Editor’s note: The below interview contains spoilers for The Wheel of Time Season 3 Episode 7.
WhileThe Wheel of Timemay be winding down its third season, the latest installment of the Prime Video fantasy adaptation has raised the bar in just about every way — from building out its world with new locations and past timelines toshocking deathsthat force us to say farewell to characters before we’re emotionally ready to. There have already been some stunning episodes this season, but last week’s chapter, “Goldeneyes,” written byDave Hilland directed byCiaran Donnelly, immersed us completely in the Two Rivers, where Perrin (Marcus Rutherford) is forced to shoulder the weight of authority to protect the village he grew up in. He’s not alone in defending his home, though; alongside the help of others like Faile (Isabella Bucceri), Maidens of the Spear Bain (Ragga Ragnars) and Chiad (Maja Simonsen), and Alanna Mosvani (Priyanka Bose) and her Warder Maksim (Taylor Napier), the Two Rivers actually has a fighting chance against an army of trollocs and Darkfriends.
Ahead of the premiere of “Goldeneyes,” Collider had the chance to speak with several members ofThe Wheel of Time’s cast, including Bose and Napier. Over the course of the interview, which has been edited and condensed from those two separate conversations and can be read below, the co-stars discuss the emotional roller coaster that Alanna and Maksim have been onsince the Season 3 premiere— the events of which resulted in the death of Alanna’s other Warder and their lover, Ihvon (Anthony Kaye). They also explain the intricacies of the Aes Sedai-Warder bond (and how leaving it on is affecting Maksim in particular), break down Alanna and Maksim’s emotional love scene, and more.
COLLIDER: Were you surprised by how many times Alanna was hovering on death’s door this season?
PRIYANKA BOSE: It’s like the arrows don’t kill her! It’s not enough!
TAYLOR NAPIER: That girl got shot with so many arrows! I think it must have been 20 or 30 prosthetic arrows in her throughout this season. She’s goingthroughit in Season 3. I thinkI had 50 shooting days in Season 3, and I was covered in blood in 45 of them. [Laughs] So, there were a lot of battles. And with Alanna, she’s headstrong, and she marches right into those battles, whether it’s advisable or not. But that’s what you have to love about her.
Taylor, something that I’ve really appreciated is how much you’ve been discussing the queer aspects ofThe Wheel of Timeand the depictions that we’ve seen so far. The series has made a point to introduce a wide variety of relationships, and we’re seeing a bit more, especially with the Aiel this season. But before that happened, Alanna and her Warders were really the first instance of what a non-monogamous relationship looks like inThe Wheel of Time. How important was it for you to be a part of that representation in the show?
NAPIER: It was kind of a fun thing that happened. It wasn’t necessarily something I was expecting walking into it, but when we found out that they were going to be in this polyamorous relationship, it actually was lovely to be a part of because it allowed us to explore what that relationship means. The way the show sets it up is very, very interesting in that it’s not really about the polyamory of it all. It’s really just a relationship.We had to work together as a trio to define it. What is the connection between Ihvon and Maksim? What is the connection between Ihvon and Alanna, and Alanna and Maksim? What is their dynamic together — and how does that all play into this world of the Aes Sedai and their Warders?
One of the things that maybe doesn’t come through as much in the show but is something that we always talked about with Alanna and her Warders versus, say, Moiraine and Lan or another Aes Sedai-Warder bond is: Alanna really — or, at least this is what we were told by Priyanka — respected her Warders, and Greens seem to respect men in a different way, or their Warders in a different way. So,the agency that her Warders had, at least to us, should have felt much more important coming through. Ultimately, there being two of us helped that, too. But it’s a really fun thing to bring to screen and to also bring to it a depth that at least I haven’t seen portrayed in a fantasy show before.
Priyanka Bose and Taylor Napier Discuss Alanna and Maksim’s Very Different Reactions to Ihvon’s Death
Even just outside of the literal arrows that might be sticking out of Alanna at any given moment, the emotional heaviness of your characters' storyline this season is so heartbreaking and so lovely at the same time. Alanna and Maksim are trying to navigate the loss of Ihvon, but they’re both coming at it in really different ways. Priyanka, why is Alanna really trying to keep her head down, trying to just muscle through it, and Taylor, why is Maksim frustrated by what he perceives as Alanna’s indifference to the whole thing?
