A new season of Prime Video’s The Wheel of Timehas begun! To celebrate, Geeks of Color was lucky enough to sit down with the cast of this popular, beloved fantasy series to chat about the latest season.
The series, based on author Robert Jordan’s acclaimed novels, has grown in popularity since its debut in 2021. This is because, with every season, the series’ characters have significantly evolved, and the story has gotten closer and closer to matching its literary counterpart in terms of quality and complexity.
Heading the series is Academy Award nominee Rosamund Pike, who plays Moiraine Damodred and acts as the series’ producer. Alongside her is a cast of young, talented actors, including Josha Stradowski, who plays Rand al’Thor, aka The Dragon Reborn! We got to sit down with both of them for a fun conversation.
Check out the full interview with Rosamund Pike and Josha Stradowski below:
Pike wears multiple hats regarding The Wheel of Time. In addition to portraying Moraine for three seasons, she balances her acting job with producing one. As someone who fills both roles, I asked Pike about the challenges from season to season.
“Well, the exciting thing is that we’ve been able to offer a whole host of really marvelous actors in some really exciting roles this season. So, as the world expands, we got to draw on a really global talent base for some really key characters, which I’m really excited for everyone to meet. Obviously, you see the world of Andor at the beginning of episode two, which I know you’ve seen, which is just fantastic. And you see how it’s wonderful to get to see Elayne’s backstory and family: her brothers, her mother, played by Olivia Williams, the queen’s consort, played by Nuno Lopes, and it just goes on. And you’ll come to the Aiel Waste, and you’ll meet Nukâka [Coster-Waldau], and you’ll meet Björn…that I think has been the pleasure. Expanding the world. And finding we know how to spend our budget better and more competitively. And we were able to go to South Africa and find stunning locations and get a fantastic crew,” Pike said.
Pike continued, “I’ve had more time to do other things this past season because Moiraine is not carrying the story. So, as the story splits off, I can divide my time and do other things related to the show.”
Stradowski’s Rand is dealing with a lot of darkness, and some scary foreshadowing is happening in the first episodes. I asked Stradowski what it was like to tap into the darker and more conflicted side of his character.
Stradowski said, “Yeah. I’m a fan of the growing darkness in Rand. In the books, he goes very, very dark. And it’s a certain kind of hate towards others, but this season, there’s a new kind of hate in himself. There’s a moment later on in the season where he uses the One Power. You can feel at the start of this season he’s more eager. He’s way more active. He’s more standing up for who he is. He also wants The Dragon out. But there’s also a lot he doesn’t know. So he’s very naïve. So he uses the One Power. And he’s very reckless. And he thinks it’s the right thing. And he pays the price for that in a very big way. And the prophecy unfolds in front of him, and we see that unfold in big ways, like destroying a whole country. But it also unfolds in more personal kinds of ways. And that’s where that sort of new anger towards himself comes up. Because I think he realizes this is just the start. And he needs to become something which he doesn’t like at all, but it is what must be done. And that’s where the lines of Robert Jordan come back. Duty is heavier than a mountain, and death is lighter than a feather.”