Ceara Coveney is having “so much fun” playing Elayne on The Wheel of Time

The second season of The Wheel of Time introduced us to Elayne Trakand, a novice in the White Tower training to become an Aes Sedai sorceress alongside familiar characters like Egwene and Nynaeve. But Elayne isn’t just any novice; she’s the daughter-heir of Andor, next in line to the throne of a powerful kingdom, now just scrubbing pots and sweeping floors alongside her new friends.

Fans who have read Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time books know that Elayne will stick around for the long haul, so the show needed to get her right. To play her, the producers tapped British actor Ceara Coveney, who talked to Wonderland (before the actors strike) about her experience. “It was beyond my wildest dreams to land such a role so early on in my career,” she said. “The audition process was a complete whirlwind, I actually booked the job from one self-tape. It was such a shock. I had no idea how to process the news when my agent rang me. I was actually in the middle of a home workout with my flatmates, we all jumped around and screamed and hugged and then were like, what do we do now? So we just decided to finish the workout because we had all this excited energy and didn’t know what to do with it!”

Since then, Coveney has gotten to work with folk like Josha Stradowski (Rand), Marcus Rutherford (Perrin) and Oscar nominee Rosamund Pike, who plays the Aes Sedai sorceress Moiraine. “It’s been such a gift, talk about a ‘pinch me’ moment,” she said. “I’ve learnt so much from each of them. The entire cast are so lovely and ridiculously talented and I feel so lucky to be working alongside them.”

Ceara Coveney (Elayne) has already filmed The Wheel of Time season 3

Of course, we haven’t seen Elayne share scenes with Moiraine, Rand or Perrin yet. And we may not see that happen this season. But as Coveney revealed, she was filming the third season of The Wheel of Time when this interview was given months ago, so who knows what’s in store for the future? “I’m currently filming the third season of The Wheel of Time which is pretty big for now,” she said. “I’m excited to see what’s next for me professionally–my vision board and I have some big plans.”

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. For now, Elayne is still toiling away in the White Tower. “It’s a huge shift in her life as she knows it,” Coveney said. “She’s navigating making new friends, living in a new environment and realising her new role in the pecking order. It was so much fun to start playing her at this point in her journey, she’s trying her best but still managing to put her foot in it and it takes her on quite the adventure.”

When last we saw Elayne, she, Egwene and Nynaeve were attacked by the Aes Sedai Liandrin. What happens next? New episodes of The Wheel of Time drop Fridays on Amazon Prime Video.

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