Transcript for the New York Comic Con panel held on October 7, 2022.
The panelists include:[1]
- Rafe Judkins, executive producer and showrunner
- Daniel Henney, portrays Lan Mandragoran
- Madeleine Madden, portrays Egwene al'Vere
- Marcus Rutherford, portrays Perrin Aybara
- Dónal Finn, portrays Mat Cauthon beginning in season 2
- Ceara Coveney, portrays Elayne Trakand
- Moderated by Damien Holbrook from TV Guide Magazine and TV Insider
Panel video[]
Panel transcript[]
The panel began with a moderator welcoming the audience, then the livestream cut out, presumably to show a prerecorded video from Rosamund Pike. The moderator then introduced the panel moderator Damien Holbrook.
Damien: Hello New York. And thank you Rosamund Pike. That was epic. How are you guys doing? Yeah, yeah, we got some, got some fans out here today ready to talk about Wheel of Time? Yes. All right. Well, I'm Damien Holbrook from TV Guide Magazine and TV Insider. I'm so happy to be here to kind of kick off Prime video's double header for Wheel of Time and Rings of Power. So a lot has happened since we left Two Rivers and we've got a lot of ground to cover. So I'm gonna bring out our crew from Wheel of Time. Right now, we've got Marcus Rutherford who plays Perrin, Madeleine Madden who plays Egwene, Daniel Henney who plays Lan, and showrunner Rafe Judkins. Well, first of all, let's give these guys a round of applause. This is their first panel together at a convention. They have not gotten to do this because of everything that's going on, and also because they've been busy working on season two. So let's get right into that.
Seanchan[]
Damien: Rafe, you introduced us to some seafaring characters at the very end of season one. How soon do we get into that world?
Rafe: So, for anyone who's read the books, the Seanchan are this huge thing that happens in the second book that sort of, really for a lot of people, changed Wheel of Time from being so similar to Lord of the Rings in what the first book really did. So the Seanchan kind of come in and side swipe every story on the show. A couple people on this stage, including lovely Madeleine, have an experience with the Seanchan, and Marcus as well, really everyone. They side swipe the show just as much as they do the books. And it's a really cool storytelling device that Robert Jordan built, and I think it's so special and I've been so excited to bring it to screen.
Advanced storylines[]
Damien: So you advanced some storylines from the books into season one, possibly into season two. What kind of plots are we getting to earlier than one would do it if they were reading the books?
Rafe: Yeah, I mean, we really approach the adaptation holistically because we have to, there's 14 books, so unless we'll be shooting with these guys when they're in their fifties and sixties, we've gotta bring some of the things down and compress it. So we, you know, I think season two takes us really through the end of the first section of the books, like, which I think is the end of book three of kind of really setting up who these people are, what their main journey is gonna be in the series, and then launching them off into these incredible stories that they get through the rest of the 11 books.
Read the books[]
Damien: Nice. Oh my God. The next 11 books. How many of you guys have read all of them?
Daniel: All of them?
Madeleine: Josha.
Marcus: Josha.
Damien: (to the audience) How many of you have read all of them?
Character storylines[]
Damien: All right, Daniel, so Lan was a fan favorite from very early on. There was a specific scene, I think, for a lot of people where we're like, "Okay." But we obviously, things are gonna change big time in season two for you and Moiraine. What can you tell us about how her separation from magic is going to affect you?
Daniel: I mean, it affects Lan directly because of their bond that they have or they do not have at this point, her being cut off from the source. So I think it's... kind of like anyone in life who has a profound catastrophic moment coming to your personal life. I think he finds himself in a place of uncertainty, a very unfamiliar and foreign place to him. And it's a journey season for Lan. And it was really fun to play because I think being with Moiraine for so long, for many, many years, traveling together, searching for the Dragon Reborn, obviously there's a huge connection there. Not only because they're bonded through the one power, but just because they've spent so much time together. And I think everyone knows that Lan is a boy with no home, a king with no kingdom, and I think he found home in Moiraine. And when that home is altered, it puts him in a very strange, vulnerable place. And that's the journey you find Lan on, and it's a deeper dive into who he is as a man. And I think it's a very formative season for him. So I'm really excited for everyone to see it.
Damien: Nice, Nice. Will, will there be perhaps anyone to comfort him during this time?
Daniel: What's that?
Damien: Will there be anyone there to comfort him?
Daniel: Yeah, I mean, there's definitely someone there to comfort him as we saw in some of my favorite parts of season one. Yeah, he definitely has found companionship.
