Amazon’s Wheel of Time adds five new cast members

Amazon’s adaptation of Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time fantasy novels is currently on a hold due to the Coronavirus pandemic. While we wait for news on a production restart, recent developments in the film and television industry suggest it can’t be long now. In the meantime, fans have been eagerly absorbing any bit of new information on the show. Just a day ago, The Wheel of Time’s official twitter account named six new cast members (among them Mat Cauthon’s parents, who we disclosed last October) and today we can reveal five more.

To start with, young actress Keira Chansa will play the role of a young Siuan Sanche. Starting out as a novice of the powerful, all-female Aes Sedai, Sanche would go on to befriend Moiraine Damodred (played by Rosamund Pike in the show) and later rise high in the hierarchy of the group. With this addition, it seems likely that the show will include one or more flashback sequences to flesh out Moiraine’s backstory.

Next, we have a pair of characters connected to the bard Thom Merrilin (Alexandre Willaume). British actor Darren Clarke (Da Vinci’s Demons, 24: Live Another Day), will take on the role of Thom’s friend Basel Gill, the innkeeper of The Queen’s Blessing in Caemlyn. Izuka Hoyle (Mary Queen of Scots), will play the bard’s lover Dena. In a listing, her character name was actually written as Dana, but this is probably a spelling mistake and given the similarity we’re positive she’s in fact playing the Dena from the books.

Lastly, we also know of two more minor additions to the cast: Jennifer Preston (Britannia) as Mrs. Grinwell, a farmer’s wife sheltering Rand al’Thor (Josha Stradowski) and Mat Cauthon (Barney Harris) on their way to Caemlyn and Phil Snowden (Les Misérables, The Musketeers), as Steve, who may be an original character created for the show or a codename.

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With more and more shows getting the ok to resume production, we will likely be hearing about The Wheel of Time on Amazon Prime very soon. In the meantime, we’ll keep an eye out for more casting additions.