Rafe Judkins

**Rafe Judkins** is the showrunner of *The Wheel of Time* television series.

## General overview

Judkins participated in *Survivor: Guatemala* in the fall of 2005, where he placed third. After *Survivor*, Judkins moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in screenwriting. He has since worked on shows including *My Own Worst Enemy* (2008), *Chuck* (2010-2012), and *Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.* (2013-2015).

On April 20, 2017, it was announced that Judkins would be writing and showrunning the television adaptation of *The Wheel of Time*.

Judkins is in a committed relationship with Taylor Napier, who portrays Maksim in the series.

## Credits

Rafe Judkins is credited on the following:

* *The Wheel of Time* television series
	+ Season 1 - showrunner, writer, executive producer
		- 101 Leavetaking - writer
		- 108 The Eye of the World - writer
	+ Season 2 - showrunner, writer, executive producer
	+ Season 3 - showrunner, writer, executive producer
* *The Wheel of Time Origins*

* Panels, events, and additional appearances:
	+ JordanCon, April 18, 2020 - virtual panel
	+ JordanCon, July 16, 2021 - short video message
	+ San Diego Comic Con, July 23, 2021 - virtual panel
	+ London premiere, November 15, 2021
	+ JordanCon, April 22, 2022 - part of a pre-recorded video Q&A about the series (transcript)
	+ The Prime Experience: The Wheel of Time FYC, May 16, 2022 (transcript)
	+ San Diego Comic Con, July 21, 2022 - panel for *Origins*
	+ New York Comic Con, October 7, 2022 - panel (transcript)
	+ Dragonmount interview, December 17, 2022
	+ JordanCon, April 22, 2023 - part of a pre-recorded video Q&A about the series (transcript)

* Q&As
	+ Various Q&As 2018-2021
	+ Twitter/X Q&A, September 27, 2023

## Online interaction with fans

Judkins has notably interacted positively with *The Wheel of Time* fans online, both on Twitter and on Instagram. Judkins started a "WoT Wednesday" trend where information was occasionally released on Wednesdays on social media, which later became the first Wednesday of the month. He invites discussion and thoughts from fans about the book series, such as which characters fans would like to cut or keep, fans' favorite rituals, festivals, and ceremonies from the series, and thoughts on *The Eye of the World* prologue.

Judkins occasionally invites questions about the series from fans and answers them. When the first look at the Winespring Inn was released, Judkins volunteered to answer three questions about the inn. When the first look at Tam's heron-mark sword was released, Judkins volunteered to answer ten questions. When the first look at Thom's guitar was released, Judkins volunteered to answer questions about changes made in the series.

When Judkins got a homophobic death threat from a fan, Judkins jokingly stated that he would make the user's favorite characters gay in the series.

## Quotes

*See more quotes, including Q&A answers, at Rafe Judkins/Quotes.*
"If my job is protect the spine and the heart of what's there, sometimes that *is* changing things, because sometimes if you did them exactly as they were, a new audience to it wouldn't actually understand the heart of what's there because a lot of it's expressed inside someone's head or it's expressed by a character that gets a POV chapter in a way that we can't really do on television."

"When the books came out they felt so blazingly fresh and different and new, so we want that same thing to be true of the show, and if you see us leaning away from certain elements in the books, often times it's because audiences have now seen them before!"

"What's special about *The Eye of the World* is the themes of balance, of gender, and the emotional journey of these characters. As a fan of the books, I feel so lucky we get to bring this world to life."

## Gallery

### Images

Comic Con 2021 promo imageComic Con 2021 promo imageLondon premiere, November 15, 2021London premiere, November 15, 2021London premiere, November 15, 2021London premiere, November 15, 2021Rafe Judkins at The Prime Experience, May 16, 2022Rafe Judkins at The Prime Experience, May 16, 2022Daniel Henney, Rosamund Pike, and Rafe Judkins at The Prime Experience, May 16, 2022Rosamund Pike, Rafe Judkins, and moderator Patrick Gomez at The Prime Experience, May 16, 2022Rafe Judkins with the other attendees at The Prime Experience, May 16, 2022Rafe Judkins with the other attendees at The Prime Experience, May 16, 2022Ceara Coveney, Dónal Finn, Marcus Rutherford, Daniel Henney, Rafe Judkins, and Madeleine Madden at NYCC, October 7, 2022Daniel Henney and Rafe Judkins at NYCC, October 7, 2022

## Trivia

* Rafe has been called "shadowrunner" instead of showrunner by the official Twitter account, which is the Aiel name for Darkfriends.