Damien: Okay. All right. Sticking with the same theme, Maddie, obviously Rand is a snack, but she also has a lot going on in her life. She's got powers. Are we going to see her kind of like, is she gonna wait around for this guy? Or is she gonna lean into her true destiny?
Madeleine: Well, I think being an independent woman is really the whole damn meal. So yeah, no, I-- (audience applauds) Thank you thank you. But yeah, we really do see Egwene sort of fall into her own destiny this season. I think a reoccurring theme for all of the characters is dealing with this loneliness that they all face, whether that's losing one power or losing a companion or sense of home or what your destiny is. All of our characters are kind of isolated in this loneliness. So I think this is a really wonderful foundation for them to kind of build themselves back up, particularly Egwene. And obviously, we dive a bit more into the Seanchan world and yeah it was a difficult season to shoot, but I really am so pleased with the Egwene that I sort of found and I think a reason the Egwene that so many of the fans grow to love, she's a really strong, strong human being and you know, the only person that's gonna get in her way is herself. And so we sort of see her break through these, I guess, internal obstacles. But yeah, it's such a joy playing her.
Damien: Nice. I have so many questions about the Seanchan, so we might get to those in a second. But you mentioned the loneliness and you mentioned these characters, like kind of finding their way. I gotta tell you, Perrin, the gentle giant, I don't think there is a more soulful face than you throughout most of season one. And this guy, you were involved in a major change from the books and people had a lot of feelings about that. How will his grief and his guilt impact him moving forward, and how will that affect him on a hero's journey?
Marcus: Yeah, he gets a rough start, bless him, Perrin. He you know, he has this sort of interesting relationship with violence in the books and it's a conflict that he has. And I think in the books, Robert Jordan can beautifully explore it within a inner monologue of what's going on in his head. But when you translate that to the screen, if you have a character that's very introverted and introspective and quite shy, you have to kind of maybe navigate it in different ways. And I think that moment, that relationship that he has right at the start, it obviously is a very traumatic experience for him, but very distressing scene that the audience will remember and it lays that foundation. So as he goes out into the world, and even though he is a gentle giant, he constantly finds himself at the forefront of warfare, violence, bloodshed. He has to kind of decide if it's worth picking up a weapon again, or if it's possible to kind of navigate without it. And it's something that troubles him, and that dichotomy is something that we stick with. And he starts to meet different people who have different perspectives on violence. And he knows he has this sort of animalistic sort of side to him that he's fearful of if he unleashes. And I think what's really exciting is seeing him sort of move forward in that, and realizing that is violence something he can escape? And is it something that's deep within him as well?
Damien: So do you think that rather than like, if he's opposed to using weapons sometimes, but he actually could be a weapon?
Marcus: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. No, no, no. Definitely on his day if when he leashes it, Yeah. Yeah. It's, it is within him for sure.
Damien: I'm ready for him to go full.
Marcus: Oh Yeah. No mate, we're going there.
Damien: All right. Okay. Yeah, you can clap for that. That is, yeah. Let's get this going. Rafe, how much, how much harder did you make your job by getting to take this into the water world? Like you, you had kind of easy working on Terrafirma.
Rafe: Well, you know, I feel like we really just tried to find a way to take these stories that are so iconic in the books and really bring them to life in the show. And I think some of the best stuff that we do, and the things that I love the most about the show and that really deliver for us in season two as well, are our characters just talking to each other. That's the heart of these books. That's the heart of our show. And I love that in season two, after we've gotten the hard work done of setting up our world in season one, that we can really spend time with these people and learn who they really are, what they each want. Each of the three people next to me on stage have an incredible arc in season two that they get to go through and they go through it on their own. And it's so different from the group journey that we saw in season one. So I'm thrilled for people to be able to see that.
Cold open from 107[]
Timestamp: 00:10:55
Damien: You talked about the hard work. One of my favorite scenes was also kind of one of the hardest to watch, which was the cold open of 107. It was brutal and beautiful and it really told, especially anyone who was coming to it knew who didn't know the source material, they kind of let us know where we were, what was going on here. So let's take a look at this cuz I'm sure you guys remember this, this was insane, honestly.
[ show cold open from episode 107 ]
Damien: Honestly.
Rafe: You see what I mean? Our show is just about people talking to each other.
Damien: Exactly. Right. How long did it take to shoot that Sequence?
Rafe: That was four days in freezing Czech Republic, but we wanted to commit to it. This is one of the, you know, in some ways the inciting incident of ours series is this woman who fought to bring a life into the world. She's not just a mother, she is a character, she fought for herself, she fought for her child. And so we knew that it was important to bring that to life in a real way. And geez, it's fun to watch this on the big screen.
