The Wheel of Time cast spills new season 2 details and spoilers!

The Great Hunt for more interviews about The Wheel of Time season 2 continues, and boy do we have some juicy ones to talk about. Yesterday Rotten Tomatoes dropped a video which compiled all of their interviews with the cast of Amazon Prime Video’s epic fantasy series. It was filled with great details and teases about season 2, and we have to hit on the highlights!

These interviews are also surprisingly spoilery, enough that we’re going to give a big SPOILER WARNING. I get the feeling that some of these interviews probably weren’t supposed to drop until after the season’s three-episode premiere aired, so if you want to go into season 2 without knowing anything, maybe skip this one; . But if you’re dying for more details and hints about what lies ahead for Moiraine, Rand, and all the rest this season, then read on.

The Wheel of Time season 2 features “unfamiliar territory” for Moiraine

The Wheel of Time is based on an enormously popular book series by Robert Jordan (and finished after the author’s death by Brandon Sanderson). There are 14 door-stopping tomes as well as prequel novel, so as you can guess the characters in this series go on some equally large journeys of personal transformation.

When last we saw Moiraine Damodred (Rosamund Pike), she had just lost her ability to tap into the One Power. We don’t know if that’s permanent or not, but it sounds like she’ll be struggling with what it means in season 2.

“She loses…the ability to sort of hold her ground at a distance and be in control,” explained Pike. “She gives up a great degree of how in control she feels, and how secure she feels. It’s security and confidence. So we see a far less confident Moiraine, which is an unfamiliar territory for the character.”

"But we see resilience, and I suppose resilience is her trait, hallmark of season 2. Because we see her have to battle…some of the same enemies and some new ones without recourse to the One Power. But we see all the other things that make her remarkable. Her ability to play the game of chess, so she’s always 16 moves ahead of everybody. And her network of informants who are spreading out across the globe, and we realize that we didn’t really fully understand that before. We see her smarts and we see her intelligence."

Moiraine does indeed have quite the network of spies in the novels, so it’s exciting to hear that The Wheel of Time season 2 will be shifting that more to the forefront. Moiraine may not be able to channel at the start of the season, but there’s plenty more about the character that makes her formidable.

Channeling magic will look different in The Wheel of Time season 2

In addition to starring in the series, Pike also serves as a producer on as well. This allowed her to give some insight into production lessons which the series has learned. “Well, there are certain sets that we dismantled that we wish we hadn’t dismantled, or perhaps had saved,” Pike said, laughing. She also talked about the improvements the show has made to its portraying its magic on screen in season 2.

"I’m very proud of the way we’ve reimagined the channeling. Which is obviously a key part of the show, almost a character in the show, and I think we’ve managed to set up this really great avenue of collaboration between the VFX team and the individual actors. So I think you’ll see…fans will enjoy channeling being much more tethered to the character who is weaving the One Power, and it will be specific to that character. I think it’s super exciting what we’ve done there and I’m very pleased for people to see it. I won’t give too many particulars, but it’s a big departure from season 1."

Pike also teased the villains of season 2 as an improvement over the show’s first outing. “I’m also excited that we get to explore the villains being verbal characters. Most of our villains in season 1 were Trollocs, which are non-verbal characters, and worthy opponents but you don’t have the mind games that we definitely start to get in season 2.”

Watch a clip of Rand and Logain from The Wheel of Time season 2!

Speaking of mind games, Rotten Tomatoes also dropped an exclusive sneak peek at The Wheel of Time season 2 which features Rand al’Thor (Josha Stradowski) and Logain Ablar (Álvaro Morte). This scene reveals a few things, such as the fact that Logain recognized Rand could channel back when he saw him in Tar Valon in season 1. We also see Rand ask Logain for advice in channeling, though the clip stops just short of showing us Logain’s response.

For Rand, there’s no going back to his former life before he learned he was the Dragon Reborn. “Especially with the Two Rivers gang…throughout The Wheel of Time, whenever they meet each other again, I feel…they want to go back home,” Stradowski said. “It’s like they know each others’ parents, they’ve been to each others’ birthday parties and whatsoever. Bel Tines. But then at the same time, there’s this thing that they have to do which is so much more important than that.

"And Rand is doing that. He has said goodbye to his friends and they think he is dead, so that they are safe and he can now live, at least try to live, a new life by himself."