## Navigation

Season 1 cast and crew •
Season 2 cast and crew •
Season 3 cast and crew •
Writers •
Directors •
Musicians •
***browse all crew***

## External links

* Rafe Judkins on Wikipedia
* Rafe Judkins at the Internet Movie Database
* Follow Rafe Judkins (@rafejudkins) on Twitter
* Follow Rafe Judkins (@rafejudkins) on Instagram

## References

1. ↑ *Variety*: ‘Wheel of Time’ TV Series Lands at Sony by Joe Otterson. April 20, 2017.
2. ↑ Tweet by Judkins: Hey! Just wanted to let everyone know that #WoTWednesday is going to be a monthly thing now. So we can make each one count. First Wednesday of the month. Next one — I’ll do a short Wheel of Time Q&A. Rules & regulations forthcoming :) June 26, 2020.
3. ↑ Tweet by Judkins: #WoTWednesday is here and I’m on vacation and forgot to take a picture of anything cool. So —a question — if you were to eliminate one character from the show who was in the books, who would it be and why? Or! A passionate plea for a character you’re worried will be cut. January 2, 2019.
4. ↑ Tweet by Judkins: Today the writers’ room on Wheel of a Time took part in a Balinese water blessing in a temple in the middle of the jungle. It made us wonder what are some of your favorite rituals/festivals/ceremonies from the book series? #WoTWednesday March 27, 2020.
5. ↑ Tweet by Judkins: @WOTonPrime is having their first Wheel of Time book club this week, for Prologue and Chapters 1+2 of The Eye of the World. I’m interested what you all think about the Prologue w/ Lews and what place you see for it in the show? May 6, 2020.
6. ↑ Tweet by Judkins: Answering the 5 #WoTWednesday Q & A questions now about Rosamund. You’ll find the answers on the @WoTWritersRoom thread. The 5 were selected by Amazon based on “social engagement”, which is simultaneously exciting and disturbing ;) July 3, 2019.
7. ↑ Tweet by Judkins: Hey! I’ve been super sick the last couple weeks but finally feeling better and can answer a few questions about #WheelofTime as we all live this quarantine life. I’ll do it on my Instagram story because that’s where I know how to use the question function #skilled March 22, 2020.
8. ↑ Tweet by Rafe Judkins: To celebrate @WOTonPrime's first glimpse of the Winespring, I’ll answer the first three questions I get about it on here. Go :) September 9, 2020.
9. ↑ Tweet by Rafe Judkins: To celebrate this first look at the Heron Mark Blade from #WOTonPrime I'll answer 10 questions in the next 30 minutes about production design on the show in general and how we're approaching it :) Just reply to this post with your question. December 2, 2020.
10. ↑ Twitter event: Rafe Judkins answers more fan questions for The Wheel of Time. December 23, 2020. "Following the release of a first look at Thom Merrelin's guitar, the showrunner took to Instagram to discuss some of the changes being made from book-to-series."
11. ↑ Tweets by Rafe Judkins: 1 "Got my first Wheel of Time related death threat today! And it was homophobic to boot. The internet is fun." followed by 2 "You all are very kind. I’ve dealt with them before and there’s truly only one way to respond — turn their favorite characters gay. Cause I can. This gentleman reaps what he sows — Perrin and Lan now gay for each other. Next homophobic death threat? Egwene and Daise Congar ;)". June 29, 2019.
12. ↑ Video: JordanCONline WoT on Prime panel @ 15:27. April 18, 2020.
13. ↑ Twitter December 2, 2020.
14. ↑ Official Twitter *The Eye of the World* concept art video January 15, 2021.
15. ↑ Official Twitter Watch the pattern continue to weave as our Shadowrunner @rafejudkins takes the virtual stage at #ComicConAtHome2021 and shares exclusive details about our upcoming series. July 8, 2021.