The casting thread

[Dagon Thyne]

Sam Elliot will not be Thom.  He can't speak  in a british (Andoran) accent. 

 

I always thought that David Thewlis would be great as Fain.

Edited December 22, 2018 by Dagon Thyne

[David Taulbee]

Mayim Bialik for Verin Mathwin

[dexterryu]

On 12/30/2018 at 8:49 PM, David Taulbee said:

Mayim Bialik for Verin Mathwin

Really good choice. 

[Elgee]

On 12/31/2018 at 3:49 AM, David Taulbee said:

Mayim Bialik for Verin Mathwin

 

I like it!

[jjr007]

Sam Heughan from the series Outlander as Rand https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1537825/mediaviewer/rm3771623936

 

Edited January 6, 2019 by jjr007

[Ryrin]

He’s short.

[Ryrin]

Timothy Omundson as Thom.

[Elgee]

20 hours ago, Ryrin said:

He’s short.

 

He's also about 20 years too old.

[Ferra74]

How about Rachel Brosnahan as Moiraine? Since it is an Amazon show and she is doing quite well in The Marvelous Mrs Maisel...

Edited January 7, 2019 by Ferra74

[skoog]

If you wan't to be serious about casting keep in mind that movie actors and TV actors tend to stay in their fields and don't expect any movie stars i'd say. Unless the movie star in question is a fan and wants to do it as a passion project there wont be room in the initial budget. IE Jonah hill wanted to do the wolf of wallstreet so badly he did it for 1% of his regular movie pay. 

[Thrasymachus]

Depends on who you're casting.  For adult actors, that's generally true, but for child and teen actors, there's all kinds of crossover.  

 

And of course, this is a fan casting thread.  Nobody takes it seriously, or should anyway.

 

And just so this doesn't turn into some meta thread about how serious people should be in fan casting threads, I offer Annalise Basso for Aviendha, or perhaps one of the tertiary Aiel Maidens, say, Enaila or Bain. 

Edited January 24, 2019 by Thrasymachus

[Dagon Thyne]

They will likely cast a few major stars in some roles for drawing power, then have the majority of the last be b-listers and unknowns.

 

I think some of the roles for major stars will be Thom, Tam, and Morgase.  

 

Thom could be played by Michael Cain, Gary Oldman, or Someone who looks good in a facial hair.

 

Tam only appears in a handful of chapters so he could be played by a major star who is just there to draw eyes to the premier.  Ideally, he needs to be a middle aged actor who can speak in a irish accent (The Two Rivers accent is Irish), who could be believable as a Blademaster, and soldier.  I say Liam Neeson.  

 

Like Tam, Morgase is a background character for most of the series, through she becomes a key supporting character later in the series and is the driving force for many characters developent..... (Rand feels he failed Elayne and Andor by failing to save Morgase, who he thinks he dead, Galad's grief over the presumed death of the only mother he had ever known, and fight to avenge her and bring her killer to justice are what pushes him into taking over the Children of the Light.)  It needs to be someone who puts while attractive, can put out a vibe of power and regal authority......Nicole Kidman would be the best pick, if they were gonna use this character to draw eyes to the show.

[Thrasymachus]

Considering they're going for Moiraine as the lead for the first season at least, I think it's possible they may go with a known quantity for her.  A big name bound to drive up viewers for the first few seasons, who will be sidelined as the plot goes to Rhuidean and the Waste, go out in a blaze of glory only to be seen in flashbacks, then return for the last season.  Mila Kunis fits her description physically; short, dark hair and eyes, has a clipped, but faintly musical accent.  I don't know whether she can do the reserved mystery and hidden emotion Moiraine would need, but I also haven't seen everything she's done, and from what I've seen of the Black Swan and Jupiter Ascending trailers, she can probably pull it off with good direction.  I don't see any current projects on her imdb page (not that she couldn't be doing something nobody knows about yet), and she's probably about as big a name as the studio would want to afford.

