade Scotland and "put all to fire and sword, burn Edinburgh town, so razed and defaced when you have sacked and gotten what ye can of it, as there may remain forever a perpetual memory of the vengeance of God lightened upon [them] for their falsehood and disloyalty". Seymour responded with the most savage campaign ever launched by the English against the Scots. The war, which continued into Edward's reign, has become known as "the Rough Wooing".


title: Edward VI

text: The nine-year-old Edward wrote to his father and stepmother on 10 January 1547 from Hertford thanking them for his new year's gift of their portraits from life. By 28 January, Henry VIII was dead. Those close to the throne, led by Edward Seymour and William Paget, agreed to delay the announcement of the king's death until arrangements had been made for a smooth succession. Seymour and Sir Anthony Browne, the Master of the Horse, rode to collect Edward from Hertford and brought him to Enfield, where Lady Elizabeth was living. He and Elizabeth were then told of their father's death and heard a reading of his will.


title: Edward VI

text: Lord Chancellor Thomas Wriothesley announced Henry's death to Parliament on 31 January, and general proclamations of Edward's succession were ordered. The new king was taken to the Tower of London, where he was welcomed with "great shot of ordnance in all places there about, as well out of the Tower as out of the ships". The following day, the nobles of the realm made their obeisance to Edward at the Tower, and Seymour was announced as Protector. Henry VIII was buried at Windsor on 16 February, in the same tomb as Jane Seymour, as he had wished.


title: Edward VI

text: Edward VI was crowned at Westminster Abbey on Sunday 20 February. The ceremonies were shortened, because of the "tedious length of the same which should weary and be hurtsome peradventure to the King's majesty, being yet of tender age", and also because the Reformation had rendered some of them inappropriate.


title: Edward VI

text: On the eve of the coronation, Edward progressed on horseback from the Tower to the Palace of Westminster through thronging crowds and pageants, many based on the pageants for a previous boy king, Henry VI. He laughed at a Spanish tightrope walker who "tumbled and played many pretty toys" outside St Paul's Cathedral.


title: Edward VI

text: At the coronation service, Cranmer affirmed the royal supremacy and called Edward a second Josiah, urging him to continue the reformation of the Church of England, "the tyranny of the Bishops of Rome banished from your subjects, and images removed". After the service, Edward presided at a banquet in Westminster Hall, where, he recalled in his "Chronicle", he dined with his crown on his head.


title: Edward VI

text: Henry VIII's will named sixteen executors, who were to act as Edward's council until he reached the age of eighteen. These executors were supplemented by twelve men "of counsail" who would assist the executors when called on. The final state of Henry VIII's will has been the subject of controversy. Some historians suggest that those close to the king manipulated either him or the will itself to ensure a share-out of power to their benefit, both material and religious. In this reading, the composition of the Privy Chamber shifted towards the end of 1546 in favour of the reforming faction. In addition, two leading conservative Privy Councillors were removed from the centre of power.


title: Edward VI

text: Stephen Gardiner was refused access to Henry during his last months. Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, found himself accused of treason; the day before the king's death his vast estates were seized, making them available for redistribution, and he spent the whole of Edward's reign in the Tower of London. Other historians have argued that Gardiner's exclusion was based on non-religious matters, that Norfolk was not noticeably conservative in religion, that conservatives remained on the council, and that the radicalism of such men as Sir Anthony Denny, who controlled the dry stamp that replicated the king's signature, is debatable.


title: Edward VI

text: Whatever the case, Henry's death was followed by a lavish hand-out of lands and honours to the new power group. The will contained an "unfulfilled gifts" clause, added at the last minute, which allowed the executors to freely distribute lands and honours to themselves and the court, particularly to Edward Seymour, 1st Earl of Hertford, the new king's uncle who became Lord Protector of the Realm, Governor of the King's Person and Duke of Somerset.


title: Edward VI

text: In fact, Henry VIII's will did not provide for the appointment of a Protector. It entrusted the government of the realm during his son's minority to a regency council that would rule collectively, by majority decision, with "like and equal charge". Nevertheless, a few days after Henry's death, on 4 February, the executors chose to invest almost regal power in the Duke of Somerset. Thirteen out of the sixteen (the others being absent) agreed to his appointment as Protector, which they justified as their joint decision "by virtue of the authority" of Henry's will. Somerset may have done a deal with some of the executors, who almost all received hand-outs. He is known to have done so with William Paget, private secretary to Henry VIII, and to have secured the support of Sir Anthony Browne of the Privy Chamber.


title: Edward VI

text: Somerset's appointment was in keeping with historical precedent, and his eligibility for the role was reinforced by his military successes in Scotland and France. In March 1547, he secured letters patent from King Edward granting him the almost monarchical right to appoint members to the Privy Council himself and to consult them only when he wished. In the words of historian Geoffrey Elton, "from that moment his autocratic system was complete". He proceeded to rule largely by proclamation, calling on the Privy Council to do little more than rubber-stamp his decisions.


title: Edward VI

text: Somerset's takeover of power was smooth and efficient. The imperial ambassador, François van der Delft, reported that he "governs everything absolutely", with Paget operating as his secretary, though he predicted trouble from John Dudley, Viscount Lisle, who had recently been raised to Earl of Warwick in the share-out of honours. In fact, in the early weeks of his Protectorate, Somerset was challenged only by the Chancellor, Thomas Wriothesley, whom the Earldom of Southampton had evidently failed to buy off, and by his own brother. Wriothesley, a religious conservative, objected to Somerset's assumption of monarchical power over the council. He then found himself abruptly dismissed from the chancellorship on charges of selling off some of his offices to delegates.


