Amazon is investing heavily in The Wheel of Time to make it its own Game of Thrones

The fantasy American TV series "The Wheel of Time" is a work of such large scale that Amazon gave up looking for a suitable studio to produce it and instead built a large studio in Prague to produce it and named it after the original author Robert Jordan.

According to GQ, producer David Brown explained that when they began looking for a studio, traditional studios in Los Angeles, Atlanta, London, Budapest and Prague were all booked. Brown continued: "The show is so creative, so how do we fill that void? That's why we're in this 350,000 square foot building."

Rather than keep looking around, Amazon created Jordan Studios in Prague, purchasing industrial buildings formerly used by a trucking company. The studios include a visual effects department, stunt department, wardrobe department, writing office, accounting department and a soundstage the size of a football field, among other things.

This control over the field appears to have allowed Amazon to take greater risks with its productions. The report includes details of how the production saw an entire town where two rivers were built for a production and subsequently burned down for another scene.

The scale of the production rivals that of the most prestigious TV shows, especially Game of Thrones. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos reportedly wants to launch his own Game of Thrones on Amazon, and executive producer Mike Weber added that audiences expect such a series to be like the final seasons of Game of Thrones, with the cost per episode increasing significantly over time. Some estimates put the cost of The Wheel of Time at around $10 million per episode.

The Wheel of Time will premiere exclusively on Amazon Prime on November 19, 2021.