The Wheel of Time cast discuss making of season 1, tease season 2 casting at NYCC

It’s a big day for The Wheel of Time fans, as the cast and creator of the series came together at New York Comic Con to discuss the making of the brand new series coming to Amazon Prime Video.

While New York Comic Con is an in-person event this year, the panel was completely remote and free to watch. And, thankfully, pretty much the entire cast of the new series was able to appear in the panel.

In attendance was creator Rafe Judkins, Rosamund Pike (Moiraine), Daniel Henney (al’Lan), Josha Stradowski (Rand), Marcus Rutherford (Perrin), Zoë Robins (Nynaeve) and Madeleine Madden (Egwene). And Judkins kicked off the panel, talking about the creation of the series and how he adapted Robert Jordan’s work.

For him, the goal was “to try to deliver the heart of the series to the people.” As with any adaptation, he knows that everyone is going to have an opinion about how a certain character should look or an event should play out. But he said, at the end of the day, “if people can just see it up on screen and feel at heart it feels like the books… then we’ll have done our job.”

He also shared how The Wheel of Time will be different from other fantasy TV series out there. According to him, it’s the book’s connection to Eastern religions such as Hinduism and Buddhism philosophy that makes this series stand out. It’s not really about defeating evil, but it’s about restoring balance to the world. And at a time like this in the world, he feels finding balance is “super relevant right now.”

As an additional treat, a clip from The Wheel of Time was also shared. Judkins said it was the perfect clip to share because it’s the first time when the entire cast is in the same room together, just as their adventure is about to kick off.

The Wheel of Time cast discuss the series

Meanwhile, in the panel, the cast was nothing but thrilled and enthusiastic to have worked on the series and be a part of this world that Robert Jordan created. For Rosamund Pike, who says she’s a big reader of fantasy, she was intrigued that the central character who gets to change these people’s lives is a woman. Her character Moiraine, in this series, is able to use magic (known as “channeling”). And so Judkins noted it’s extremely special to explore a series where (mostly) women are able to harness this power; it creates an interesting dynamic within the series.

As far as sets and costumes, Rutherford and Robins were both impressed by the grand scale of everything. And speaking on Nynaeve’s famous braid, Robins said it was very special to her — especially because she got to incorporate her natural hair into it, making it a beautiful opportunity for representation.

The Wheel of Time season 2

Of course, The Wheel of Time season 1 has yet to hit Amazon. That’s coming November 19. But with production underway, Rafe Judkins was able to tease some things about season 2.

He confirmed that Elayne Trakand will be appearing in season 2. And she will be played by Ceara Coveney. On top of that, two more people will be added to the cast. He did not reveal these “important” characters, but they will be played by Natasha O’Keeffe and Meera Syal.

We’ll leave the speculation about these other two characters to the fans. But it looks like there should be plenty of good stuff to look forward to in both seasons 1 and 2.

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