The Wheel of Time audition scripts reveal details about new Aes Sedai antagonist Elaida

The Wheel of Time season 3 has wrapped filming and is currently deep into post-production, which means each day brings us a little closer to watching it. The first two seasons of Prime Video's fantasy show roughly adapted the first three books in Robert Jordan's beloved book series; season 3 will tackle The Shadow Rising, the fourth book, which introduces a lot of important characters and ideas that will span the rest of the series.

As such, we're expecting plenty of new faces in The Wheel of Time season 3. One of those is Elaida do Avriny a'Roihan, a sister of the Red Ajah of the Aes Sedai who shakes things up at the White Tower in a pretty major way. It's somewhat of an open secret at this point that Elaida is being played by Shohreh Aghdashloo, who's best known around these parts for playing Chrisjen Avasarala on The Expanse. Elaida is actually introduced in the very first Wheel of Time book, but she becomes much more relevant around the time of The Shadow Rising. It makes sense that the show has held her back, and I'm more than a little excited to see what an actor of Aghdashloo's caliber can do with this complex character.

Since Elaida is being introduced differently in the TV show, there are a lot of questions about how she'll fit into season 3. But this week, reliable Wheel of Time scoop site WoTseries published a report detailing a pair of leaked audition scripts which may shed some light on how Elaida will begin affecting things at the White Tower next season. Go read their report to see the actual lines, which they've massaged a bit by including their best guesses about what characters and place names are hiding behind the codewords in the actual scripts. Then we'll discuss below. (Caution: There will be some SPOILER below.)

The Wheel of Time season 3 scripts reveal why Elaida returns to the White Tower

Generally speaking, the scripts show that Elaida will unapologetically shake things up for the Aes Sedai in season 3, and I am here for it. In the first few Wheel of Time books, Elaida serves as the Aes Sedai advisor to Queen Morgase of Andor; that's the mother of Elayne Trakand, who was played by Ceara Coveney in season 2. The first scene uncovered by WoTseries details an encounter between Elaida and Leane Sharif (Jennifer Cheon Garcia), the Keeper of the Chronicles who basically serves as Amyrlin Seat Siuane Sanche's (Sophie Okonedo) second-in-command. In the scene, Elaida surprises Leane by returning to the tower and requesting a meeting with the Amyrlin, which Leane denies. It's then that we find out why she's come in the first place:

"I have come here in goodwill on behalf of the Queen of Andor to inquire after the wellbeing of her daughter," Elaida says, later adding that, "[T]he Queen hasn’t received any correspondence from the White Tower in months. I can only assume that the Amyrlin's letters are getting lost. Tell her that the Queen would dearly love to know how her daughter is getting on. Assuming the Tower even knows where the girl is."

This has some big implications. It sounds like Elaida's return to the White Tower is a direct result of Elayne's absence, something which obviously wouldn't go unnoticed by the Queen of Andor. In season 2, Elayne, Nynaeve (Zoë Robins) and Egwene (Madeleine Madden) were kidnapped and taken by the Seanchan on the peninsula of Toman Head by Liandrin (Kate Fleetwood). We also know that Elayne and Nynaeve to head to Tanchico next season, rather than go back to their studies at the White Tower. It sounds like the White Tower is covering all of this up.

Elaida and Min will talk "seer to seer" in The Wheel of Time season 3

The second scene depicts a conversation between Elaida and Min (Kae Alexander), which also appears to be at the White Tower. That alone is interesting enough — Min's storyline in season 2 departed from the books, where she is spirited away to Toman Head along with Nynaeve, Egwene and Elayne. In both The Great Hunt and The Shadow Rising, Min spends ample time at the White Tower, somewhere she's never been in the show. From the sound of things, the TV series may be realigning Min with her book counterpart by bringing her back to the White Tower for at least part of season 3, which is a very good decision in my opinion. Big things are going to happen at the White Tower, and Min has an important role to play in them.

In this leaked script, Elaida levels with Min about her visions, revealing that she has her own much smaller talent for seeing visions and that she's used it to bolster her position. "With great responsibility comes great power. Those who cannot see need us to see for them," Elaida says, proving she may be the anti-Uncle Ben. Elaida also says that she "had a vision once that the royal line of Andor would be key in the Last Battle, so I travelled there and helped put the prophecy in action for the Pattern."

This is a pretty big contrast to how Min views her own visions as much more of a burden. Last season Min was manipulated by Liandrin into doing Ishamael's dirty work; I wonder how she'll react to Elaida being so straightforward with her? Especially if Red sister is going to point out how much Min is being used by the White Tower as well, saying things like: "All the talent you possess and Siuan uses you like a dog sniffing after a rabbit," and "[M]ay I give you one last piece of advice, seer to seer? Never let anyone abuse your gift." It's going to be interesting times in the White Tower with Elaida around.

WoTSeries has gotten its hands on plenty of interesting leaks over the past few months, but these scripts may be some of the juiciest. We do have to give the necessary disclaimer that there's no guarantee these scenes will appear in the show — sometimes scripts are made expressly to audition actors, or they're changed by the time of filming. But even still, there's enough to sift through here to tide us over for a few more days of waiting for The Wheel of Time season 3. Come on, Amazon, give us a release date!

The Wheel of Time season 3 is expected to premiere sometime in 2025.

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