Season 2 of Prime Video‘s The Wheel of Time brings in a number of new characters from the books — including Darkfriends, whose power gives them a frightening capacity for evil. However, showrunner Rafe Judkins was especially interested in the humanity of these antagonists.
In an interview with Decider, Judkins talked about how the two Forsaken — Natasha O’Keeffe’s Lanfear and Fares Fares’ Ishamael — were adapted to the screen. Ishamael first showed up in Season 1 with attempts to manipulate Rand al’Thor (Josha Stradowski) toward the Dark. Lanfear — who has now been unmasked as one of the Forsaken who caused the Breaking of the World — is introduced at the beginning of Season 2 as Rand’s lover Selene.
Judkins explained that Rand’s point of view can limit what comes through on other characters. “You know, Rand only gets these kind of bare glimpses of them in the early books and you as a reader aren’t able to fully understand how complex and how real these people are and that’s what makes them interesting to us as writers,” he said. “They’re not just capital ‘E’ Evil. Like they’re doing what they do for a reason and they’re extremely human faces of evil in The Wheel of Time.”
Regarding the positive fan reaction to Lanfear, Judkins added, “I’m excited that the whole world is now as in love with Lanfear as the writers’ room of The Wheel of Time has been for the last few years since we started working on her.” He continued, “…I do think that Lanfear and Ishamael, we really tried to infuse the characters with a lot of what you learn about them from the end of the books right at the beginning so that their characters feel complete.”
The Wheel of Time is back on Prime Video
The Wheel of Time, based on the beloved book series by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson, is set in a world where certain women have access to powerful magic and can join the feared and respected order of Aes Sedai. However, men with the same ability, including Rand, are doomed to mentally snap and endanger everyone around them.
The Wheel of Time is streaming now on Prime Video. The Season 2 finale will air on Thursday, October 5.