Damien: Right? Even upside down. I was like, this is amazing!
Rafe: Can we please get a theatrical release, Amazon?
Damien: Oh, yes. That, yeah, that was just, I mean, that stuck with me.
Scene or sequence that they loved[]
Timestamp: 00:12:21
Damien: What about for you guys, for the actors? Like, once the show started airing and episodes started dropping, do you guys have a scene or a sequence that you either saw and loved or that you worked on and loved?
Daniel: I think that that first season, three years ago now, when we first got to Prague, it was a really incredible bonding experience for all of us as a cast. And I think just for me in general, watching back episodes one and two, when we're on that sort of journey together, all of that was just very meaningful, and really a warm memory in my head to this day, because in season two we have our own storylines. But that was a really, really special time for all of us, I think, being together. I also really like the Lan and Nynaeve stuff. I get really excited when I get to go to work with Zoe because it's light and we get to play around because Lan is normally very stoic or he's slicing someone up or he's riding a horse, so those are always really fun days for me. But the group stuff is very special to me.
Damien: Maddie?
Daniel: Oh, thanks guys.
Madeleine: Yeah, I think, I mean, similar to that scene, the Winespring Inn collapsing, that shot of... Yeah, the Winespring Inn collapsing. And there's that kind of dust cloud that comes out, which was real, I believe, right?
Rafe: Yeah, Daniel and Rosamund shot that and timed it and he literally sprinted in front of the smoke cannons just in time and covered her body as they got covered. That's not VFX. I mean, the inn collapsing is VFX, but you know, the shot itself was Daniel and Rosamund.
Madeleine: Yeah. Yeah. I think that, cuz you know, we just heard about it really. And we were very lucky to have a screening of with the cast in a cinema. So seeing that on a big screen as well was just mind blowing. But I think, yeah, so much of the time, particularly in this season, we're off on our own with other characters that come into the mix, which is very exciting, but we don't get to see what the other actors are doing. So a lot of the time when you see these kinds of things, it's really special to see what your friends have been up to. Yeah.
Damien: What about you?
Marcus: Yeah, I think episode one is getting a lot of love, but for me as well, I think that flip during Bel Tine when everything starts off so idyllic with like Rand and his family and everything so peaceful. And then I think that flip where Tom Thane has that axe that comes through him, just that these kids getting dragged into this adult, dangerous world so aggressively, I think the way Uta shot that in that episode was amazing. And it was one of those points where everyone was on set, all the cast, all the creatives, a whole village was built there and we just tore it down and set fire to it. And it was, yeah, it was just like, that cost a lot of money, but it was, it was, it was amazing and I think it really set a precedent of how the show was gonna go from there.
Damien: And your Prime accounts actually helped pay for the destruction of that.
Daniel: Thank you everybody.
Damien: Thank You.
Rafe: Thank you. The Two Rivers thanks you.
Conventions and fans[]
Timestamp: 00:15:35
Damien: Yeah, exactly. So this is your first time doing any kind of convention like this, how has it been for you guys working on the show and then telling people, Oh, I'm doing Wheel of Time? Did you know fans in your own world and how has the fan thing been?
Daniel: When I went to San Diego Comic Con earlier this year, and I mean I've definitely felt it prior to that, but for a lot of the time we're in Europe and so we don't really feel, especially here in the States where there's a huge fan base, we don't get to feel it. And so, actually when I saw you guys come to LA what in July, Marcus said to me, he was like, Oh, right. Like this is where Wheel of Time's pretty popular. I'm like, Yeah, people are gonna recognize you. But I was in, I was at Comic-Con and it was the first time seeing Lan in Moiraine in costume that it was not Rosamund and I, it was actually some fans and the costumes were amazing. That was really special. Starting to feel that. And a lot of like friends or family are like sending the dragon and reborn to me to have signed a lot of like, you know, just here and there. You're starting to feel.
Rafe: Yeah. And I feel like Wheel of Time fans are, they're very emotionally connected to the books. I certainly was when I read them. And it's often something that got people through a time in their life that was difficult cuz you fall so completely into this world, especially the deeper we go. The cultures that you see in season two and the, the characters, like, you really sit with these people through their lives and you can tell that people have an emotional connection to the books that they, they can't wait to see this world, but even more so these people brought to life. And that's, you know, we, we view that as, as a real gift and a real burden that we have are responsible for and we really want to do our best. And, and the amount of time that these actors put into connecting to these characters and figuring out their truth is, is I just respect the hell outta you guys.
