Rand and Perrin actors talk changing The Wheel of Time for TV

Amazon’s The Wheel of Time show is based on a beloved series of fantasy books by Robert Jordan. But with 14 novels (plus a prequel) to adapt, it’s inevitable that some things will get cut for TV. Series leads Josha Stradowski (Rand al’Thor) and Marcus Rutherford (Perrin Aybara) discussed the reasons behind some of those changes with the press, including WinterIsComing.

First up though, the duo revealed whether or not they were familiar with the books before filming began.

• Marcus Rutherford:  “I started earlier, I was ahead. But Josh has raced ahead of me. We had a little break, a COVID break.”
• Josha Stradowski: “You gave me that push, you fired me up. I came in the first week (of shooting) in Prague, and I asked Marcus how far he was into the books, and he said, ‘I’m in two, where are you?’ I was finishing book one, so from then that was all I needed. I’m on book 11 now.”
• MR: “Eleven! So yeah, Josh is out in front, then probably me, and then the girls are bit behind (laughs).”

Personally, I’ve only made it through book eight, so Stradowski is ahead of me as well.

An adaptation presents a unique problem for actors: can knowing what’s to come for your character inform your performance? “I think having an idea of the trajectory, of where your character is going, especially for a character like Perrin, knowing where certain parts of his behavior might change, having read the books I think is key to where he might end up,” Rutherford said. “We’re on season 2 now, but if we do more, having had those books there and knowing where your character is going is amazing as an actor.”

We also asked Stradowski what he’d taken from the 11 books he’d read. “Everything really. As an actor it’s such a gift to sink your teeth into. It’s a gift. I used it in every way I possibly could.”

In The Wheel of Time, Perrin “struggles” with his “dichotomy with violence”

But while showrunner Rafe Judkins is keeping the show largely faithful to the novels, some changes had to be made for the small screen, including some involving Rutherford’s character Perrin. “In terms of my character, Rafe wanted real motivations behind each character’s behavior,” the actor said. “Obviously, in the books Perrin has a real dichotomy with violence, it’s something he really struggles with. I think you can express that beautifully in the books, but on the screen it’s cool and helpful for the audience to have a vivid moment or a relationship they can look back on to realize when the character is behaving in a certain way. For season 1 Perrin has this sort of battle, and this internal conflict between violence and this animal side of him or the civilized side of him. I think the inclusion of the relationship helped facilitate that for season 1.”

Stradowski agrees that The Wheel of Time is all about the characters. They feel real and human. And although its fantasy, I hope you can really relate to them. I think a factor of that is the relationships between the characters, those feel really; as if they matter. That’s what I felt reading the books as well. I felt like as an actor, I could do more to make these characters feel more important.”

The first three episodes of The Wheel of Time drop on Amazon Prime Video on November 19.

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