Warning: MAJOR SPOILERS ahead for The Wheel of Time season 3, episode 8!The Wheel of Time season 3 ended with Rad (Josha Stradowski) getting recognized as the Car'a'carn by the Aiel. However, while this was happening, the Red Ajah Elaida (Shohreh Aghdashloo) led a coup at the White Tower, manipulating the voting parties present to oust Siuan (Sophie Okonedo) from the Amyrlin Seat. Elaida executes her as well, successfully taking the White Tower for herself.

Speaking with Entertainment Weekly, Judkins explained how Siuan's death is going to impact The Wheel of Time into its potential season 4. The showrunner addressed the importance of her demise, meant to offer an "emotional punch" to the season finale. It also means there's a gap in power at the White Tower, something that needs to be addressed going into the next season as Elaida seemingly takes the Seat. Check out what Judkins had to say below:

Yeah, it really was an important story for us to tell because it's the changing and the upsetting of the world order. There's hopefully in our audience this kind of feeling, especially through this season, that, "Well, Siuan's the Amyrlin Seat and what will she decide to do and how does the Tower work?" And this moment that Elaida comes in in the books and turns all of that on its head, suddenly it raises the stakes of the world that things can happen that we hadn't processed or seen coming. And one of the biggest, most surprising moments in the books is Elaida's coup.

And so we really wanted to deliver that kind of emotional punch in the show as well, that the Tower now being under the control of someone who's not friendly to our characters is extremely dangerous. And so Sophie [Okonedo] as well is such an incredible actress and has brought so much to the show that it's emotional for us to lose her, too. She's an incredible woman, Siuan, who does things that are sometimes good and sometimes bad, and sometimes for our characters and sometimes against our characters, but you trust in her and believe in her.

And so when she's taken out from this position as the most powerful person in the world, it leaves us with this vacuum moving into season 4 of who's going to step in and fill that place. And can anyone, or is our world just in turmoil now?

What Siuan's Death Means For The Wheel Of Time Season 4

How Will Elaida Use Her Newfound Power?

Siuan wasn't just a powerful character in The Wheel of Time, but also Moiraine's (Rosamund Pike) love interest since season 1. Her death during the season 3 finale is also a core departure from Robert Jordan's novel series, where she is still very much alive after the events of The Shadow Rising. It also means she won't be involved in later events that she otherwise would have been, her loss being a twist in both the overall story, as well as a huge blow for Moiraine.

As for the power vacuum, it seems Elaida is already poised to take the Amyrlin Seat for herself, controlling the White Tower for her own purposes. This could make her a powerful adversary if The Wheel of Time season 4 happens, since she plans on caging Rand to keep him from potentially allying with the Dark One. Her bitterness over losing the Seat before and mistrust of the Dragon Reborn influenced her decision to kill Siuan, a point of no return that will make her even more dangerous as the story continues.

Our Take On Siuan's Death In The Wheel Of Time Season 3

Her Demise Will Be A Major Influence In Season 4

With Siuan dead, it seems like Moiraine no longer has any powerful allies in the White Tower, making her even more vulnerable as her travels with Rand continues. As for the Dragon Reborn, he will now be facing off against Aes Sedai on two sides, both those in Tar Valon and the Black Ajah working with the Dark One. The Wheel of Time season 4 will no doubt feature some major repurcussions from what happened, adding new layers of danger as the fantasy series continues.

All episodes of The Wheel of Time season 3 are available on Prime Video.

Source: EW