title: Edward VI

text: Somerset faced less manageable opposition from his younger brother Thomas, who has been described as a "worm in the bud". As King Edward's uncle, Thomas Seymour demanded the governorship of the king's person and a greater share of power. Somerset tried to buy his brother off with a barony, an appointment to the Lord Admiralship, and a seat on the Privy Council—but Thomas was bent on scheming for power. He began smuggling pocket money to King Edward, telling him that Somerset held the purse strings too tight, making him a "beggarly king". He also urged the king to throw off the Protector within two years and "bear rule as other kings do"; but Edward, schooled to defer to the council, failed to co-operate. In the spring of 1547, using Edward's support to circumvent Somerset's opposition, Thomas Seymour secretly married Henry VIII's widow Catherine Parr, whose Protestant household included the 11-year-old Lady Jane Grey and the 13-year-old Lady Elizabeth.


title: Edward VI

text: In summer 1548, a pregnant Catherine Parr discovered Thomas Seymour embracing Lady Elizabeth. As a result, Elizabeth was removed from Parr's household and transferred to Sir Anthony Denny's. That September, Parr died shortly after childbirth, and Seymour promptly resumed his attentions to Elizabeth by letter, planning to marry her. Elizabeth was receptive, but, like Edward, unready to agree to anything unless permitted by the council. In January 1549, the council had Thomas Seymour arrested on various charges, including embezzlement at the Bristol mint. King Edward, whom Seymour was accused of planning to marry to Lady Jane Grey, himself testified about the pocket money. Lack of clear evidence for treason ruled out a trial, so Seymour was condemned instead by an act of attainder and beheaded on 20 March 1549.


title: Edward VI

text: Somerset's only undoubted skill was as a soldier, which he had proven on expeditions to Scotland and in the defence of Boulogne-sur-Mer in 1546. From the first, his main interest as Protector was the war against Scotland. After a crushing victory at the Battle of Pinkie in September 1547, he set up a network of garrisons in Scotland, stretching as far north as Dundee. His initial successes, however, were followed by a loss of direction, as his aim of uniting the realms through conquest became increasingly unrealistic. The Scots allied with France, who sent reinforcements for the defence of Edinburgh in 1548. The Queen of Scots was moved to France, where she was betrothed to the Dauphin. The cost of maintaining the Protector's massive armies and his permanent garrisons in Scotland also placed an unsustainable burden on the royal finances. A French attack on Boulogne in August 1549 at last forced Somerset to begin a withdrawal from Scotland.


title: Edward VI

text: During 1548, England was subject to social unrest. After April 1549, a series of armed revolts broke out, fuelled by various religious and agrarian grievances. The two most serious rebellions, which required major military intervention to put down, were in Devon and Cornwall and in Norfolk. The first, sometimes called the Prayer Book Rebellion, arose from the imposition of Protestantism, and the second, led by a tradesman called Robert Kett, mainly from the encroachment of landlords on common grazing ground. A complex aspect of the social unrest was that the protesters believed they were acting legitimately against enclosing landlords with the Protector's support, convinced that the landlords were the lawbreakers.


title: Edward VI

text: The same justification for outbreaks of unrest was voiced throughout the country, not only in Norfolk and the west. The origin of the popular view of Somerset as sympathetic to the rebel cause lies partly in his series of sometimes liberal, often contradictory, proclamations, and partly in the uncoordinated activities of the commissions he sent out in 1548 and 1549 to investigate grievances about loss of tillage, encroachment of large sheep flocks on common land, and similar issues. Somerset's commissions were led by an evangelical MP called John Hales, whose socially liberal rhetoric linked the issue of enclosure with Reformation theology and the notion of a godly commonwealth. Local groups often assumed that the findings of these commissions entitled them to act against offending landlords themselves. King Edward wrote in his "Chronicle" that the 1549 risings began "because certain commissions were sent down to pluck down enclosures".


title: Edward VI

text: Whatever the popular view of Somerset, the disastrous events of 1549 were taken as evidence of a colossal failure of government, and the council laid the responsibility at the Protector's door. In July 1549, Paget wrote to Somerset: "Every man of the council have misliked your proceedings ... would to God, that, at the first stir you had followed the matter hotly, and caused justice to be ministered in solemn fashion to the terror of others ...".


title: Edward VI

text: The sequence of events that led to Somerset's removal from power has often been called a "coup d'état". By 1 October 1549, Somerset had been alerted that his rule faced a serious threat. He issued a proclamation calling for assistance, took possession of the king's person, and withdrew for safety to the fortified Windsor Castle, where Edward wrote, "Me thinks I am in prison". Meanwhile, a united council published details of Somerset's government mismanagement. They made clear that the Protector's power came from them, not from Henry VIII's will. On 11 October, the council had Somerset arrested and brought the king to Richmond Palace. Edward summarised the charges against Somerset in his "Chronicle": "ambition, vainglory, entering into rash wars in mine youth, negligent looking on Newhaven, enriching himself of my treasure, following his own opinion, and doing all by his own authority, etc." In February 1550, John Dudley, Earl of Warwick, emerged as the leader of the council and, in effect, as Somerset's successor. Although Somerset was released from the Tower and restored to the council, he was executed for felony in January 1552 after scheming to overthrow Dudley's regime. Edward noted his uncle's death in his "Chronicle": "the duke of Somerset had his head cut off upon Tower Hill between eight and nine o'clock in the morning".


