The season 3 finale for The Wheel of Time has arrived, and it's an epic 68 minutes of television which serves as a major turning point for Prime Video's fantasy series. Before this, Rand al'Thor, Perrin Aybara, and all the rest of our heroes from the Two Rivers still had some semblance of their old lives. But now those chapters are well and truly closed, lives have been lost, and nothing will ever be the same.
"He Who Comes With The Dawn" features a number of huge twists and turns, and we've been having a blast going through them all. We were also lucky enough to interview several members of the cast who provided some incredible insights into the finale, how it was filmed, and what might be looming on the horizon for their characters.
Early in season 3's run we caught up with Zoë Robins, who plays Nynaeve al'Meara. This season is something of a time capsule for Robins, who wrapped up filming on all of her material for the season back in late 2023. "I feel like we've been sitting on this one for a while," Robins said. "It feels awesome that the world is going to be able to experience season 3, I think it's a great season."
We've already shared part of our interview with Robins, where she broke down Nynaeve and Elayne's chilling Compulsion scene with the Forsaken Moghedien. Now that the finale's out we can finally share the rest, where Robins takes us inside filming Nynave's big moment in Episode 308 where she parted the water and walked from the bay of Tanchico like a biblical figure. Watch our full interview below:
Nynave has finally overcome the block on her magic
During The Wheel of Time season 3 finale, Nynaeve and her friends go on a dangerous mission into the Panarch's Palace in Tanchico to find the collar which matches the Domination Bands, a dangerous artifact which will allow the Black Ajah to capture the Dragon Reborn. Despite overwhelming odds, Nynaeve actually manages to find the collar and get out of the palace with it...but rather than escape, she waits for her friends to emerge. Instead of Elayne or Min, it's the Black Ajah sorceress Liandrin who comes out of the palace and catches Nynaeve with the collar. Liandrin then takes the collar, wraps Nynaeve in chains attached to a heavy anchor, and launches her into the bay to drown, knowing that Nynaeve can't access her magic due to a mental block.
As she struggles to survive, Nynaeve finally breaks through the mental block which prevented her from accessing her magic, parts the water, and walks to safety. It's a major turning point for Nynaeve which will hopefully lead her to more control of her powers. Robins calls it "the most exciting moment for Nynaeve and her journey" of season 3.
"For her to be able to access channeling finally and feel in control of it, it was, I think, such a beautiful moment for her," Robins said. "And a wonderful moment for me as an actor to be able to go there. I had to do some scuba training and learn to hold my breath for a while. And yeah, it was fun, really fun."
Nynaeve's triumphant underwater scene was filmed in Prague
While many of the Tanchico scenes were filmed in Cape Town, South Africa, Nynaeve's underwater struggle was filmed at a closed set in Prague, where The Wheel of Time's home base studio, Jordan Studios, is located. For a time, the television show considered filming the scene on dry land and then adding in the water with special effects, but ultimately opted to actually submerge Robins for a more authentic scene.
"They built a pool, as you do, at the back of one of our sets in Prague. They were very kind to me. It was heated, so it wasn't freezing cold, thank goodness," Robins recalled. "[W]e spent a good chunk of a day shooting those moments. And I'm really glad we actually got to do it underwater. You know, shooting a scene like that, there's a lot that could potentially go wrong, and we were talking about maybe not shooting it underwater and adding in the water effects afterwards, but it was really, I think, important for me as an actor to be able to work with the actual practicalities of the elements in water. And yeah, I think it's paid off."
The back half of the scene, where Nynaeve parts the water and then walks to safety, was filmed on the exact same set. "So I actually can't remember what came first, but that same pool was then completely drained, so then she could walk out of it and turn back around and admire what she'd just done," Robins said. "Yeah...the exact same place, which was really helpful for me as well."
Of course, Nynaeve would never have been at the bottom of Tanchico bay in the first place if it weren't for Liandrin, the Black Ajah sorceress played by Kate Fleetwood. Liandrin and Nynaeve have had a much more complex relationship in The Wheel of Time television show than in Robert Jordan's books, and that stretches right down to the climactic moment where Nynaeve tries to convince Liandrin to come back to the Light, and Liandrin attempts to drown her instead. Is there any hope these two characters could eventually find a way to reconcile down the line?
"I can't quite imagine what a reconciliation look like between the two," Robins said. "You never know. I guess one thing I'll say is that, I feel like in season 2, there was a bond there that became quite apparent, and I would go so far as to say that it was real and true. And I do think Liandrin saw Nynaeve, and vice versa. There's kind of like an understanding of one another, and I don't think that's necessarily gone away for Nynaeve. I think we see at the end, she still does try to see the good in Liandrin. But then, you know, after Liandrin then throws [her] in the sea, maybe all of that's gone out the window. So we'll see, we'll see. Who knows?"
Zoë Robins is ready for a Nynaeve vs Moghedien rematch
While The Wheel of Time season 3 hewed much closer to the source material than previous seasons, there were still some large deviations, especially in the shocking season finale. One of those which surprised me the most is that, in the books, Nynaeve has a duel with the Forsaken Moghedien in the Panarch's Palace. This is arguably one of Nynaeve's most iconic scenes in the entire series, where she just barely defeats the Forsaken, kicking off a long grudge between the two.
The show omits this scene, but my guess is it will still happen at some point. After all, we still got the seeds of it this season, when Moghedien used Compulsion to force Nynaeve and Elayne to give her the Domination Band during Episode 306, and Nynaeve nearly resisted its effects.
"That was super fun to shoot," Robins said of the Compulsion scene. "We really needed to convey that Compulsion is quite different, and also very disturbing. And we were going for...Elayne and Nynaeve being almost child-like, kind of stripped of any inhibitions and just being in awe of Moghedien. It's so creepy, but Laia [Costa], who plays Moghedien...she just went for it. So it made our jobs much easier, too."
And what of Nynaeve and Moghedien's duel? Would Robins like to see Nynaeve settle the score with the Forsaken, after she used mind control to bend the stubborn former Wisdom of the Two Rivers to her will?
"I think scene one episode one, season 4, let's start it off with a bang and let's have a Moghedien and Nynaeve showdown," Robins said with a laugh. "I'd love that."
Zoë Robins' most memorable day in Tanchico
Nynaeve and Elayne's journey to Tanchico is one that many fans of Robert Jordan's books have been waiting to see onscreen; it's an integral part of The Shadow Rising, and a similarly important part of the show's third season. The Wheel of Time pulled out all the stops to build fantastic sets for the location, which made it feel distinctly different than any other setting we've seen in the series.
Since Robins spent as much time on the Tanchico sets as anyone in the cast, I had to ask her about the experience of filming there, and her most memorable day working in the seaside city's narrow merchant-filled streets and bustling taverns.
"I think the first time walking through the streets of Tanchico and just seeing just how different the sets were and the costumes and the design of everything," Robins said. "Like they had a real-life snake there that we had to move around and yeah, it's just a completely, completely different world that we've seen on the show. And I just think it's such an integral part of the season...I just think they went all out on the design...and it was really fun because you see how these characters relate to the world around them, and for Nynaeve...she's so out of her comfort zone. So that was really fun to play."
A huge thank you to Zoë Robins for stopping by the site to talk all things Nynaeve!
All eight episodes of The Wheel of Time season 3 are available now on Prime Video. We'll be dissecting the season's twists and turns for a while to come, including more interviews with the cast. Be sure to check back for more if you enjoyed this season as much as we did!
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