The third season of The Wheel of Time has begun! The first episode is now available on Prime Video and, in this writer’s opinion, was well worth the wait.
Here’s your obligatory warning that the interviews below include mild spoilers (and we do mean mild) for the first episode of season three’s The Wheel of Time!
After that bonkers cold open, we catch up with our pals from the Two Rivers, who—in the season two finale—finally end up back together again in Falme.
Falme, however, is quite far away from Tar Valon and the White Tower, where we start season three. So far, in fact, that it took a month-long boat ride for our gang to get there.
A month. On a boat! That sounds more frightening to me than facing off against Ishamael!
Sadly (or not), we don’t see any of that nautical experience on screen. Reactor had the chance to ask some of the actors about what their characters were going through on that voyage, however, including how that spark formed between two of them.
The spark I’m talking about is between Elayne and Aviendha, played respectively by Ceara Coveney and Ayoola Smart, who we see act on the burgeoning attraction they had for each other while sailing the seas.
“We had discussions with [showrunner Rafe Judkins] and the writer of the episode, Justine Juel, and we really thought about what that time was [on the boat], and what it looked like for them, because it was the first time that these two characters met,” Coveney told Reactor and a joint interview with Smart. “I think we decided upon there being a real draw to each other, and a real fascination with the other, and it was not something that was explored on the ship, but something that was definitely there, and a connection that I don’t think either of them could ignore.”
Smart nodded in agreement and added that, “where we pick up with them [in episode one], they’re just at that point where it’s tipping over and something needs to be done about it.”
Reactor also asked actors Marcus Rutherford, who plays Perrin, and Dónal Finn, who plays Mat, what their characters were mulling over while at sea for four weeks.
Rutherford said that, when we see Perrin for the first time in season three, “you can tell he’s been percolating with this idea of violence and what it means.” He added, “I think he’s come to the conclusion that he doesn’t want to be involved in this sort of prophecy anymore… I think he’s still slightly conflicted that there might be something within him that he can’t control.”
As you may remember, Mat blew the Horn of Valere in the season two finale, which ostensibly makes him the Hero of Valere, something he’s not quite come to terms with yet. “He probably would have lived a very happy life, being just a supporter of the quest that Perrin and Rand go on,” Finn said. “But he’s found himself in this new position. He didn’t really expect himself to have this place in society, to be celebrated in such a way. It’s shifted his view of himself and it has given him a great sense of confidence.”
That confidence, however, is tinged with denial. “The fallout of having blown the Horn of Valere has taken this effect on him mentally,” Finn said. “He has these voices occupying his head that he has no control over. He can’t really control when he slips into speaking in Old Tongue, which he’ll want to deny for as long as possible… I think he’s forced to acknowledge the reality of the situation.”
We’ll get to see Mat speak more Old Tongue (probably) when new episodes of The Wheel of Time premiere on Prime Video each week, with the finale on April 17, 2025.