title: Edward VI

text: Historians contrast the efficiency of Somerset's takeover of power, in which they detect the organising skills of allies such as Paget, the "master of practices", with the subsequent ineptitude of his rule. By autumn 1549, his costly wars had lost momentum, the crown faced financial ruin, and riots and rebellions had broken out around the country. Until recent decades, Somerset's reputation with historians was high, in view of his many proclamations that appeared to back the common people against a rapacious landowning class. More recently, however, he has often been portrayed as an arrogant and aloof ruler, lacking in political and administrative skills.


title: Edward VI

text: In contrast, Somerset's successor the Earl of Warwick, made Duke of Northumberland in 1551, was once regarded by historians merely as a grasping schemer who cynically elevated and enriched himself at the expense of the crown. Since the 1970s, the administrative and economic achievements of his regime have been recognised, and he has been credited with restoring the authority of the royal council and returning the government to an even keel after the disasters of Somerset's protectorate.


title: Edward VI

text: The Earl of Warwick's rival for leadership of the new regime was Thomas Wriothesley, 1st Earl of Southampton, whose conservative supporters had allied with Warwick's followers to create a unanimous council which they and observers, such as the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V's ambassador, expected to reverse Somerset's policy of religious reform. Warwick, on the other hand, pinned his hopes on the king's strong Protestantism and, claiming that Edward was old enough to rule in person, moved himself and his people closer to the king, taking control of the Privy Chamber. Paget, accepting a barony, joined Warwick when he realised that a conservative policy would not bring the emperor onto the English side over Boulogne. Southampton prepared a case for executing Somerset, aiming to discredit Warwick through Somerset's statements that he had done all with Warwick's co-operation. As a counter-move, Warwick convinced Parliament to free Somerset, which it did on 14 January 1550. Warwick then had Southampton and his followers purged from the council after winning the support of council members in return for titles, and was made Lord President of the Council and great master of the king's household. Although not called a Protector, he was now clearly the head of the government.


title: Edward VI

text: As Edward was growing up, he was able to understand more and more government business. However, his actual involvement in decisions has long been a matter of debate, and during the 20th century, historians have presented the whole gamut of possibilities, "balanc[ing] an articulate puppet against a mature, precocious, and essentially adult king", in the words of Stephen Alford. A special "Counsel for the Estate" was created when Edward was fourteen. He chose the members himself. In the weekly meetings with this council, Edward was "to hear the debating of things of most importance". A major point of contact with the king was the Privy Chamber, and there Edward worked closely with William Cecil and William Petre, the principal secretaries. The king's greatest influence was in matters of religion, where the council followed the strongly Protestant policy that Edward favoured.


title: Edward VI

text: The Duke of Northumberland's mode of operation was very different from Somerset's. Careful to make sure he always commanded a majority of councillors, he encouraged a working council and used it to legitimise his authority. Lacking Somerset's blood-relationship with the king, he added members to the council from his own faction in order to control it. He also added members of his family to the royal household. He saw that to achieve personal dominance, he needed total procedural control of the council. In the words of historian John Guy, "Like Somerset, he became quasi-king; the difference was that he managed the bureaucracy on the pretence that Edward had assumed full sovereignty, whereas Somerset had asserted the right to near-sovereignty as Protector".


title: Edward VI

text: Warwick's war policies were more pragmatic than Somerset's, and they have earned him criticism for weakness. In 1550, he signed a peace treaty with France that agreed to withdrawal from Boulogne and recalled all English garrisons from Scotland. In 1551, Edward was betrothed to Elisabeth of Valois, King Henry II's daughter, and was made a Knight of Saint Michael. Warwick realised that England could no longer support the cost of wars. At home, he took measures to police local unrest. To forestall future rebellions, he kept permanent representatives of the crown in the localities, including lords lieutenant, who commanded military forces and reported back to central government.


title: Edward VI

text: Working with William Paulet and Walter Mildmay, Warwick tackled the disastrous state of the kingdom's finances. However, his regime first succumbed to the temptations of a quick profit by further debasing the coinage. The economic disaster that resulted caused Warwick to hand the initiative to the expert Thomas Gresham. By 1552, confidence in the coinage was restored, prices fell and trade at last improved. Though a full economic recovery was not achieved until Elizabeth's reign, its origins lay in the Duke of Northumberland's policies. The regime also cracked down on widespread embezzlement of government finances, and carried out a thorough review of revenue collection practices, which has been called "one of the more remarkable achievements of Tudor administration".


title: Edward VI

text: In the matter of religion, the regime of Northumberland followed the same policy as that of Somerset, supporting an increasingly vigorous programme of reform. Although Edward VI's practical influence on government was limited, his intense Protestantism made a reforming administration obligatory; his succession was managed by the reforming faction, who continued in power throughout his reign. The man Edward trusted most, Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, introduced a series of religious reforms that revolutionised the English church from one that—while rejecting papal supremacy—remained essentially Catholic to one that was institutionally Protestant. The confiscation of church property that had begun under Henry VIII resumed under Edward—notably with the dissolution of the chantries—to the great monetary advantage of the crown and the new owners of the seized property. Church reform was therefore as much a political as a religious policy under Edward VI. By the end of his reign, the church had been financially ruined, with much of the property of the bishops transferred into lay hands.