BOSE: Here’s my take on it, and I’m sure there are different theories, but you gotta just set your mind to one theory that works for you and for me, in terms of Alanna as an individual, and I feel likethe bigger picture for her is the loyalty towards the Aes Sedaiand the responsibility that she feels. She may have lost a lot of Warders in her lifetime, knowing her solidarity with the White Tower and so on. Even though the depths of her nature of her grief, you will only understand in different ways, I feel like the theory is that she is actually a loyalist when it comes to the White Tower. She will go by that principle, rather than not. But I don’t think she’s a cold-hearted person at all. It’s just that grieving for her wasn’t a priority until everyone else made her realize that priority.
I feel like Maksim grieving more for his lover made Alanna seep into it. I feel likethe depths of their characters together intertwined made more sense, because if I had to just keep the whole loyal aspect of why Alanna is an Aes Sedai in the first place and go with that, then the grieving and finding the vulnerability and everything would make more of an impact than her also grieving completely. It’s a good dynamic or a good journey for the character to actually come with those layers, saying that, “Actually, this is my duty as an Aes Sedai. This is why I am going away from the White Tower, to protect the White Tower. But I’m going to go with my principle, being loyal. Why am I an Aes Sedai?” So, I went with that principle first, and then whatever came with Maksim was another layer of actually her grieving a friend, her confidant, or someone who definitely brings another layer to her personality and her life.
NAPIER: It’s interesting because I think it speaks to how Maksim views that relationship and views his place in the world. One of the things aboutThe Wheel of Timethat’s interesting to me is thateveryone buys into this idea of the Dragon Rebornand this whole lore and myth and prophecy. When we were talking about it with the writers and producers going into this season, it was like, “Well, what if someone doesn’t? What if he’s really just there because he loves Ihvon, and he loves Alanna, and that’s really all he cares about?” And suddenly, when one of those things is taken away and the other person is diving so deep into this world of Manetheren and blood and, “We gotta build an army,” and all of that, Maksim takes a step back, and he’s like, “Whoa, whoa, this is not what I signed up for.”
Maybe he was wrong in signing up for just love and not necessarily believing in the mission, per se, butit sheds a light on characters who are in that world who maybe aren’t fully investedlike many, or, I imagine, some people probably are. Not everyone believes in the same religion, not everyone believes in the same ideology. So, if Maksim’s a little bit more agnostic about the whole thing, it definitely puts something in between him and Alanna, who alone is very much into it and very much believes in the mission.
The tension really culminates in that big fight that they have in the woods, where Maksim confronts Alanna about why they’re in the Two Rivers. In his view, they should be hunting Liandrin. Maksim storms off, but then comes to her aid later, after she turns their bond back on. Taylor, do you think he would’ve turned around and gone back even if she hadn’t done that?
NAPIER: Yes, but maybe not in time. Even going back a couple of episodes before, the beautiful scene between Alanna and Perrin, where she says, “Maksim and I are both fire, and Ihvon knew how to douse the flame.” She and Maksim both burn very brightly, and both are quite combustible. So, him storming off, I thinkhe probably would have needed a little bit more time to cool down. Also, once he gets however far he got and feels not only the loss of Ihvon, but now the loss of Alanna, too, in walking away, I think he would have definitely come back.
The moment where he feels the bond turn on and feels that she’s in danger, for him, is the moment where he realizes. He says it in that fight, because he does love her, butI don’t think he realizes how much he loves her and how much he is bonded to her— not just by the Warder bond, but by his own choices in life and how he wants to continue forward with that life. So, he decides to go back anyway. But feeling her danger and feeling her almost about to die immediately sent him back to her.
“It Was Weeks of Night Shoots and Just Absolute Chaos”: ‘The Wheel of Time’s Marcus Rutherford Breaks Down Season 3’s Epic Two Rivers Battle and Which Book Scenes He Fought For
Rutherford also discusses Perrin’s relationships with Faile and Dain, which actor is the show’s “unsung hero,” and more.
In the past, too, the characters have mentioned that Alanna typically only keeps the bond on during battle, and now we’re really seeing that she’s kept the bond on a lot longer than normal, which really adds to this new layer of intimacy for them. Taylor, did you and Priyanka have conversations about how much they’re feeling from each other now, emotionally and physically? Did you two talk about what leaving the bond long-term is really doing to them?