Damien: Nice. Yeah, I mean, I've spoken with all, all of you guys and the investment into these characters is not just like, Oh, I'm playing a role. You guys know that you are playing some something that means something to people and you, the fans, like the book fans are everywhere. They're everywhere. They're like Canadians. You never know when you're around one <laugh>, you know, it's amazing.
Introducing Dónal Finn as Mat[]
Damien: So we had this second season you filmed in some new locations, which is very exciting. You also have some new faces, so I think we should talk about that. So I think we actually have a clip?
Rafe: Yeah. We, we've brought a clip here from season two and it shows one of my favorite new faces in the show, which is Dónal Finn, who plays Mat Cauthon, one of my favorite characters in the books, an iconic role in the show. And so I believe you guys are gonna be truly the first people other than us on our like laptops right before this to watch this scene.
Damien: You guys Are first in the, in the world.
Rafe: Yeah. Welcome to Dónal is Mat Cauthon.
Timestamp: 00:18:55
[ clip ]
Damien: Okay. So how About that?
Dónal: Surprise. Surprise.
Damien: Dónal, welcome.
Dónal: Thanks very Much
Damien: everyone, give him a round of applause, our new Mat.
Dónal: Thanks.
Damien: All right. It's so great to see Mat again. Obviously season one took a toll on him. The road definitely kicked his butt a bit but he seems to be holding up okay. He seems to be bouncing back. Also obsessed with Liandrin. What can you tell us about the state of Mat when we've come back and how is he managing the separation from technically his friends, but really he didn't really love that many?
Dónal: Yeah. Well I suppose he's by nature a very social creature and he thrives in the company of others and he loves his mates from home. I think maybe there's a bit of doubt there as well, that means sometimes he feels that he has to protect his mates from him, which leads him to kind of withdraw a bit. And so, I mean, you can see that he's in isolation there and I think probably all have some experience of isolation lately. And that just leads to a bit of reflection. It leads to kind of looking inwards and assessing maybe decisions that he's made in the past and the way that he's treated his friends. And I think that probably means like, the journey onwards is a bit like a redemption song or something, like that's his plan to kind of work and develop himself as kind of a greater friend.
Damien: Alright. Without spoiling anything, how do your characters feel about Mat in season two?
Rafe: Without spoiling anything?
Daniel: See, that's the tricky part.
Rafe: I feel like you just gotta watch and find out on that.
Damien: Okay. All right. Okay.
Rafe: Sorry, Damian.
Damien: That's all right. All right. So, like I said, I'm obsessed with Liandrin and I love this dynamic that whatever is happening there, there's like this very strange dom-sub thing that I'm in for. It really, it really does like, and it's such a great kind of almost reintroduction to the character. How is it playing with those moments with Kate Fleetwood, who's incredible and will we see them beyond the confines of that room?
Dónal: Oh... throw that question <laugh>. I know there's loads of Mat and Liandrin crackling, like they, they're having loads of throughout the thing and I love, I just love Kate. Yeah. She was, those were some of my first days on set. So Kate came in and she was a legend. She was super, super supportive. And I didn't tell her this, but I was a massive fan of her just from floating around London and watching players that she was in. And so I kind of, she was like, "Oh, lovely to meet you." And I was like, You're <laugh>, are you happy to meet you in person?
Rafe: But, and Dónal actually, it was like our first week on set together and Dónal stayed in that room during everything. We'd like come in, rehearse the scene, and then usually the actors head out to their tents and Dónal just live there the whole day. And people would come in, dress the bed. He's like, This is, this is my cell. This is,
Dónal: We called, I live, we called it like a travel lodge. Like it was just kind of Lunch that's travel Lodge Wented Hotel for the week in Prague <laugh>. Well, yeah, she was, she was incredibly supportive and I just was so lucky that those are my first experiences on, on set. Yeah.
Damien: All right. Again, I need to see more of this cuz I feel like <laugh>, she kind of needs this guy cuz she's so uptight.
Dónal: Yeah, Yeah.
Damien: And she's so stern. She makes Lan look like he's groovy.
New characters[]
Damien: Alright, so we've got, there's several new people coming into the world this season. I wanna hear from you guys. Do you have any favorites? Do you have somebody you're excited for people to see?
Daniel: Yes. Yes, so there are some really amazing male in female characters coming to The Wheel of Time.
Damien: You guys are really well-trained and Maddie, like you jumped at it. You were ready to say something.
Madeleine: Yeah, no, I, there's definitely like a, it's, I mean, that's what's so exciting about when our heroes kind of split off and go on their own is that we're introduced to so many diverse peoples and cultures and I'm personally a huge fan of the -- (stalls, looks at Rafe) Ayoola?