title: Edward VI

text: The religious convictions of both Somerset and Northumberland have proved elusive for historians, who are divided on the sincerity of their Protestantism. There is less doubt, however, about the religious fervour of King Edward, who was said to have read twelve chapters of scripture daily and enjoyed sermons, and was commemorated by John Foxe as a "godly imp". Edward was depicted during his life and afterwards as a new Josiah, the biblical king who destroyed the idols of Baal. He could be priggish in his anti-Catholicism and once asked Catherine Parr to persuade Lady Mary "to attend no longer to foreign dances and merriments which do not become a most Christian princess". Edward's biographer Jennifer Loach cautions, however, against accepting too readily the pious image of Edward handed down by the reformers, as in John Foxe's influential "Acts and Monuments", where a woodcut depicts the young king listening to a sermon by Hugh Latimer. In the early part of his life, Edward conformed to the prevailing Catholic practices, including attendance at mass, but he became convinced, under the influence of Cranmer and the reformers among his tutors and courtiers, that "true" religion should be imposed in England.


title: Edward VI

text: The English Reformation advanced under pressure from two directions: from the traditionalists on the one hand and the zealots on the other, who led incidents of iconoclasm (image-smashing) and complained that reform did not go far enough. Cranmer set himself the task of writing a uniform liturgy in English, detailing all weekly and daily services and religious festivals, to be made compulsory in the first Act of Uniformity of 1549. The "Book of Common Prayer" of 1549, intended as a compromise, was attacked by traditionalists for dispensing with many cherished rituals of the liturgy, such as the elevation of the bread and wine, while some reformers complained about the retention of too many "popish" elements, including vestiges of sacrificial rites at communion. Many senior Catholic clerics, including Bishops Stephen Gardiner of Winchester and Edmund Bonner of London, also opposed the prayer book. Both were imprisoned in the Tower and, along with others, deprived of their sees. In 1549, over 5,500 people lost their lives in the Prayer Book Rebellion in Devon and Cornwall.


title: Edward VI

text: Reformed doctrines were made official, such as justification by faith alone and communion for laity as well as clergy in both kinds, of bread and wine. The Ordinal of 1550 replaced the divine ordination of priests with a government-run appointment system, authorising ministers to preach the gospel and administer the sacraments rather than, as before, "to offer sacrifice and celebrate mass both for the living and the dead".


title: Edward VI

text: After 1551, the Reformation advanced further, with the approval and encouragement of Edward, who began to exert more personal influence in his role as Supreme Head of the church. The new changes were also a response to criticism from such reformers as John Hooper, Bishop of Gloucester, and the Scot John Knox, who was employed as a minister in Newcastle upon Tyne under the Duke of Northumberland and whose preaching at court prompted the king to oppose kneeling at communion. Cranmer was also influenced by the views of the continental reformer Martin Bucer, who died in England in 1551; by Peter Martyr, who was teaching at Oxford; and by other foreign theologians. The progress of the Reformation was further speeded by the consecration of more reformers as bishops. In the winter of 1551–52, Cranmer rewrote the "Book of Common Prayer" in less ambiguous reformist terms, revised canon law and prepared a doctrinal statement, the Forty-two Articles, to clarify the practice of the reformed religion, particularly in the divisive matter of the communion service. Cranmer's formulation of the reformed religion, finally divesting the communion service of any notion of the real presence of God in the bread and the wine, effectively abolished the mass. According to Elton, the publication of Cranmer's revised prayer book in 1552, supported by a second Act of Uniformity, "marked the arrival of the English Church at Protestantism". The prayer book of 1552 remains the foundation of the Church of England's services. However, Cranmer was unable to implement all these reforms once it became clear in spring 1553 that King Edward, upon whom the whole Reformation in England depended, was dying.


title: Edward VI

text: In February 1553, Edward VI became ill, and by June, after several improvements and relapses, he was in a hopeless condition. The king's death and the succession of his Catholic half-sister Mary would jeopardise the English Reformation, and Edward's council and officers had many reasons to fear it. Edward himself opposed Mary's succession, not only on religious grounds but also on those of legitimacy and male inheritance, which also applied to Elizabeth. He composed a draft document, headed "My devise for the succession", in which he undertook to change the succession, most probably inspired by his father Henry VIII's precedent. He passed over the claims of his half-sisters and, at last, settled the Crown on his first cousin once removed, the 16-year-old Lady Jane Grey, who on 25 May 1553 had married Lord Guilford Dudley, a younger son of the Duke of Northumberland. In the document he writes:


title: Edward VI

text: In his document Edward provided, in case of "lack of issue of my body", for the succession of male heirs only – those of Lady Jane Grey's mother, Frances Grey, Duchess of Suffolk; of Jane herself; or of her sisters Katherine, Lady Herbert, and Lady Mary. As his death approached and possibly persuaded by Northumberland, he altered the wording so that Jane and her sisters themselves should be able to succeed. Yet Edward conceded their right only as an exception to male rule, demanded by reality, an example not to be followed if Jane and her sisters had only daughters. In the final document both Mary and Elizabeth were excluded because of bastardy; since both had been declared bastards under Henry VIII and never made legitimate again, this reason could be advanced for both sisters. The provisions to alter the succession directly contravened Henry VIII's Third Succession Act of 1543 and have been described as bizarre and illogical.


