Meet the cast and characters of 'The Wheel of Time’—and hear what they have to say about Season Two

Rosamund Pike plays Moiraine Damodred, the once-powerful Aes Sedai who journeyed to the Two Rivers searching for The Dragon Reborn in Season One. Now that she’s found him in the form of Rand al’Thor, Moiraine has lost the ability to tap into the One Power and use her Magic. Pike is excited for audiences to see another side of her character in Season Two.

“We see a completely different Moiraine—a Moiraine who has to use her wits and guile, who doesn’t have the tremendous power she’s enjoyed for so many years at her fingertips anymore,” Pike said.

“I miss channeling, of course. I miss having the magic,” said Pike. “But, I have enjoyed presenting Moiraine’s true courage—which is impressive, to say the least, because she’s going up against people far stronger than her, people who would be far stronger than her if she did have the power, and she’s doing it empty-handed, as it were.”

Daniel Henney plays the character of Lan Mandragoran, a highly-skilled warrior of duty and honor who shared a strong bond with Moiraine as her Warder—or an Aes Sedai's male companion and guardian—in Season One. Now that Moiraine can no longer tap into the One Power, their bond has been broken, leaving Lan struggling to figure out how to live without that connection.

“Imagine that you’ve been married to someone for 30 years, and then all of a sudden, one day, you don’t know them anymore,” Henney said, referring to the powerful Warder-Aes Sedai connection. “What does that mean for this relationship now and moving forward?”

In Season Two, Moiraine is still devoted to her mission—but she’s not letting Lan in. “It’s very frustrating to him because he feels like she’s lying to him,” Henney continued. “She’s keeping things from him, and she’s also very coy when she’s doing this.”

After appearing to successfully defeat the Dark One in Season One, Rand al’Thor goes into hiding, letting everyone believe him to be dead rather than endanger them.

“He thought he defeated the Dark One,” Stradowski explained. “He knew what was coming. He knew he would go mad and kill the people he loves.” Instead, he leaves his past behind—shaving his hair and setting out to start a new life in Cairhien. In Season Two, he’ll need to learn how to survive on his own.

Madeleine Madden is Egwene al’Vere, who finds herself training to be an Aes Sedai in the White Tower alongside her companion, Nynaeve, after she is separated from her beloved Rand al’Thor. In the second season, some of Egwene’s “darker qualities” emerge, Showrunner and Executive Producer Rafe Judkins said.

“You really do get to see that she is jealous of Nynaeve and her friend's power,” Judkins explained. “And across the course of the season, she has to figure out how to wield her own power and how to do what she can do with it.”

Zoë Robins is Nynaeve al’Meara, the strong-willed Wisdom from Two Rivers who is no fan of Aes Sedai. Nynaeve soon realizes she possesses the ability to tap into the One Power, helping to save her friends against thousands of Trollocs at the end of Season One. In Season Two, Nynaeve is tasked with learning the ways of the Aes Sedia along with her companion, Egwene.

“She's a novice at the beginning stage of that journey,” Robins, who plays Nynaeve al’Meara, said of the brash, prolific healer. “And she very much dislikes the whole process, but she's doing it out of love for Egwene.”

Blacksmith Perrin Aybara, played by Marcus Rutherford, struggles with the guilt of accidentally killing his wife while defending their home. In the second season, he has to come to terms with who he is outside of Two Rivers.

“In Season Two, I think all the characters are questioning their own identity,” Rutherford said. “They moved out of that naive, Two Rivers, kind of childlike-mentality. I think they realized that they’re a long way from home now, and the idea of going back still seems quite far off. They’re woven into this pattern, and I think they’re willing to accept now that they’re involved in it, and escaping that doesn’t really seem an option anymore.”

Donal Finn’s character Matrim ‘Mat’ Cauthon is a witty, mischievous rogue who doubts his true potential and fears becoming a disappointment like his parents. In Season Two, Mat must endure a journey of self-discovery as he’s tested in a myriad of ways.

“We find him in the early episodes coming to terms with some of the choices he made in season one,” Finn said. “He’s caged away from all of his previous kind of life, his friends, and with a lot of solitude and time to examine what kind of a person he’s been to this point so far—the kind of choices that he’s made—and also kind of literally and metaphorically is looking for maybe some form of an escape.”

Ceara Coveney plays new Season Two character Elayne Trakand—the entitled daughter-heir of Andor—who becomes fast friends with Egwene. “We meet her as she is first arriving in her quarters,” Coveney said, “And there, she meets Egwene, and they form an amazing friendship. And through that, Elayne follows Egwene on her journey.”

In order to become a successful channeler, Elayne must accept her life at the White Tower.

Kate Fleetwood, who plays the ruthless Aes Sedai Liandrin Guirale, said her character has “a lot more material to work with” in the second season. “I had a good sense of her backstory in season one, which I knew the audience wouldn't be able to share at that point,” Fleetwood explained. “But, in Season Two, the writers have let me run a bit more.”

“She seems manipulative,” Fleetwood said of Liandrin, “but underneath that, there's a whole host of reasons and motivations behind her actions.”

Hammed Animashaun plays Loial, who is the son of Arent, son of Hala, and a mighty Ogier. With a lot of wisdom and a formidable foe on the battlefield, Ogier is an endearing character in The Wheel of Time Season Two, and Animashaun is excited that this season required his character to do more physical stunts.

“Picking up the books was my only stunt in season one,” Animashaun explained. “I had to pick up a book with a pure silicon hand. That was hard—it was like doing, you know, the forearm grip things?” In contrast, thanks in part to new prosthetics that increase mobility, Animashaun’s stunts are far more rigorous for this season. “Loial’s in battles now,” he said, “and I was fighting.”