NAPIER: Leaving it on long-term,the bond means spending a lot of time in each other’s heads, and by design, they’ve decided that’s an unhealthy thing for them. So, now that she’s leaving it on, I think it’s really starting to erode, and also brings up everything else that they’re feeling so much about, like the death of Ihvon. They’re like, “Oh, that’s why we turned the bond off. Right. That’s why we do that. That’s why we made this agreement.” And suddenly now it’s on, and suddenly now they have to confront these feelings. There’s also the heightened stakes of Whitecloaks and trollocs and all of these things surrounding them. Now, they have to make a really, really, really big, bold decision — are they going to stay together or not?
Having the bond on probably drives them — or at least drives Maksim, for sure — to that moment where they split. If it’s not on, he gets the rest that he needs, he gets the break he needs. He needs a second to go back into himself and have his own thoughts. I personally would hate to have someone in my head all the time, so I imagine he probably would too. I imagine most people probably would not like that. Not all the time. So, I think him going back into his head is his escape, and when she doesn’t turn it off,it erodes trust and confidence and their ability to regroupand let their own fire kind of die down.
Priyanka Bose and Taylor Napier Break Down the Significance of Alanna and Maksim’s Love Scene
Their love scene in Episode 7 is really beautiful, but also emotional, because it feels like the two of them trying to figure out how they fit together without Ihvon. Is this moment more about having one last night together before the big battle, or is it about really figuring out what this new relationship looks like?
BOSE: First of all, yes to both. People will take what they might want to take from this. The concept of polyamory that we’ve tried to explore… because they are who they are,they are trying to explore what their dynamic is going to be now without Ihvon. It was very clear that Maksim came into the picture because of his love for Ihvon. Now, with him not in the picture, Alanna and Maksim are friends, but that friendship was also navigated because of Ihvon’s presence in their lives. So, yes, they are trying to figure this out.
At the same time, the reason why it’s more emotional is becauseyou get to experience their bond, seeing that irrespective of this person. Could it be for just the two of us? There is, in polyamory, kind of a balance. It’s way too nuanced for someone like me to understand in real life, but for me to understand the complexities while doing the show was very invigorating. It was very, very, mind-opening, and for me to just nonchalantly also experience that in the writing, there’s no dearth for exploring what kind of perspectives we want to take away from it. Because, yes, Maksim and Alanna got together, but not without the complexities of trying to find or flounder into each other. Could it be something? And it was. Whether it was for the battle, “let’s come together one more time,” or saving each other and all those clichés, they’re also friends. They’ve gotten to know each other through this whole dynamic, and now they’ve also lost a friend.
I feel like it was very sensitive. It was approached, also, very sensitively. I enjoyed doing it — not to divulge too much of the politics of polyamory, butto just see it as a human experience. I think that if we didn’t have the baggage of any of those, say, limitations… people love putting everyone in compartments, right? That’s why it’s a “polyamorous relationship,” or things like that. What if it was just about two people getting to know each other, and figuring out what this is now?
NAPIER: It’s a little of both. I think anytime you’re facing uncertainty or a finalsomething, suddenly a lot of grievances and anger wash away, and you remember what’s important. That’s something that they’re going through in that moment, but I also think it is a commitment. When Alanna is at death’s door in [Episode] 6, there’s a change in him. It’s an acceptance of his new place within this relationship and within this world, and stepping into that responsibility. One of those things about stepping into this responsibility is he’s always going to be playful, and he’s always going to joke with her. He’s always going to do that thing, butit’s also taking some responsibility for her emotional support. Warders are great, and they fight, but ultimately, our thing is saving an Aes Sedai from herself and making her feel as emotionally supported as she possibly can.
He realizes that he’s been a little selfish, and he’s been a little closed off, and so stepping into that moment but doing it with the humor and that wit and charm that he has, and they both have, is a way to extend an olive branch, and a way to say, “If we do survive tonight, which we are not going to…” I truly don’t think he thinks they’re going to survive — “but if we are going to survive tonight, I want to move forward in a different way, andI want us to move forward together.”
The Wheel of Time’s Season 3 finale premieres Thursday on Prime Video.
