Amazon’s Wheel of Time TV show has announced its latest casting drop, and it’s a big one! We now have our Thom Merrilin, Loial, Padan Fain, and Logain, Variety reports.
The break-down is as follows. Come for the news, stay for showrunner Rafe Judkins’ notes on their auditions! (And sly revelation of the very first scene in the show!)
Logain: Alvaro Morte
I am in love with @AlvaroMorte I cried real human tears in my office when I watched his performance of his first scene. He’s gonna break you. https://t.co/OFuj7EnSot
— Rafe Judkins (@rafejudkins) December 4, 2019
Loial: Hammed Animashaun
Loial’s always been a character I was excited/terrified about because of how perfect the actor has to be to pull off what’s required. Hammed is so good that when his first audition came through, every single producer on the show e-mailed back within 5 minutes that he was the one https://t.co/MLDTRUceT2
— Rafe Judkins (@rafejudkins) December 4, 2019
Thom Merrilin: Alexandre Willaume
Ye of little faith :) Sometimes it takes a minute to find someone who’s absolutely perfect to play a character as important as Thom. I was actually in an old Inn with him this afternoon to witness a gleeman performance and let me tell you he is something special. https://t.co/rHYbOxZsm6
— Rafe Judkins (@rafejudkins) December 4, 2019
Padan Fain: Johann Meyers
Johann! He was actually the very first shot of the show, riding his cart into the Two Rivers. And the way he stepped off that cart and took in the town will make you smile and shiver simultaneously in the way only Padan Fain can. https://t.co/geEie24r7f
— Rafe Judkins (@rafejudkins) December 4, 2019
The news comes less than a month after the last batch of casting announcements, which included Michael McElhatton (aka Roose Bolton on Game of Thrones) as Tam Al’Thor and Peaky Blinders star Daryl McCormack in an undisclosed role (we previously had him pegged for either Fain or Ba’alzamon, so it looks like Ba’alzamon it is).
The official inclusion of Thom Merrilin and Loial into the television adaptation is big news for Wheel of Time readers, as it was feasible that either character could be excised in the interest of slimming down the cast. (There was certainly thematic precedent, considering how Tom Bombadil the bard fared in Peter Jackson’s adaptation of The Lord of the Rings.)
A handful of important roles remain unrevealed: Elayne Trakand, her brother Gawyn, her half-brother Galad, her mother the Queen Morgase, and their “advisor” Elaida Sedai, along with a collection of Whitecloaks, Forsaken, and most intriguingly, Min.
Previously announced cast-members include Josh Stradowski as Rand, Marcus Rutherford as Perrin, Barney Harris as Mat, Zoë Robins as Nynaeve, Madeleine Madden as Egwene, Rosamund Pike as Moiraine, and Daniel Henney as al’Lan Mandragoran.
