Kate Fleetwood and Shohreh Aghdashloo Reveal ‘The Wheel of Time’ Season 3 Secrets (EXCLUSIVE)
One star refuses to read the books—find out why
Amazon Prime’s hit fantasy TV show, The Wheel of Time, is officially in the midst of its third high-stakes season, and trust us when we say it’s more magical and mind-bending than ever, thanks to its new characters, locations and more. To learn more about why they chose to add these elements, First for Women recently sat down with veteran cast member Kate Fleetwood and newcomer Shohreh Aghdashloo. Read on for more.
Kate Fleetwood shares what her character ‘journey home’ means for her
In The Wheel of Time—a show that is based on Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson’s bestselling series—Fleetwood plays Liandrin Guirale, a woman from Aes Sedai of the Red Ajah, who is dedicated to hunting down and killing all the male channelers—the people in the world with magic. In season 3, specifically, she has to venture to her homeland and discover all the little secrets that were left there.
“For Liandrin to move on, she needs to reckon with her past,” Fleetwood told First for Women. “And going back not only develops a story in other ways but for her as a character, you get to know her family and her backstory, which we played with a lot in season 2 with the death of her son.”
In order to make that journey more authentic for her character, Fleetwood also shared that she insisted Liandrin’s accent change once she stepped back into her homeland.
“We all have that feeling of when we go back home, where we shift our accent back to our youth,” the actress explained. “My mom and dad are from Liverpool, and as Liandrin’s hometown is by a dock, she grew up next to the water, and so is Liverpool. So I asked the writers if she could come from Liverpool, and we ran with that.”
“Her hair is also really different. I wanted her to open her braids, even though it’s part of her culture. I wanted her to rebel and take her hair out.”
Aside from The Wheel of Time, Fleetwood is best known for her work on the stage. She is 52 years old and has been married to her husband, Rupert Goold, since 2001.
Shohreh Aghdashloo spills on what to expect from her character
For Agadashloo, the world of The Wheel of Time was completely new for her since her character, Elaida do Avriny a’Roihan, wasn’t in the first two seasons.
“Season 3 focuses on the storylines of book three, The Dragon Reborn, with the elements of book five, The Fires from Heaven,” the actress teased. “And it’s just incredible how they bring you the storylines in both books. I don’t know how they did it, but I loved the combination of them both.”
And while she may love the storylines, Agadashloo said that she’s afraid to read the books because she “doesn’t want to know what happens next to my character.”
“I was familiar with the series, and I loved it because of all the female roles, powerful female roles, but I have not read the books, and I will not read them until I am done with this series,” she continued. “Then I would love to sit down and read each one of the 14 novels.”
Even so, Agadashloo did heavily prepare for the role and had a lot of support from the production studio, detailing that they provided her with a variety of coaches and on stage support.
She also said that she was a big fan of the show before joining.
“I love the eternal question of whether the light would finally win the war with the darkness,” Agadashloo said. “Our choice to stay with the light during the darkness in real life as well. So metaphorically, it teaches us how to stay with the light.”
You can watch Fleetwood, Aghdashloo, and the rest of the Wheel of Time cast try and save the world every Thursday at midnight on Amazon Prime Video.
Conversation
All comments are subject to our Community Guidelines. First For Women does not endorse the opinions and views shared by our readers in our comment sections. Our comments section is a place where readers can engage in healthy, productive, lively, and respectful discussions. Offensive language, hate speech, personal attacks, and/or defamatory statements are not permitted. Advertising or spam is also prohibited.