title: Edward VI

text: In early June, Edward personally supervised the drafting of a clean version of his devise by lawyers, to which he lent his signature "in six several places." Then, on 15 June he summoned high-ranking judges to his sickbed, commanding them on their allegiance "with sharp words and angry countenance" to prepare his devise as letters patent and announced that he would have these passed in Parliament. His next measure was to have leading councillors and lawyers sign a bond in his presence, in which they agreed faithfully to perform Edward's will after his death. A few months later, Chief Justice Edward Montagu recalled that when he and his colleagues had raised legal objections to the devise, Northumberland had threatened them "trembling for anger, and ... further said that he would fight in his shirt with any man in that quarrel". Montagu also overheard a group of lords standing behind him conclude "if they refused to do that, they were traitors". At last, on 21 June, the devise was signed by over a hundred notables, including councillors, peers, archbishops, bishops and sheriffs; many of them later claimed that they had been bullied into doing so by Northumberland, although in the words of Edward's biographer Jennifer Loach, "few of them gave any clear indication of reluctance at the time".


title: Edward VI

text: It was now common knowledge that Edward was dying, and foreign diplomats suspected that some scheme to debar Mary was under way. France found the prospect of the emperor's cousin on the English throne disagreeable and engaged in secret talks with Northumberland, indicating support. The diplomats were certain that the overwhelming majority of the English people backed Mary, but nevertheless believed that Queen Jane would be successfully established.


title: Edward VI

text: For centuries, the attempt to alter the succession was mostly seen as a one-man plot by the Duke of Northumberland. Since the 1970s, however, many historians have attributed the inception of the "devise" and the insistence on its implementation to the king's initiative. Diarmaid MacCulloch has made out Edward's "teenage dreams of founding an evangelical realm of Christ", while David Starkey has stated that "Edward had a couple of co-operators, but the driving will was his". Among other members of the Privy Chamber, Northumberland's intimate Sir John Gates has been suspected of suggesting to Edward to change his devise so that Lady Jane Grey herself—not just any sons of hers—could inherit the Crown. Whatever the degree of his contribution, Edward was convinced that his word was law and fully endorsed disinheriting his half-sisters: "barring Mary from the succession was a cause in which the young King believed."


title: Edward VI

text: Edward became ill during January 1553 with a fever and cough that gradually worsened. The imperial ambassador, Jean Scheyfve, reported that "he suffers a good deal when the fever is upon him, especially from a difficulty in drawing his breath, which is due to the compression of the organs on the right side".


title: Edward VI

text: Edward felt well enough in early April to take the air in the park at Westminster and to move to Greenwich, but by the end of the month he had weakened again. By 7 May he was "much amended", and the royal doctors had no doubt of his recovery. A few days later the king was watching the ships on the Thames, sitting at his window. However, he relapsed, and on 11 June Scheyfve, who had an informant in the king's household, reported that "the matter he ejects from his mouth is sometimes coloured a greenish yellow and black, sometimes pink, like the colour of blood". Now his doctors believed he was suffering from "a suppurating tumour" of the lung and admitted that Edward's life was beyond recovery. Soon, his legs became so swollen that he had to lie on his back, and he lost the strength to resist the disease. To his tutor John Cheke he whispered, "I am glad to die".


title: Edward VI

text: Edward made his final appearance in public on 1 July, when he showed himself at his window in Greenwich Palace, horrifying those who saw him by his "thin and wasted" condition. During the next two days, large crowds arrived hoping to see the king again, but on 3 July, they were told that the weather was too chilly for him to appear. Edward died at the age of 15 at Greenwich Palace at 8 pm on 6 July 1553. According to John Foxe's legendary account of his death, his last words were: "I am faint; Lord have mercy upon me, and take my spirit".


title: Edward VI

text: Edward was buried in the Henry VII Lady Chapel at Westminster Abbey on 8 August 1553, with reformed rites performed by Thomas Cranmer. The procession was led by "a grett company of chylderyn in ther surples" and watched by Londoners "wepyng and lamenting"; the funeral chariot, draped in cloth of gold, was topped by an effigy of Edward, with crown, sceptre, and garter. Edward's burial place was unmarked until as late as 1966, when an inscribed stone was laid in the chapel floor by Christ's Hospital school to commemorate its founder. The inscription reads as follows: "In Memory Of King Edward VI Buried In This Chapel This Stone Was Placed Here By Christ's Hospital In Thanksgiving For Their Founder 7 October 1966".


title: Edward VI

text: The cause of Edward VI's death is not certain. As with many royal deaths in the 16th century, rumours of poisoning abounded, but no evidence has been found to support these. The Duke of Northumberland, whose unpopularity was underlined by the events that followed Edward's death, was widely believed to have ordered the imagined poisoning. Another theory held that Edward had been poisoned by Catholics seeking to bring Mary to the throne. The surgeon who opened Edward's chest after his death found that "the disease whereof his majesty died was the disease of the lungs". The Venetian ambassador reported that Edward had died of consumption—in other words, tuberculosis—a diagnosis accepted by many historians. Skidmore believes that Edward contracted tuberculosis after a bout of measles and smallpox in 1552 that suppressed his natural immunity to the disease. Loach suggests instead that his symptoms were typical of acute bronchopneumonia, leading to a "suppurating pulmonary infection" or lung abscess, septicaemia and kidney failure.


