The Wheel of Time wolf actor has “the sweetest” bond with Marcus Rutherford (Perrin)

There were a lot of show-stopping moments in The Wheel of Time season 2 finale, “What Was Meant To Be,” but the most brutal by far was the death of Hopper, Perrin Aybara’s wolf companion. Over the course of the season, we watched Perrin (Marcus Rutherford) come to know Hopper, who in turn taught him more about his wolfbrother abilities.

In “What Was Meant To Be,” Perrin crosses paths with Eamon Valda (Abdul Salis), a Whitecloak who previously tortured him in season 1. As Valda pins down Perrin and attempts to kill him, Hopper comes to the rescue. But Valda’s commander Geofram Bornhald kills Hopper with an axe. Perrin subsequently loses it and goes on a bloody path of retribution, John Wick style.

Animal deaths can be extremely hard to watch. Committing to this path was a risky choice for The Wheel of Time, but the team felt it was worth it. “One of the basic rules of television they tell you when you start working, is that if you kill a dog onscreen no one will watch the show again. And we broke that rule,” showrunner Rafe Judkins admitted with a laugh during a Q&A at New York City Comic Con.

"But I think what was important to us was really making you…in the books, you love Hopper because Hopper is a character. Hopper is a character that you pay attention to…and Hopper does die at the hands of Whitecloaks. So we had the task of getting you to really feel for Hopper also in the show, so that when that moment hits that you feel like you’re losing a character, not a dog. And I think that they achieved that."

Marcus Rutherford (Perrin) has a real “connection” with Hopper dog actor Ka Lupinka

Unlike Game of Thrones, which relied on visual effects to bring the Stark family direwolves to life for most of the show’s run starting in season 2, The Wheel of Time decided to stick to keeping actual dog actors on set for its wolves. Judkins talked about this decision and how it allowed for a real bond to form between Marcus Rutherford and the dog actor who played Hopper, Ka Lupinka.

"I think a big piece of what we chose to do with it is a lot of shows take the route of going CGI with wolves. Wolves are very hard to work with, and so you really don’t want to put them with your actors. So we used Czechoslovakian wolf dogs instead, and Marcus, who plays Perrin, spent, you know hours and hours and hours with Ka Lupinka, who plays Hopper, because we wanted that relationship to be real. So he would walk her around the lot all the time, and they’d spend time together on the weekends and like…Marcus’ relationship with Ka Lupinka is one of the sweetest things."

Even if Hopper died, Rutherford and Ka Lupinka’s story has a happy ending. “When she saw him again this year she just like…leapt at him, she remembered him,” Judkins said. “And you feel that on the screen. When she’s looking at him you actually feel that there is a connection between him and her, so that was the choice we made to use real animals and to make sure that Marcus the actor had a relationship with our dog actor Ka Lupinka.”

It’s pretty adorable to picture Marcus Rutherford and the dog who plays Hopper becoming besties. That said, Judkins’ comment also set off a bell in the back of my mind. To discuss why, we need to get into potential spoilers for The Wheel of Time season 3.

Will we see Hopper again in The Wheel of Time season 3?

So Judkins said that Ka Lupinka had seen Rutherford again this year. When I first heard Judkins say this, I thought it was just a cute little story about the two crossing paths. But now that I’m actually thinking about it, he may have just dropped a hint that Ka Lupinka will be returning as Hopper for The Wheel of Time season 3.

In the book series, Perrin’s bond with wolves extends into the dream world, Tel’aran’rhiod. Hopper speaks to Perrin quite a lot in the dream world following his death, and he dies very early in the books: when Perrin and Egwene are captured by Whitecloaks, which we saw in season 1. Since the show pushed back Hopper’s death to later in the story, it’s now perfectly positioned to bring him back through Tel’aran’rhiod sometime in season 3.

I’ve been expecting the show to tackle this storyline, but it’s wonderful to get a tease that it’s bringing back Ka Lupinka to play Hopper next time around, too. The Wheel of Time may be recasting a key role in the Two Rivers for season 3, but the wolf pack has casting continuity! It’s one of many things we’re excited to see in The Wheel of Time season 3.

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