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. 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. 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. 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. Casting 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