Rafe: You can, yeah, Ayoola. But I think too, there's like a really important character that comes in for us in season two.
Madeleine: Yeah.
Rafe: Maddie.
Madeleine: I'm sorry. Yeah. So, no, yeah, I mean that, that there's so many amazing people that sort of come in, but I know that for me and playing Egwene, like a very important person that enters her life is Elayne who's played by the incredible Ceara Coveney. And this is somebody that's gonna be a big player in the world and has been a really, I mean, anytime we have a new character introduced, it's really interesting to see the way the dynamic shifts between the other characters. And yeah, it was amazing to flesh out those scenes with Ceara and I think that, you know, the way that she plays this character is just so three dimensional and I feel we just get a real insight and really love this character.
Introducing Ceara Coveney as Elayne Trakand[]
Rafe: Should we just show people a clip of her?
Damien: Do you have something?
Rafe: I think we might have.
Madeleine: Sorry.
Damien: It's just, can we trust you guys? We promise not to like spoil anything. All right. Might as well.
Timestamp: 00:25:25
[ clip is shown to the audience ]
Damien: So we do have an empty chair. There she is! Ceara!
Ceara: Hi. Hi.
Damien: Welcome. How are you?
Ceara: I'm good, thank you. How are you?
Damien: I'm very good. Welcome. Thank you for joining us today.
Ceara: Of Course. Thank you for having me.
Damien: So, okay, so Elayne is royalty, she's the daughter heir. She's clearly polished. What is she doing with these novices in the White Tower? What is...?
Ceara: So Elayne is in the White Tower. She's in pursuit of becoming an Aes Sedai and she is very much a fish out of water when we meet her here. You know, she has a very intimate knowledge of the white tower and the goings on, but suddenly she's plunged into this world where she's washing dishes and mopping floors and she's also navigating these new relationships and friendships and it's things she's unfamiliar with. So it's been such a joy to kind of play that journey.
Damien: Yeah. How does she kind of stop calling people her subjects and just say like, "That's my friend" <laugh>. Or "my roommate" <laugh>,
Ceara: She's very quickly humbled by the women around her when she suddenly realizes she's not the only powerful woman in the room. Which has been a joy as well.
Damien: Something that I love, the books and the show have so many, there's such a strong female energy to so much of this and these characters are, you know, like, and it's so progressive because when he wrote these things, this was not a thing. But these women are literally creating the world and keeping it running. What is Elayne's dynamic or relationship with Egwene and Nynaeve?
Ceara: I mean, I completely agree. Robert Jordan has written these incredibly powerful, strong women and they're also flawed as well. And I think what I love so much about the dynamic between Elayne and Egwene and Nynaeve is the way that they compliment each other so much. Their dynamic has just been incredible to play and it's been such a joy to play these beautiful strong characters. What an absolute privilege. And it's just been amazing to work alongside Zoë and Maddie. They are the most incredible inspiring women to work alongside. And it has been such an honor and I've really enjoyed it.
Damien: And it really is. These characters are like, and no, no offense to the guys. The guys are amazing also.
Ceara: Oh, of course.
Damien: But it really, it's, it's so exciting to know because when you do a second season of a show, that's where you really get to just dig into these characters and dig into the story cuz you've set the world. And so I'm...
Rafe: You see the complexity of them too. One thing I love about Ceara is she comes in and she can perfectly deliver the scene of being the princess who's meeting people, but we always talk about, you know, she's been trained from the day she was born to be queen. And when the lion of Andor comes out from under Ceara's sort of perfect posture and everything, it's something to behold and you get to see a little bit of it in season two and she kills that part of the character too.
Damien: Nice, nice. And I also love the fact that the, the two of you were introduced with scenes involving bedrooms and one is clearly wonderful and another one is garbage. So that's, I just, I love...
Madeleine: I mean, Even Mat's prison cell looks better than my room. So like, What do I gotta do to get in one of those?
Season two reel[]
Damien: Okay, so I know that we have a season two reel, I believe. Yeah. And so this is, what are we gonna see in this?
Rafe: So I don't know, we just figured we're coming to Comic-Con. It's a long way off from the show, but why not just show people a sneak peek at what we've shot?
So we went crazy. There's like a whole bunch of stuff I can't believe we're about to show you in this.
Damien: which means like in an hour there's gonna be so many dissections of it on Reddit.
Rafe: Every frame.
Damien: Yeah. So good luck with this. Let's roll that clip.
[ clip is shown to the audience ]
Damien: Oh my God!
Rafe: I regret it already.
