For more than a year, rumors have swirled that Shohreh Aghdashloo, the actor who played foul-mouthed politician Crisjen Avasarala for six seasons on The Expanse, was joining the cast of Prime Video's fantasy show The Wheel of Time in a major role. Now at last, we have confirmation from the source itself. The official Wheel of Time X account announced today that Aghdashloo will play Elaida do Avriny a'Roihan, an Aes Sedai of the Red Ajah who is one of the key figures at the White Tower in Robert Jordan's book series.
"The whispers are true. Shohreh Aghdashloo is officially an Aes Sedai," they wrote, captioning a picture which reads "Shohreh Aghdashloo is Elaida in The Wheel of Time" over a picture of the Iranian-American actor.
The whispers were true. Shohreh Aghdashloo is officially an Aes Sedai. pic.twitter.com/11Z1xTXUMi
— THE WHEEL OF TIME (@TheWheelOfTime) December 11, 2024
Aghdashloo has also joined in the fun with her own tweet, saying, "The secret is out... Who guessed it?"
We did, along with many other outlets reporting on Wheel of Time news. Rumors first began to swirl that Aghdashloo was joining the show all the way back in 2021, when fans started saying they wanted her to play Cadsuane, a different Aes Sedai who appears later in the book series. That led to Aghdashloo and showrunner Rafe Judkins touching base on Twitter and getting into talks about her joining the series.
At the time it wasn't completely clear what character Aghdashloo might play on the show, but Judkins did reveal that he'd already been eyeing her, telling Aghdashloo, "you've been on my mood board for a certain character since 2018."
Then, in 2023, the floodgates started to open on Aghdashloo's possible involvement. The Wheel of Time news site WoTseries reported that she was on set in May of that year for filming on season 3, and then in September, a Wheel of Time rumor news channel on YouTube called WoT Up! claimed to have gotten "documentation" which confirmed that Aghdashloo was playing Elaida. We've been following this paper trail for years.
All this has made her involvement one of the most open secrets about season 3, but still, it's wonderful to get the official announcement that Aghdashloo is playing Elaida, and hot on the heels of the season 3 release date announcement and first trailer no less!
Who is Elaida in The Wheel of Time?
Elaida is a key figure in The Wheel of Time novels by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson, where she often serves as an antagonist. She's a member of the Red Ajah — the same branch of Aes Sedai as Liandrin (Kate Fleetwood). We're first introduced to Elaida in the very first book, The Eye of the World, where she serves as an advisor to Queen Morgause, the mother of Elayne Trakand (Ceara Coveney). The television show is expected to bring in not only Elaida, but also Morgause and other members of the Andoran royal family during season 3.
But whatever her ties to Andor, Elaida is first and foremost a powerful Aes Sedai. She returns to the White Tower at a critical juncture during the fourth book in the series, The Shadow Rising, which forms the basis for season 3. Elaida's return to Tar Valon has a massive ripple effect which reaches all the way to the end of the series, as she upends the status quo. We won't get into all the spoilery details today, but suffice to say we're expecting a lot out of the character in season 3 and beyond.
Aghdashloo is pretty much a perfect fit for this part. While she's best known these days for her time as Avasarala on The Expanse, Aghdashloo has a vast catalog of work as an actor, including roles in Star Trek: Beyond and HBO's Batman spinoff The Penguin, where she played Iranian mobster Nadia Maroni. She's also got one of the most recognizable voices in Hollywood, and has lent her talents to animated shows like Netflix's Arcane as well as iconic video games like Mass Effect. This is probably one of the biggest gets for The Wheel of Time since Rosamund Pike was cast as Moiraine Damodred.
Best of all, we won't need to wait long to see Aghdashloo in action as Elaida. The Wheel of Time season 3 premieres on March 13, 2025, only a few short months from now! We'll be watching and covering it extensively, so check back if you're into the show.
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