Editor’s note: The below interview contains spoilers for The Wheel of Time Season 3 Episodes 1-3.The Wheel of Time has finally returned to our screens with its third season, and the Prime Video adaptation isn’t wasting any time (no pun intended) in emphasizing that the stakes are higher than ever before for our heroes. Not only is Rand al’Thor (Josha Stradowski) forced to grapple with which path is the right one for him in the wake of declaring himself the Dragon Reborn, but he also has to deal with the efforts of other characters to sway him in a certain direction — including Moiraine (Rosamund Pike). As the trailer for Season 3 has already revealed, Rand and Moiraine’s fates seem to be inextricably linked, with Moiraine revealing to her Warder, Lan (Daniel Henney), that she’s glimpsed countless futures in which either she or Rand survive, but never both of them. It’s unclear how this part of the story will play out over the course of the new season, but Rand is already proving himself to be someone who won’t be manipulated.
Ahead of the Season 3 premiere, Collider had the opportunity to speak with The Wheel of Time’s showrunner Rafe Judkins as well as the cast, including Pike and Stradowski, about some of the biggest moments of the first two episodes. Over the course of the interview, which you can watch above or read below, the co-stars discuss the experience of acting out multiple futures — and Stradowski teases getting to play multiple characters in an upcoming episode. They also discuss Moiraine’s tenuous alliance with Lanfear (Natasha O’Keeffe), how Rand and Moiraine’s relationship changes in Season 3, and more.
COLLIDER: Something that struck me while watching these first two episodes, and especially the trailer, is the show has always been about the Dragon Reborn, the Prophecy, but it feels like this season really leans into fate or futures that may or may not happen. What is it like to get to play out those futures, even if it’s only for the span of a single scene?
ROSAMUND PIKE: We come to learn why she has experienced that. She goes through a very testing period where she sees multiple futures and multiple possibilities of what the future holds play out, and she has to decipher and unravel the ones she feels are more likely to come true, and it’s a very destabilizing moment. Of course, one’s questioning, with all these people that you’re on this journey with, are your futures intertwined or not? Are Moiraine’s and Rand’s destinies intertwined or Moiraine and Lan’s destinies intertwined, or is there a point of separation approaching?
JOSHA STRADOWSKI: From a performance point of view, it’s very exciting for me to play the future in Moiraine’s visions, because I get to play multiple Rands. Not only me, a lot of different actors, also, from the Two Rivers, which was really a lot of fun. Even more fun lies in the past, where Rand sees the past, where I got to play seven different characters with prosthetics and wigs and lenses, the whole shebang, which was really a dream come true. I can’t spoil too much. I would love to, but I can’t.
PIKE: Another junket. When this is over, we can fully discuss it all.
To be fair, what you were referencing is one of my favorite moments from the book, so I know exactly what you’re talking about.
PIKE: And Rafe [Judkins] has done a wonderful job of transferring that to screen, and what Josha did was truly amazing, so I’m excited for you to see it.
Moiraine Is “Dancing With the Devil” in ‘The Wheel of Time’ Season 3, Says Rosamund Pike

Image via Prime Video

Rosamund, the end of Season 2 hinted at this, but these initial episodes are where we really see this tenuous partnership between Moiraine and Lanfear. I wanted to get your thoughts on whether this is a, “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” situation and how much slack she is really willing to give Lanfear, at least while they have a current shared priority in Rand.
PIKE: Well, it’s dancing with the devil. Lanfear is definitely a character Moiraine is hyper-wary of. She’s unpredictable. She’s changeable. She has powers that Moiraine has no facility with — for instance, entering Tel’aran’rhiod. She can do things in dreams that are dreadful. She can murder in people’s dreams. She’s incredibly dangerous, Lanfear. But Moiraine is bolstered by her knowledge of, before the Breaking, Lanfear loved the Dragon Reborn, so she feels that her love for Rand, or Lanfear’s obsession with Rand, will mean she won’t kill him. But she feels the other Forsaken definitely would want to kill Rand, and so perhaps to keep one of them closer is not a bad idea, because there’s certainly no way Moiraine herself can do battle with the Forsaken.

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How To Watch ‘The Wheel of Time’ Season 3: Premiere Date, Time, and More

Rosamund Pike returns to the Westlands with her all-powerful Aes Sedai.

In this first episode, it feels like a nice reunion of everyone together at first, but this group feels very weighted down by everything that they’ve been through while they’ve been apart, especially in Season 2. You can feel their experiences and what has led them to this point where it doesn’t feel like things are ever really going to be the same for them anymore. For Rand, what forces him to have the realization that this is a turning point for these friends, and they’re not the same people they were when they first left home?
STRADOWSKI: I think he knows that the whole way through in Episode 1. I think Rand can really see where everyone wants to go, though they haven’t told him. There’s a moment with Perrin [where] Rand is just trying to help Perrin to say that he actually wants to go home, and I think Rand realizes that they don’t have to carry all of that weight that he’s carrying. They don’t have to go with him the whole time. Then, I think he also realizes that there’s more for them, as well, in the future. There are big responsibilities there, which are that it’s not only about him. And like you said, it’s good to have them around because it feels like home and I think in that moment, they really needed that, but it’s nostalgia. In order to go to the next place, they have to leave each other behind with a little bit of help from Moiraine that makes it just a bit easier.
‘The Wheel of Time’ Season 3 “Reveals a Lot” About Moiraine and Rand’s Shifting Dynamic

Image via Prime Video

Your characters have a very telling conversation in this first episode, where Rand basically tells Moiraine to her face, “You can’t tell me what to do anymore.” You can tell by the look on her face that she feels that. What does that exchange do to really set up the type of dynamic that they’re going to have through Season 3?
PIKE: For Moiraine, it’s a double-edged sword because it’s confronting and not what she wants to hear in that minute, because she does feel the need to guide Rand. But then it’s also interest that she displays, because he’s also showing the signs that he’s becoming the man he needs to be. So, it’s very important that Moiraine doesn’t obstruct that because it’s what she needs. Her job is to guide the Dragon Reborn to be ready to face the last battle, so all those moments where he shows mettle and strength, as well as frustrating her immediate purpose, it’s gainful for her long-term purpose.
STRADOWSKI: Then, apart from the maze of words they can get into throughout the whole season, at least for Rand, it feels like whenever he’s with Moiraine, it kind of shows the state he’s in because he does reveal more in a way because of the conflict than with other characters. You can watch Moiraine and Rand throughout the season, and it reveals a lot.
PIKE: For Moiraine, there are times in the season where we see her having to ask Rand for help, which is a very unfamiliar position for her to be in, so there’s this dialectic of submission and control.
STRADOWSKI: Which is how you build trust. People think it’s by giving help, but most of the time, it’s actually asking for help.
I’m sure you can’t say any more than that, but I appreciate all that you’ve said already. I am all out of time. Thank you both so much. Honestly, it’s always a pleasure to talk Wheel of Time.
PIKE: It’s lovely to talk Wheel of Time with someone who’s so intimately engaged with it.
The first three episodes of The Wheel of Time Season 3 are now streaming. New episodes premiere Thursdays on Prime Video.

The Wheel of Time

Release Date

November 18, 2021

Network

Prime Video

Showrunner

Rafe Judkins

Directors

Sanaa Hamri, Ciaran Donnelly, Salli Richardson-Whitfield, Thomas Napper, Maja Vrvilo, Wayne Che Yip

Writers

Amanda Kate Shuman, Dave Hill, Rohit Kumar, Justine Juel Gillmer, Celine Song, Rammy Park, The Clarksons Twins, Katherine B. McKenna