Damien: Wait, this is, it literally looks like a totally different, like, the-- Oh my God! So obviously season one, we start this incredible adventure of like Dragon Reborn and the Dark One and we got the hole and everything like the Tarwin, the battle, I mean, all of that was epic. But like this, it looks like you've elevated the stakes even more.
Rafe: No, now this season is just all screaming, fighting, crying, and two people talking in a room.
Damien: Right, right.
Rafe: It really is. You know, the amazing thing is we did build that groundwork, you know who these people are and now we get to see them go on these journeys, and the journeys Robert Jordan created are epic. It's a kind of gift for people who know the books to watch the show cuz they see contained in each of these characters, this path that's in front of them. And in season two, we are on that path. And it's amazing to start to see how the characters build and blossom and where they're able to go. By the end of the season, eight episodes later, it's pretty massive and I'm excited for people to see it.
Damien: This is huge. And also season one, I think like filming was probably really cold a lot of times. This looks like you were at a lot of heat.
Rafe: Yeah, we did. We, we had a long Prague winter this season too, do not, do not forget. But we got to go to, I don't know if we can say where we went, but we went to a couple very warm locations. I saw Daniel Henney walking on a beautiful beach in Morocco.
Damien: Nice, nice. Well, we thank you for some of those clips too. So with that I wanted to know, like there was, I mean, I cannot wait to go rewatch that clip, but was there anything in it that people should take notice of? Is there anything built in there that people should know about?
Rafe: I think, there's a shot of Maddie in that that I think tells a whole story in one shot and it's one of the best stories in the whole book series. And Maddie gets iconic sequence at the end of the season that that tells that story. And we've given one glimpse of it. And I won't say anything about the Forsaken. I should not.
Storyline excited to see in season 2[]
Timestamp: 00:32:20
Damien: Okay. All right. We're gonna go to some audience questions, so you guys wanna line up. But for you guys, for the actors, which storyline are you most excited to see come to life on screen?
Daniel: You mean in the season two?
Damien: Season two.
Daniel: Geez, that's a tough one. I'm really excited to see Maddie's storyline as Egwene. I think I have to be very cryptic and not reveal too much, but this one next to me has a lot in the tank as far as her acting ability goes. And I think season two really challenged her and we've all been challenged on this show. I mean, we've had some incredibly difficult scenes, but I'm excited to see what she did with the material that was given to her. I think it's gonna be incredible.
Damien: Marcus?
Madeleine: No pressure, Marcus, I'm sitting right here.
Marcus: I'm really excited for Mat. I think what Dónal's done is pretty incredible, man. Pretty, I think it's not an easy thing to do and I think he's embraced Mat in a such an effortless way. And obviously he's such a joy to be around, but I think it's really exciting what he's brought to Mat. He's kept the essence there of what's in the book, but he's brought something new and exciting that I didn't even expect was there. And that's really, really exciting to watch.
Damien: Nice, Nice. And Maddie?
Madeleine: I'm gonna agree with Marcus because yeah, Dónal's done such an amazing job at bringing such a wonderful light just to this cast, but also the show as well. Mat's such an important character of, like keeping a bit of humor in our world and being able to like laugh at the situations or the circumstances you're in. So even just seeing that little clip like which we saw last night, it was, again, you don't get to see what your other castmates get up to. So it's really nice to have those moments.
Damien: And for the newbies, what about you guys?
Dónal: Just to say they're, Marcus, Maddie, are not endorsed in any way by me. But I think, reading the scripts, I loved what was going on with Perrin, I think he's, even in the first season, I thought there's just so much to this man. It's like still water's run deep. It's like so succinct to his character and he's just faced with an awful lot more problems in season two. And yeah, from what I've seen, I've just, I've loved been around everyone on set, and and I think the other people as well as just like, who's coming in like Ayoola, she's amazing, and Ceara. So for the inclusion of the new people in this show, I'm so excited for people to meet them in the context of their characters.
Damien: Ceara?
Ceara: I think we're very spoiled for choice in terms of storylines. But I'm really excited for you to see Nynaeve's storyline this season. I think Zoë's done a really, really beautiful job and yeah, I think it's yeah, I just think it's something to really look forward to.
Rafe: There are some arches in season two.
Damien: I'm very excited to see the Moiraine Lan thing because that's almost like, "what's going on with mom and dad?" You know, like, how are they gonna handle this? Cuz this is the thing that connects them, and this is what connected all of them together, was those two people. So I'm very excited about that.
Audience questions[]
Damien: So let's go to some audience questions cuz I think you're excited about things as well, so I have no idea where you-- Oh, there you are.
