The Wheel of Time is about Rand al’Thor, aka the Dragon Reborn. But if this dragon is reborn, that means that there was another dragon who lived before, right? Indeed there was. His name was Lews Therin Telamon, and rising Swedish star Alexander Karim played him in the cold open the season 1 finale, “The Eye of the World.”
Lews Therin lived during a time of great prosperity and technological achievement, which we glimpsed in that cold open. He tried to take down the Dark One once and for all, but he failed and set off a chain of events that led to the Breaking of the World, which is why Rand and company are living in a medieval/Renaissance-era milieu and not some kind of magical futurist utopia.
The role is very important. In the books, Lews shows up as a voice in Rand’s head. We don’t know if Karim will stick around for that, although it sounds like he’s ready to make the show his own. “The series is called the Dragon’s Return and I am the Dragon,” he told Swedish outlet Filmtopp. “I’m the original Dragon, he who comes later is the main character, but three thousand years ago I existed and I set the new world order in motion by fucking everything up.”
We should mention that the Swedish title of The Wheel of Time is Sagan om drakens återkomst, which translates to The Saga of the Dragon’s Return, hence Karim’s enthusiasm. “I’m the title character in The Wheel of Time, it might as well have been called Alexander’s Return,” he joked.
Will Alexander Karim return as Lews Therin on The Wheel of Time?
Moving on to the shoot itself, Karim was impressed with the scale of the production, even though he’s normally not a big fan of fantasy. “The filming was crazy big…” he said. “If you’re a film geek like me, it’s absolutely amazing. I asked if they had built a set for the whole shoot, but it was only for one day… It’s Spielberg-sized on this.”
I suspect Karim will turn back up on The Wheel of Time, maybe even in season 2 when it premieres (hopefully) later this year.
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h/t CBR