Wheel of Time’s Rosamund Pike Teases ‘Terrifying’ Season 2 Villains, a Powerless Moiraine and ‘Forbidden’ Love
The long-awaited Season 2 premiere of Prime Video’s The Wheel of Time is set for Friday, Sept. 1 (with the release of the first three episodes). What does the Pattern has in store for the central cast?
Based on Robert Jordan’s high-fantasy novels, The Wheel of Time is an epic action-adventure series featuring incredible talent both behind and in front of the camera. TVLine spoke with series front woman Rosamund Pike to catch up on where Season 1 left off and peek at what’s ahead for her character, the wise and (usually!) powerful Moiraine….
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TVLINE | There’s been a lot of time between Seasons 1 and 2. How different was the production process for these new episodes, and what should fans of the book expect?
Well, it gave us time to absorb things that we learned from Season 1, during which there was an awful lot to establish. We had all these characters to set up, we had a world and the rules of that world to establish, we had mythology to hint at and kind of break to fans.
We don’t have to go over all the rules again.
These books are Biblical in scope. Even now, I re-read bits to get my head around the legends and the prophecies and the folklore that underpins all the stories of our central characters. So we hope that, going into Season 2, fans will have the gist of our world, and we can take flight and we don’t have to go over all the rules again.
We know what the One Power is. We know who the Dragon Reborn is, and what that means for the world. We know what the forces of evil are in this world, we know about Trollocs and Fades, but we still have other villains to reveal, which I am excited to unveil when Season 2 launches. And this time, our villains will not just be wordless. However frightening the Trollocs were, they can’t engage in verbal combat, and we have villains in this season who are terrifying in their cold-bloodedness.
TVLINE | The show’s cast is quite large, and obviously it’s only expanding. What has been the trick to keeping things cohesive during scenes?
It’s interesting. Our key [characters], we were each other’s allies all the way through Season 1, and now we’re all separate. And people are having to grow and mature. I mean, not so much myself and Daniel Henney’s character Lan, but our young Two Rivers Five. Those characters are really on a journey of maturation, and we see them develop in very interesting ways apart from one another. Remember, these are kids from a small village in the mountains. They have not seen the wider world, and they’re realizing that stuff that they thought was just of legend is actually real, and there are present dangers in their world.
[W]ithout the One Power, we really see what [Moiraine is] made of — and the risks that she is prepared to take.
My character was cut off from the One Power, her lifeblood, at the end of Season 1, so we meet her in a very vulnerable place — and vulnerability is not a place where Moiraine Sedai likes to live. It makes her feel very exposed, and when she feels exposed, she lashes out, but this time not with the One Power. This time it’s with words, and she’s hurtful to those around her.
But we know that this is a woman on a mission who has dedicated her life — the last 20 years, we have to remember — to finding the Dragon Reborn and preparing the Dragon to face the last battle. This is a cause that she has given her life for and is prepared to risk everything for, so without the One Power, we really see what she’s made of and the risks that she is prepared to take for that cause. That’s what I’m excited to reveal to fans.
TVLINE | As a mentor figure, Moiraine tends to be defined by her conflicts with the characters she’s trying to help. Should we expect more of that in the new season, and with whom?
Trust, for Moiraine Sedai, is something that doesn’t come very easily. She likes to be in control, and she’s not that good at making alliances where she has to trust others. She’d like to think of herself as a trustworthy character, but all Aes Sedais twist the truth. They can’t lie outright, but they are very good manipulators of the truth, and they can lie by omission. Moiraine needs Rand (played by Josha Stradowski) to trust her, but she has to come to the realization that she also has to trust Rand, and she wants to guide him and steer him.
All Aes Sedais twist the truth.
Rand is growing and developing, understanding his destiny and who he is, and Moiraine also has to at least let him have the appearance of autonomy, because what we realize about Moiraine is that, sometimes, characters who appear to be acting of their own volition are not quite governed by the free will that they think they are. Moiraine has such high abilities in predicting human behavior that, sometimes, she has set things in motion that will make people choose one path, and she is betting on them choosing that path, based on things that she’s laid on the road before them.
TVLINE | Lastly, Season 1 teased some sort of romance between Moiraine and Siuan Sanche (Sophie Okonedo). What developments might we get on that front in Season 2?
Well, we come to understand more about Moiraine and Siuan’s relationship, where it started. We see the moment that they were charged with finding the Dragon Reborn, and we learn that it was a dual mission. It was Moiraine who had to find the Dragon Reborn and prepare him or her to face the last battle, and Siuan Sanche had to galvanize the tower to support him. And in that time, Siuan Sanche has risen to be the Amyrlin Seat.
Obviously, their love is forbidden.
Obviously, their love is forbidden. They’ve also, as we saw in Season 1, made this alliance whereby Moiraine appears to be banished — and, of course, they have to adhere to that. So, Moiraine cannot return to the White Tower. They are still supposed to be working in collaboration, but the fact that they’re working together in support of the Dragon Reborn must never be known. The fact that they know who the Dragon Reborn is should never be known. So, it’s secrets within secrets within secrets… and it’s quite hard to keep all these balls in the air sometimes! Even for me, I have to sort of remember that it’s a complex world Robert Jordan laid at our feet, but yeah, we do our best.
Note: This interview took place before SAG-AFTRA officially announced a strike on July 13.
Want scoop on The Wheel of Time, or for any other TV show ? Email your question to InsideLine@tvline.com, and it may be answered via Matt’s Inside Line!
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