Audience member Max: Hello. Oh, that was louder than I expected it to be. Hi, I'm Max. One of the the things I wanted to do say was that it has been so beautiful seeing how you've taken the stories that were written in a time that talking overtly about queer content was not done in the same way. And you've been able to take that into now so beautifully in a way that anybody who identifies that way and has been reading the books can be seen very much transferring. Do you plan on doing that with gender as well? Because gender and the One Power is so specific. How, how are you do-- what are you planning to do with that?
Rafe: For me, one of the amazing things reading these books is-- I read Lord of the Rings growing up with my dad. He read it to my brother and I as we went to bed every night, and my mom was always kind of left out of this, this thing that we had. And so she gave me The Wheel of Time book and, and said maybe we can read this together. And for each of us, we could find ourselves in this fantasy series. Like there wasn't necessarily space for a queer person or a woman who was fighting for the power of women in the Mormon Church to find themselves in other fantasy series. And there was a space in this series. And it was more hidden, but it was there. And I think that's true of everything in this series. It's so influenced by Eastern philosophy and different ways of thinking, and you can see the threads of all of the cultures around the world that Robert Jordan studied. And so I think that we can do that with, I think the seeds are there in the book for all of that to be able to bring it forward and sort of-- What I love about this series is there is a place for everyone in The Wheel of Time, and I'm excited for more people to find themselves in this world.
Audience member Max: Yeah. Thank you. Thank you so much.
Audience member Joe: Hello everyone. My name is Joe. I'm a huge fan of The Wheel of Time. I'm such a big fan that we started a podcast about it. I'm here with my co-host from the Talk'aran'rhiod podcast and I wanted to ask about two questions. One about Perrin, with the change to the story from the books, I was wondering if you could talk a little bit about how Peron's going to come to terms with his grief to kind of move on from that for a future love interest that will probably be introduced later in the show. And then also, any hints on when season two's coming out?
Rafe: You can talk about it, Marcus.
Marcus: Yeah, I don't, I dunno about season two date <laugh>.
Rafe: Tell them when it's coming, Marcus.
Marcus: But yeah, no, obviously it's, it's a, it's a very heavy toll that he's carrying with him, obviously in season one. And even going into season two, that's still very much there, the forefront of his mind. But I think he's put into positions where even though he's very, very scared to embrace violence again, he can't seem to escape it and he's put the forefront to maybe be a leader in ways. And I think he has to ask a lot of questions of himself. And I think it's really cool to see Perrin develop, to see him talk, to be honest, is quite interesting. You get to kind of really hear what he's thinking and what he views of the world and it's hard. It's still definitely an absolute stinger for him in terms of love interest. I don't think there's any love interest there. Maybe some sort of canine essentially.
Rafe: There's a few people in London right now working on season three writer's room of this show and we are talking about the woman that you're talking about right now, so--
Marcus: Okay. Yes, that <laugh>
Rafe: Marcus doesn't even know. <laugh>.
???: Thank you.
Timestamp: 00:40:30
Audience member: Hi, thanks so much for the wonderful show. The adaptation is great. I have a specific question for Maddie. Rand and Egwene are such a special relationship in books and novels. It doesn't seem like that comes across all the time in a lot of literature. And I just really feel like you're adapting it very well. But I'm wondering if that has had an effect on you playing this character who has such a different kind of relationship with the usual kind of romantic interest. I would say.
Madeleine: Thank you. Yeah, I think what is so wonderful about their relationship is that whether it's romantic or platonic, they are very much anchors in each other's lives. And I think that they both hold each other accountable in a lot of ways. You, you know, we obviously see without spoiling, that we obviously see the arcs that they go on and, and where they kind of rise to in life. And I think that there will always be love there and always a reminder of home and what's important, which is fighting for the ones that you love. And that doesn't always come so easy, but you know, I think it will always hold a very special place for me because they're both each other's first loves. And yeah, I think that reminder of home but also finding home within the people that you love as well, which is what these characters do, you know? And I think they always fight to get back to each other. So that's a relationship that I'm really excited to flesh out, continue to flesh out with Josha.
Audience member: Excellent. Thank you so much. Thank you. And shout out Sarah Nakamura, She's awesome.
Madeleine: Yes, yes.
??: Loves her.
Timestamp: 00:42:40
Audience member Nikki: Hi, I'm Nikki. It is so hard to just ask one question right now. So I'm actually gonna ask two, but only cuz one is really short. I just wanted to know, have any of you met or talked to Brandon Sanderson at all?
