Amazon’s Wheel of Time Series Race Swaps Egwene, Perrin, and Nynaeve
Amazon’s upcoming Wheel of Time series will race swap Egwene, Perrin, and Nynaeve.
Wheel of Time showrunner Rafe Judkins confirmed casting announcements for the upcoming Amazon adaptation. They cast Marcus Rutherford as Perrin Aybara, Zoë Robins as Nynaeve, and Madeleine Madden as Egwene Al’Vere. They also cast Josha Stradowski as Rand al’Thor, and Barney Harris as Mat Cauthon. (Related: Report: Rosamund Pike to Star in Amazon’s Adaptation of Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time)
This man walked into the room, read a scene that made every single person watching cry, and walked out. We all looked at each other and said “He is Perrin.” Glad you’re all getting to meet him now too 🙂 https://t.co/WAacvKwj4A
— Rafe Judkins (@rafejudkins) August 14, 2019
We had the pick of the world on these cast members. Sent about two dozen Nynaeve tapes to the writers’ room to see who everyone liked and every. single. person. had one response — “Zoe”. I am already stanning her if that’s how you use that word. #twitterafficianado https://t.co/WilM7Fygez
— Rafe Judkins (@rafejudkins) August 14, 2019
I’m glad you all finally get to meet Egwene. She is the character in the books I often identify with most and Maddy makes her even more than the woman I admired reading for all those years. These five are the most incredible talents and I am honored to be able to work with them. https://t.co/k2QXuZaLs9
— Rafe Judkins (@rafejudkins) August 14, 2019
The casting news comes after Rafe Judkins revealed his ideas of how the show was going to handle casting. Judkins posted a script grab that read:
“As much as possible, our cast should look like America will in a few hundred years — a beautiful mix of white, brown, black and everything in between.”
Hey! Sorry (especially to non-US folks) for the lateness on this. But this #WoTWednesday I thought I’d give another script grab — this time about casting. Actual casting is a long way off, but this at least gives you an idea of how we are thinking about it in a general sense. pic.twitter.com/MAGI381ExZ
— Rafe Judkins (@rafejudkins) August 30, 2018
After the casting announcements were made Judkins took to Twitter to write that the casting team “embraced this world and these books fully and found people who perfectly embody these characters.”
Also, please make sure to give credit where it’s due for this cast — to Kelly and her team at @KVHendry They embraced this world and these books fully and found people who perfectly embody these characters. Thank you so much.
— Rafe Judkins (@rafejudkins) August 14, 2019
Egwene al’Vere was depicted in the comic book adaptation of Robert Jordan’s The Eye of the World as white. The series was originally published in 2005 by Dynamite Entertainment, two years before Robert Jordan passed away. (Related: James Wan’s Mortal Kombat Film Race Swaps Raiden and Mileena)
Nynaeve al’Meara was also depicted as white.
So was Perrin Aybara.
These casting decisions also appear to go against the vision of Wheel of Time creator and author Robert Jordan. (Related: Disney Announces Race-Swapped Ariel with Actress Halle Bailey For “Live-Action Reimagining” of The Little Mermaid)
Back in 2014, notes from the Robert Jordan Collection at the College of Charleston revealed the actors he modeled his characters after.
Egwene was described as Audrey Hepburn at age 18. Nynaeve was described as a young Jacqueline Bisset and Perrin Aybara was a young Val Kilmer.
What do you make of these casting announcements? What do you make of the thought process behind the casting decisions for Wheel of Time?