The Wheel of Time star talks cast diversity, passionate fans, and more

While there’s still no premiere date set for Amazon’s highly anticipated adaptation of The Wheel of Time, the updates for the show are flowing pretty regularly nowadays. Based on the books by Robert Jordan — and eventually Brandon Sanderson, who was brought in to help finish the series after Jordan passed away in 2007 — The Wheel of Time is one of the most influential and best-selling fantasy series of all time. If there’s one show currently in production that actually stands a chance of being “the next Game of Thrones,” it’s this one. So obviously, we’re all watching for any scrap of news like hawks.

The latest tease is an interview with Jennifer Cheon Garcia, who plays Leane Sharif in the series. Garcia is best known for her role as the vampire Ivory in the SyFy show Van Helsing, but with the release of The Wheel of Time, she’ll be tackling a very different sort of nearly-ageless being: an Aes Sedai. In The Wheel of Time, Leane is the Keeper of Chronicles and second-in-command to the Amyrlin Seat, the leader of the Aes Sedai, a group of powerful female magic-wielders who hold a huge amount of sway over the many kingdoms in this fantasy world. Leane is an enigmatic character who has a pretty enormous arc over the course of the series, which should give Garcia a deep well of material to explore.

Garcia sat down with Looper to talk a little bit about the end of Van Helsing, which airs its series finale on July 9. But of course, the conversation eventually turned to The Wheel of Time. When asked about how she prepared for the show, Garcia gave a short and to-the-point answer that should make any longtime fan of the series breath a sigh of relief: “A lot of reading.”

She explains that, while she hasn’t finished the entire series — which consists of 14 massive books and one prequel novel — she was able to hone in on the character of Leane by combining book reading with focused internet research. Even then, The Wheel of Time is a notoriously intricate series, with a notoriously passionate fanbase. “[O]ne thing I can say about [The Wheel of Time] is that it’s the first time that I’ve been a part of a show and a story that is really, really coveted,” Garcia said. “People really have such a … even a better understanding than I do of her, I feel, sometimes. They really have had this character with them longer than I’ve had it. So. I understand that and that pressure, I’m just like, ‘Oh, please, please, please like her.'”

The diversity on The Wheel of Time made Jennifer Cheon Garcia emotional

Garcia also talked a bit about the show’s diverse cast. “We have people from all walks of life,” she said. “I just think to myself when I was growing up, if I saw a cast that was that diverse in that way I … I don’t know. It made me emotional when I was sitting in the table read and just seeing how different everybody looked, and how we’re all part of telling this story. Again, I just feel so grateful that I get to be a part of that, and that change. It’s really exciting.”

This is one area where Amazon’s adaptation has been seemingly knocking it out of the part, and it’s really encouraging to hear Garcia’s take on it.

Filming on season 1 of The Wheel of Time wrapped in May, and the series has already been renewed for a second season. It’s not clear exactly how much we’ll see Garcia’s Leane in the first season — the character doesn’t actually appear in the first book, The Eye of the World, at all. But based on what we’ve heard, it sounds like showrunner Rafe Judkins and his team might be bumping up the introduction of the Amyrlin Seat, Siuan Sanche (Sophie Okonedo) and her trusty Keeper of Chronicles.

We’ll just have to wait and watch!

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