With two seasons now under its belt, Prime Video’s The Wheel of Time is on the precipice of jumping into the real meat of Robert Jordan’s epic fantasy franchise. Rand al’Thor has officially been recognized as the prophesied Dragon Reborn, and the Two Rivers gang is finally reunited — but they also face more danger than ever.
But coming to The Wheel of Time Season 3 means the cast and crew have also had more time together, more time to play off each other, and really get invested in these characters. With the premiere of the new season drawing close, we had the chance to talk to the main cast of The Wheel of Time: Sophie Okonedo (Siuan Sanche), Rosamund Pike (Moiraine), Josha Stradowski (Rand al’Thor), Daniel Henney (Lan Mandragoran), Dónal Finn (Mat Cauthon) and Marcus Rutherford (Perrin Aybara). Speaking to them, we learned about the rising stakes, more experimentation for acting, and hopes for the future of The Wheel of Time.
The Wheel of Time Season 3 is a huge turning point for the Aes Sedai and for Siuan. With that in mind, how differently did you have to approach this character in this season?
Sophie Okonedo: My approach is always the same. I never had to learn a different skill set, but I’m always trying to see what the heart of the scene is and work off the other actors. But I think the opening sequence was a bit out of my comfort zone. I’m not used to being in battle like that, so I didn’t want to look like I couldn’t do it.
So, a lot of that was about how I make that look real. It’s a real skill, and I haven’t done much of it, so I had to really rely on stunts to say that it looks real. I wasn’t sure how it was going to go, because, after two weeks of filming, it was really intense. But it ended up being the best laugh because there were a bunch of women in a room together. So there were lots of in-between takes — telling stories, and jokes, and cackling.
With three seasons of The Wheel of Time now, you’ve had a lot of time with these characters and actors. Has that familiarity changed anything for this season?
Rosamund Pike: The joy is to work with people that you’ve worked with before, because you start to know one another’s rhythms. I’m really proud of the young cast, the two Rivers originals, because they’re taking really big risks now with their work and exploring more and realizing that actually being in a show like this over three seasons is an amazing playground to try things you never tried before. To be bolder with movement or with fights, or to work out in a different way, or do different things to get yourself into character. The Wheel of Time offers you every opportunity to explore whatever interests you.
One of the fun things is to make these outlandish worlds true and real and find what the stakes are that we understand. So the things you’re talking about are obviously unfamiliar, the law and the logic of this world, but the stakes for these people are as real as any stakes for us now — politically, emotionally, globally — like global warming. You’ve got to think of it on the scale of, for this world, it’s a whole new status quo. So you’re always looking for modern counterparts, I think, to make it feel real.
Last season, we saw Rand pretty much entirely on his own, but with this season he’s been reunited with everyone. Has that changed anything for how you play this character?
Josha Stradowski: In Season 2, everyone thought he was dead, so he was on his own. But I feel like this season, while he’s with his friends, he feels more alone than ever before in his life. The friendship is great in the moment because they all went through really tough things, but they’re just scratching the surface. They’re not being honest with each other, and I think they’re holding themselves back in order to step into what they need to do in the future.
And for Rand, that’s stepping into being The Dragon. I think that’s why this season is really different. In previous seasons, they wanted the dragon, but Rand didn’t want it. Now, he does want it, and they don’t want it.
Early in The Wheel of Time Season 3, we see this scene where things could have gone very differently for Rand. It’s a much angrier version of the character. What was it like playing that different version?
Josha Stradowski: This season, we see many different kinds of Rands. Right before that, there’s a moment where we have the mirror fight, where I played with the idea of a possible mad Rand that tries to kill Egwene. Then there’s the scene you mentioned, where she sees another mad Rand. And then we go to episode four, when Moiraine sees possible futures, where I also played with the idea of possible Rand, some very mad, some forsaken, some in the Two Rivers. And then Rand sees the past. He not only sees it but lives his ancestor’s lives.
So I had a lot of fun this season. You know, I could work every day with a new mustache and some new sunglasses. It was great, seriously, I played that episode with seven different characters with prosthetics and everything that comes with it.
Lan is very much this character who kind of always has the weight of the world on his shoulders. But in The Wheel of Time Season 3, he’s starting to realize more of what he wants out of his own life. How has your experience playing this character changed with this season?
Daniel Henney: I think protecting others was always on his mind. Being a warder to Moiraine, that’s always a component. But they were very mission-focused the first season, and having been on the road for 20 years searching for this guy, it’s nice to see him branch out. It’s nice to see him ask real questions about who I am and where am I from? There are some beautiful scenes where you see him with his mother’s ring. All things are sort of speaking toward what his road down the future will be.
I had an interesting conversation with my mom because my mom was adopted, and I was asking her what it’s like to not know who your family really is. And she gave me a lot of insight for season three about how to approach that and how that can be embedded underneath everything. He always surprises me, and I’m just really excited, hopefully, to move on to further seasons and watch his journey in the books.
Matt has always been the comic relief goofball of the group, but he has this rising darkness within him as well. How do these two aspects of his character collide, and how do you harness them?
Dónal Finn: It’s very compelling, as an actor, to know that what is going on for a character internally and externally is such opposite sides of the spectrum. I think he really prioritizes being a good friend, and so when he looks around at the people that he’s closest to, none of them have it easy, you know. And he recognizes that. Like, Perrin felt the weight of the world on his shoulders. And Rand, we know at the start of season three, he’s recognized as the Dragon Reborn. What’s going to be expected of him is colossal. What that means for them is that if they dwell too much in it, they feel despair or hopelessness for the future.
He’s really aware that he has internal struggles, but he looks at his mates and thinks, “I’m just gonna manage what I am doing in order to bring them up.” It’s not an entirely selfless act. It’s like a youthful distraction for him. He welcomes being distracted by bolstering and supporting his friends and forgets about what’s going on with him.
It allows for a kind of an investigation into trust within this world because it’s only in the private moments that he actually kind of gives it room within his mind. You see in the first episode that things are slipping out regardless. He speaks in the old tongue, and he can’t quite control it.
We can recognize that sometimes that isn’t the most helpful way to deal with something, but that exercise in trust is to go, well, who sees him in those moments? Who sees that he is trying to manage something, and does he choose to share it? It’s really a considered choice for him because he’s trying quite hard to hide it, but recognizes the world is in a state of chaos.
With Perrin, his entire goal for The Wheel of Time has been to find his friends, but now that’s happened, where does this character go from here? How does that change his journey?
Marcus Rutherford: At the start of Season 3 there are those lovely scenes where he’s with everyone again. But I think, having seen them and looking across the table at all of them, he realizes he just needs to take himself out of this equation. He feels like a piece that doesn’t add up to this prophecy. I think he looks at everyone and sees they have a bit of a purpose, and he doesn’t have those capabilities.
That’s why he decides to remove himself from this responsibility he never really asked for, that none of them asked for.
Ironically, when he goes home, there’s an immediate threat there with Trollocs and White Coats. And having removed himself, he doesn’t have anyone else to rely on. He can’t look at Moiraine anymore. He can’t look at Rand or Matt or the girls to channel. He has to navigate this by himself. So, in trying to remove himself from any position of responsibility and duty, he ironically isolates himself in a place where he has to navigate it by himself.
All the things from the previous seasons have instilled within him, subconsciously, a different level of leadership and confidence that I don’t think he’s realized.
The Wheel of Time Season 3 premieres on March 13 exclusively on Prime Video.