title: Edward VI

text: Lady Mary was last seen by Edward in February, and was kept informed about the state of her half-brother's health by Northumberland and through her contacts with the imperial ambassadors. Aware of Edward's imminent death, she left Hunsdon House, near London, and sped to her estates around Kenninghall in Norfolk, where she could count on the support of her tenants. Northumberland sent ships to the Norfolk coast to prevent her escape or the arrival of reinforcements from the continent. He delayed the announcement of the king's death while he gathered his forces, and Jane Grey was taken to the Tower on 10 July. On the same day, she was proclaimed queen in the streets of London, to murmurings of discontent. The Privy Council received a message from Mary asserting her "right and title" to the throne and commanding that the council proclaim her queen, as she had already proclaimed herself. The council replied that Jane was queen by Edward's authority and that Mary, by contrast, was illegitimate and supported only by "a few lewd, base people".


title: Edward VI

text: Northumberland soon realised that he had miscalculated drastically, not least in failing to secure Mary's person before Edward's death. Although many of those who rallied to Mary were Catholics hoping to establish that religion and hoping for the defeat of Protestantism, her supporters also included many for whom her lawful claim to the throne overrode religious considerations. Northumberland was obliged to relinquish control of a nervous council in London and launch an unplanned pursuit of Mary into East Anglia, from where news was arriving of her growing support, which included a number of nobles and gentlemen and "innumerable companies of the common people". On 14 July Northumberland marched out of London with three thousand men, reaching Cambridge the next day; meanwhile, Mary rallied her forces at Framlingham Castle in Suffolk, gathering an army of nearly twenty thousand by 19 July.


title: Edward VI

text: It now dawned on the Privy Council that it had made a terrible mistake. Led by the Earls of Arundel and Pembroke, on 19 July the council publicly proclaimed Mary as queen; Jane's nine-day reign came to an end. The proclamation triggered wild rejoicing throughout London. Stranded in Cambridge, Northumberland himself proclaimed Mary queen—as he had been commanded to do by a letter from the council. William Paget and the Earl of Arundel rode to Framlingham to beg Mary's pardon, and Arundel arrested Northumberland on 24 July. Northumberland was beheaded on 22 August, shortly after renouncing Protestantism. His recantation dismayed his daughter-in-law, Jane, who followed him to the scaffold on 12 February 1554, after her father's involvement in Wyatt's rebellion.


title: Edward VI

text: Although Edward reigned for only six years and died at the age of 15, his reign made a lasting contribution to the English Reformation and the structure of the Church of England. The last decade of Henry VIII's reign had seen a partial stalling of the Reformation, a drifting back to Catholic values. By contrast, Edward's reign saw radical progress in the Reformation, with the Church transferring from an essentially Catholic liturgy and structure to one that is usually identified as Protestant. In particular, the introduction of the Book of Common Prayer, the Ordinal of 1550 and Cranmer's Forty-two Articles formed the basis for English Church practices that continue to this day. Edward himself fully approved these changes, and though they were the work of reformers such as Thomas Cranmer, Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley, backed by Edward's determinedly evangelical council, the fact of the king's religion was a catalyst in the acceleration of the Reformation during his reign.


title: Edward VI

text: Queen Mary's attempts to undo the reforming work of her brother's reign faced major obstacles. Despite her belief in the papal supremacy, she ruled constitutionally as the Supreme Head of the English Church, a contradiction under which she bridled. She found herself entirely unable to restore the vast number of ecclesiastical properties handed over or sold to private landowners. Although she burned a number of leading Protestant churchmen, many reformers either went into exile or remained subversively active in England during her reign, producing a torrent of reforming propaganda that she was unable to stem. Nevertheless, Protestantism was not yet "printed in the stomachs" of the English people, and had Mary lived longer, her Catholic reconstruction might have succeeded, leaving Edward's reign, rather than hers, as a historical aberration.


title: Edward VI

text: On Mary's death in 1558, the English Reformation resumed its course, and most of the reforms instituted during Edward's reign were reinstated in the Elizabethan Religious Settlement. Queen Elizabeth replaced Mary's councillors and bishops with ex-Edwardians, such as William Cecil, Northumberland's former secretary, and Richard Cox, Edward's old tutor, who preached an anti-Catholic sermon at the opening of Parliament in 1559. Parliament passed an Act of Uniformity the following spring that restored, with modifications, Cranmer's prayer book of 1552; and the Thirty-nine Articles of 1563 were largely based on Cranmer's Forty-two Articles. The theological developments of Edward's reign provided a vital source of reference for Elizabeth's religious policies, though the internationalism of the Edwardian Reformation was never revived.


title: The Wheel of Time (TV series)

text: The Wheel of Time is an American high fantasy streaming television series developed by Rafe Judkins for Amazon Prime Video. The series is based on the novel series of the same name by Robert Jordan with Brandon Sanderson.


title: The Wheel of Time (TV series)

text: The first season, consisting of eight episodes, premiered on Prime Video on November 19, 2021, with the first three episodes released immediately and the remaining five on a weekly basis after that, culminating in the season finale on December 24, 2021. The series was renewed for a second season in May 2021, before the series premiered. In July 2022, ahead of the second-season premiere, the series was renewed for a third season.


title: The Wheel of Time (TV series)

text: "The Wheel of Time" follows Moiraine, a member of the Aes Sedai, a powerful organization of women who can channel the One Power. With her Warder, Lan, she seeks a group of five young villagers from the secluded Two Rivers, believing one of them is the reincarnation of the Dragon, an extremely powerful channeller who broke the world. The Dragon Reborn is prophesied to either save the world from a primordial evil known as the Dark One, or break it once more.