Rafe: Yes. Brandon Sanderson came by the writer's room season one of the show, and we get on often. Brandon's a wonderful resource. He is not just obviously a Wheel of Time expert, but he's also I think one of the great epic storytellers of our time. So I feel very lucky that I am able to call this man who is so talented and say things like, What do you think about this story? It's a real gift.
Audience member Nikki: Oh my gosh. Yeah--
Daniel: That's Brandon, sorry to interrupt you. Brandon was on set the night, if you watched was it episode two, the Taren Ferry?
Rafe: Yep.
Daniel: He was on set that night, like 15 feet away from the bridge or the ferry rather, watching everything.
Audience member Nikki: Oh, that's so cool. He must be so thrilled. So my other question has something to do with that. A lot of people who love and fall in love with book series and then watched a TV or or a series become really critical of the adaptations. And I feel like when I'm watching your series, I feel like I'm having my own opinions as to why you chose to do or a adapt things the way you did in certain ways. But since I have you here, I'm just curious if you could tell me what motivated some of the things you decided to adapt from the book, whether it was a modern audience or just for the sake of time, or things that are contextual, whether or opposed to what they can actually say.
Rafe: Yeah, I mean, it's a thousand different things. I'm so lucky that I have so many brilliant people around me on this show who bring different kinds of storytelling talents, different backgrounds, different views on the world, The Wheel of Time books on fantasy in general, and that we can sort of look at it together. And I think our ultimate job is to deliver the heart and the spine of these books to people and let them really see them. Obviously having eight episodes a season instead of 14 books means that there's a lot of our job is condensing. And so a lot of it comes from driving with character and following emotion. That's usually the reason changes are being made, is to follow character and follow emotion. And I think it's, for me at least, whenever you watch something that you are intimately involved with the books, you're taking it in differently. You follow the story differently because you're following not the story that's being told, but the way that it's being told. And so it's fun cuz we have to think about in the room and have many book fans that work on the show that we can kind of bring in and be like, Okay, how did this story read to an audience that's entirely new to The Wheel of Time? And then how does this story read to someone who read the all 14 books but read them years ago? And then how does this read to someone who's read all 14 books 30 times? And understanding those three very different audiences is a big part of how we make the adaptation.
Audience member Nikki: I'm so lucky I got to ask you that question. Thank you so much.
Timestamp: 00:45:45
Audience member: Hi. My question is for Daniel. I followed your career for a while and when there was a scene in season one where it seemed like we were gonna it was like, oh, damnit not again. <laugh>
Daniel: Very good at dying, very good at dying.
Audience member: So how is it to be in a show where it's, I don't wanna say like job security, but you know, as an actor, as a working actor knowing you're good for a couple of years. And also being able to play a sex symbol as an Asian man. It's just something we don't usually see represented. Although I've definitely seen you do that in K-drama with the <laugh>.
Daniel: Oh, you watched the K-drama?
Audience member: Yeah.
Daniel: That's the K-drama fans out here. Yeah, I've died in film, television, animation... yeah, that was a surprise to my dad. I took him to the premiere of Big Hero 6 and I died in that. He was even surprised <laugh>. Now it's really fantastic, to answer your question, I mean, to know that these characters have a long life ahead of them and incredible storylines. You know, I mean, I hope we get to go a long time and so we can see where Lan and Nynaeve end up and I'm really excited about that. I'm really proud that this is a show that we've all started together from the beginning. And we have this amazing fan base that supports us. I dunno if that answers your question, but I'm very excited. I'm very happy. The sex symbol thing, I don't know about that. I'm... I can tell you that I do know that I feel like especially Asian men have been a bit desexualized in the past. And I think it's time for us to step forward into the light a bit. And I think being even considered in a role like Lan is something that makes me, is very humbling. Something I always dreamed of. A lot has to do with this man beside me <Rafe> for giving me a shot. And the biggest thing is that a lot of fans coming up and saying, Look, you weren't who I had in mind for Lan, but now I can't picture anyone else. And that really, really makes me happy. Thank you guys.
Audience member: Thank you.
Daniel: Thank You.
Damian[2]: All right. I'm sorry I have to cut it off because we have another event right after this. So I wanna thank Marcus, Maddie, Daniel, Rafe, Dónal, and Caera, and all of you guys. Thank you so much Wheel of Time on Prime video.
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Season 1
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References[]
- ↑ Tweet video reveal of the panelists. October 3, 2022.
- ↑ Note: This portion was cut off from the official panel video uploaded to Vimeo, but was part of the original panel.
This transcript of a live event has been edited for clarity and readability. Filler words (such as "uh", "like", "you know", etc.) have been removed.