Author Robert Jordan was good friends with fellow fantasy author, George R.R. Martin, author of the ongoing Song of Ice and Fire series. There are elements within Jordan's original novels that Martin included in his series, including the term "Game of Houses" that comes up in later books, and which probably inspired Martin's "Game of Thrones". Martin included a character in his books, Lord Trebor Jordayne of House Tor, and Trebor Jordayne is a modified anagram of Robert Jordan. Tor is also the publishing company of Jordan's Wheel of Time series.
The "Wheel of Time" novel series is a full 14 books, with the final three having been completed by fantasy author Brandon Sanderson. Robert Jordan (real name, James Oliver Rigney Jr.) died in 2007 and left a final, unfinished manuscript that Sanderson then split into three books. The final novel, "A Memory of Light", was released in 2013.
After the release of J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings books, there was a huge increase in novels attempting to recapture the magic Tolkien's book series had offered. Most, though, were criticized for being too similar to the original work of the Lord of the Rings. When the Wheel of Time was originally released, though it was heavily influenced, Robert Jordan was praised for having managed to create a work that was evocative, but particularly distinct and original in its own way.
Production for Season 2 was green-lit while Season 1 was still in post production.