title: The Wheel of Time (TV series)

text: In 2000, NBC optioned the screen rights to Robert Jordan's fantasy novel series "The Wheel of Time" but did not ultimately proceed with the production. In 2004, Jordan sold the film, television, video game, and comic rights to the series to production company Red Eagle Entertainment. In 2015, Red Eagle Entertainment paid air time to cable network FXX to air "Winter Dragon", a 22-minute pilot for a potential "The Wheel of Time" series starring Billy Zane and Max Ryan that allowed Red Eagle to hold on to the rights to the project. Subsequently, the company sued Jordan's widow, Harriet McDougal, for her comments about the pilot; the lawsuit was settled in 2016. In April 2016, McDougal announced that a major studio was undergoing contract negotiations for production on a TV series.


title: The Wheel of Time (TV series)

text: A new adaptation of the series was announced on April 20, 2017, produced by Sony Pictures Television in association with Red Eagle Entertainment and Radar Pictures. Rafe Judkins was expected to serve as showrunner for the series and executive produce alongside Rick Selvage, Larry Mondragon, Ted Field, Mike Weber, Lauren Selig and Darren Lemke. McDougal was set to serve as a consulting producer. By October 2018, the series had been in development for a year, and Amazon Studios had agreed to produce it. In January 2019, Judkins announced that two additional writers, Michael and Paul Clarkson, had joined the production's writing team. By April 2019, Kelly Valentine Hendry had been attached as casting director.


title: The Wheel of Time (TV series)

text: In June 2019, it was announced that Rosamund Pike, who portrays Moiraine Damodred, would also serve as a producer. Brandon Sanderson, who had completed the book series following Robert Jordan's death, was also confirmed to be serving as consulting producer along with McDougal. On various occasions, Sanderson wrote about his contributions to the production, which he described as "reading the scripts and offering feedback directly to Rafe, the showrunner". Judkins has said that Maria Simons, a long-time editorial assistant to Robert Jordan and McDougal, also provides feedback on scripts. The lead characters from Emond's Field were written as older than their book counterparts. The production team thought that television shows with seventeen-year-old lead characters could feel like young adult fiction, which was not a genre they felt was suitable for the series.


title: The Wheel of Time (TV series)

text: Uta Briesewitz was confirmed as the director of the first two episodes in February 2019. Salli Richardon-Whitfield was confirmed to be directing episodes five and six in November 2019, and Wayne Yip was confirmed to be directing episodes three and four in December. The director of episodes seven and eight, Ciaran Donnelly, was revealed in February 2020.


title: The Wheel of Time (TV series)

text: On May 20, 2021, Amazon renewed the series for a second season ahead of the series premiere. The first episode of the second season is titled "A Taste of Solitude", with the teleplay by Amanda Kate Shuman. Thomas Napper, Maja Vrvilo, and Sanaa Hamri have been reported to be directing episodes of season 2, with Hamri directing half of the season and serving as an executive producer. On July 21, 2022, ahead of the second-season premiere, Amazon renewed the series for a third season.


title: The Wheel of Time (TV series)

text: Rosamund Pike was cast as the lead Moiraine in June 2019. Further main cast members were announced in August 2019: Daniel Henney as Lan Mandragoran, Josha Stradowski as Rand al'Thor, Marcus Rutherford as Perrin Aybara, Zoë Robins as Nynaeve al'Meara, Barney Harris as Mat Cauthon, and Madeleine Madden as Egwene al'Vere. Michael McElhatton was announced to be playing Tam al'Thor in early November 2019. Irish actor Daryl McCormack was said to have been cast in an undisclosed role in mid-November 2019, later revealed to be the role of Aram. Several more main cast members were announced in December 2019: Alexandre Willaume as Thom Merrilin, Johann Myers as Padan Fain, Hammed Animashaun as Loial, Alvaro Morte as Logain Ablar, Priyanka Bose as Alanna Mosvani, Taylor Napier as Maksim, and Emmanuel Imani as Ivhon .


title: The Wheel of Time (TV series)

text: In January 2020, Kate Fleetwood posted on her Instagram page that she had been cast to play the role of Liandrin Guirale. In March 2020, Jen Cheon Garcia announced that she had been cast as Leane Sharif. In June 2020, eight additional roles were announced: Lolita Chakrabarti as Marin Al'Vere, Michael Tuahine as Bran Al'Vere, David Sterne as Cenn Buie, Christopher Sciueref as Abell Cauthon, Juliet Howland as Natti Cauthon, Mandi Symonds as Daise Conger, Abdul Salis as Eamon Valda, and Stuart Graham as Geofram Bornhald. In July 2020, Darren Clarke was revealed to be playing the role of Basel Gill. That same month, Maria Doyle Kennedy and Narinder Samra were cast as Illa and Raen, respectively. Sophie Okonedo as Siuan Sanche, Kae Alexander as Min Farshaw, Peter Franzen as Stepin, and Clare Perkins as Kerene Nagashi were all announced in August 2020.


title: The Wheel of Time (TV series)

text: In September 2021, it was announced that Harris would not be returning for the second season and that Dónal Finn would be playing the role of Mat going forward. In October 2021, Ceara Coveney, Natasha O'Keeffe and Meera Syal joined the cast as series regulars for the second season, with Coveney confirmed to be playing the role of Elayne Trakand. In December 2021, three recurring cast members were announced: Guys Roberts as Uno Nomesta, Arnas Fedaravicius as Masema Dagar, and Gregg Chillingirian as Ingtar Shinowa. The role of Ingtar was originally to be played by Amar Chadha-Patel, but due to scheduling conflicts his role was changed to "Lord Yakota". Thomas Chaanhing was confirmed for the role of Lord Agelmar and Sanra Yi Sencindiver was confirmed for the role of Lady Amalisa. In April 2022, it was announced that Ayoola Smart would play the role of Aviendha.


title: The Wheel of Time (TV series)

text: Table reads with the cast had begun by early October 2019. Principal photography for the first season started on September 16, 2019. Filming in Prague was halted in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic but had resumed by April 2021 and concluded in May 2021. Jordan Studios in Prague, constructed for the production, served as the primary production base. Other filming locations included parts of the Czech Republic; Dubrovnik, Croatia; Segovia, Spain; Slovenia; and the Canary Islands. Judkins has said that shooting in the Canary Islands was intended to be more extensive, but "because of COVID-19 we were not able to do that. It had been scouted, so we sent our drone and visual effects teams to build where we were going to go into a 3D digital world that we could then put our actors into.". In a behind-the-scenes video, Season 1 finale director Ciaran Donnelly said that scenes taking place in The Blight were supposed to be shot on Gomera, but COVID restrictions prevented traveling there. He credited production designer Ondrej Nekvasil with designing an artificial forest that could be built in Jordan Studios as a replacement.


title: The Wheel of Time (TV series)

text: Filming in the Czech Republic qualified the production for the Czech Film Fund's incentive program, making available CZK 352million (US $16.3million) in incentives. Executive producer Marigo Kehoe said that "For us shooting here in the Czech Republic was the only choice". Filming in Slovenia similarly qualified the production for tax incentives of $314 thousand. Prague's Z Molu Es Kennel provided wolfdogs for the production between October 2019 and February 2020.


title: The Wheel of Time (TV series)

text: Filming for the second season began on July 19, 2021, and filming in Prague was scheduled to conclude by February 2022. Jindřichův Hradec, Calanchi Di Aliano, Ginosa, Letohrádek Hvězda, Barrandov Studios, CLA Studios in Ouarzazate, Masseria Lo Spagnulo, Masseria Borzone, and Chateau Karlova Koruna were reported as filming locations, along with Jordan Studios in Prague. More than 500 of the production crew's 600 members are reported to be residents of the Czech Republic.


title: The Wheel of Time (TV series)

text: Showrunner Rafe Judkins said that for the soundtrack he "did not want to be what the cliché is, i.e., typical, what one would expect of that genre". Composer Lorne Balfe instead referred to "a big hot pot of different styles" such as Balinese, Celtic, Southern, and Cajun, feeling that it was important to give the soundtrack more modern touches and "not to make it just traditional 'medieval folk music'". In incorporating the fictional language "Old Tongue" into the soundtrack, Balfe worked with a dialect and language coach to ensure lyrics were grammatically correct and had them written out phonetically for singers. He said that "when watching the show the vocals are the narrative of the scene…They're to do with actually supporting the storyline of the scene and the character's development."


title: The Wheel of Time (TV series)

text: The first of four albums for season one, titled "The First Turn", was released on November 12, 2021, by Milan Records in digital, CD, and vinyl formats. The album contained fourteen tracks that were largely conceptual but contained key themes that spawned variations in the final score. Balfe said that "The score to this series is a re-imagination of fantasy music, doing away with the genre's reliance on large, traditional orchestras in favor of more modern colors while retaining the strong melodies and bold harmonies that fans can expect from such an epic."


title: The Wheel of Time (TV series)

text: A second album, "The Wheel of Time: Season 1, Volume 1", was released on November 19, 2021, featuring music that was largely used in season one's first three episodes.


title: The Wheel of Time (TV series)

text: In early 2020, Julian Perry was attached to the series as Overall Visual Effects Supervisor. Special effects company Cinesite was revealed to be working on the visual effects of the series in April 2020. Additional VFX work was done by MPC Episodic, Outpost VFX, Automatik VFX, Union VFX, RISE, DNEG, Framestore, Scanline, Zelda VFX and Ombrium VFX. In an interview, Perry discussed how the challenging nature of the show and a more limited post-production period resulting from the 2020 production halt required them to work with a large number of VFX studios to "help spread workload".


title: The Wheel of Time (TV series)

text: The series premiered on the streaming service Amazon Prime Video on November 19, 2021, with the first three episodes available immediately and the rest debuting on a weekly basis. The first two episodes premiered in theaters in London, UK, and select cities across the US on November 15, 2021, ahead of the streaming release of the first three episodes. The series was the most-watched Prime Video premiere of 2021 and among the most-watched Prime Video premieres on record; the premiere was also the most-pirated television program of the week. The series had "the greatest average audience demand in the US in the first 30 days after its premiere of any new series" in 2021. According to Nielsen, season one accumulated 4.91 billion viewing minutes, making it the second-most watched season of a Prime Video original series on Nielsen's records.


title: The Wheel of Time (TV series)

text: The first volume in the book series, "The Eye of the World", saw a spike in sales that has been attributed to the series release. For the week of November 28, 2021, it was the second-most sold book across all formats on Amazon.com. It also made the January 2022 "The New York Times" Best Seller list in the mass market fiction category list and was number one on the audio fiction list.


title: The Wheel of Time (TV series)

text: The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reports an 82% approval rating and an average rating of 7.05/10, based on 93 reviews. The critics' consensus reads, ""The Wheel of Time"s revolutions can be a bit creaky as it tries to stand out from other fantasy series, but it succeeds admirably in making Robert Jordan's epic approachable for the uninitiated." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 55 out of 100 based on 24 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".