 

And while I'm serious about Mila Kunis as Moiraine, a perverse part of me now wants to see Ashton Kutcher as Lan.  He's got the chiseled looks for it, and he can be aged up a bit with makeup and a little gray in his hair.  But nobody would buy Kelso as the most badass swordsman and Warder of the 3rd Age.  And his voice is too soft.  Sean Bean would be a good Lan, though.  And considering Lan's not really required to be on screen much, he might not be too expensive.  It would be a nice subversion of tropes too, what with Sean Bean's always getting killed off, while Lan survives the whole way through.  He's busy with an adaptation of Macbeth at the moment, though.

[Dagon Thyne]

I always pictured Moiraine as having a a french accent, since she's Caihien.  However, I could easily see her as having trained herself to speak several different accents to hide her roots.

[DemandredFO]

I agree Tam would be a good big name actor position since he's not that active on screen. Moiraine and Lan probably big names too. Thom I don't think big name because he's too active. If this series makes it to the waste, they'll have to used forced perspective since the Aiel are all basketball player tall.

[JakeSt4r]

On 2/1/2019 at 9:58 AM, Thrasymachus said:

Considering they're going for Moiraine as the lead for the first season at least, I think it's possible they may go with a known quantity for her.  A big name bound to drive up viewers for the first few seasons, who will be sidelined as the plot goes to Rhuidean and the Waste, go out in a blaze of glory only to be seen in flashbacks, then return for the last season.  Mila Kunis fits her description physically; short, dark hair and eyes, has a clipped, but faintly musical accent.  I don't know whether she can do the reserved mystery and hidden emotion Moiraine would need, but I also haven't seen everything she's done, and from what I've seen of the Black Swan and Jupiter Ascending trailers, she can probably pull it off with good direction.  I don't see any current projects on her imdb page (not that she couldn't be doing something nobody knows about yet), and she's probably about as big a name as the studio would want to afford.

 

And while I'm serious about Mila Kunis as Moiraine, a perverse part of me now wants to see Ashton Kutcher as Lan.  He's got the chiseled looks for it, and he can be aged up a bit with makeup and a little gray in his hair.  But nobody would buy Kelso as the most badass swordsman and Warder of the 3rd Age.  And his voice is too soft.  Sean Bean would be a good Lan, though.  And considering Lan's not really required to be on screen much, he might not be too expensive.  It would be a nice subversion of tropes too, what with Sean Bean's always getting killed off, while Lan survives the whole way through.  He's busy with an adaptation of Macbeth at the moment, though.

My pick would be Eva Green. She's got a bit of that ageless look, she has a wider range of acting, she can take command of almost any scene she's put in, and given that she's French, she fits the Carhienen look that Moiraine was described to personify. 

 

Mila is great from an appearance standpoint, but I honestly don't think she has the acting chops for such a strong character that's supposed to mentor the leads. As for the Kutch... he would be extremely hard to take seriously as Lan, especially since he's too much of a pretty boy. I always pictured Lan as one of the action heros from the 90's like Sylvester Stallone. Honestly I think Josh Brolin would be a great pick for Lan. He might be a bit on the older side, but his performance as Cable in DP2 is kinda how I've always pictured Lan, a broody, stone faced macho man with a gravelly voice and a death wish. 

 

My main wish right now though, is to see Ken Watanabe as Lord Agelmar. It was a huge toss up between having him as Agelmar or Ingtar, and I'd still be happy either way, but after my latest reading of MoL, I think Agelmar would be the better fit. 

[Fievelgoespostal]

My top choice for Lan

 

[Thrasymachus]

Felicia Day is a fan of the series.  I think she'd make a decent Wise One, possibly Melaine.  

[Elgee]

21 hours ago, Thrasymachus said:

Felicia Day is a fan of the series.  I think she'd make a decent Wise One, possibly Melaine.  

 

Ooh! That would be a lovely choice! She could possibly play Sheriam too.

[Liam N]

I don't know you guys, I'm fine with the red eagle pilot episode lol

 

In all seriousness though, my castings are more of a general outline but I think unknowns for Rand, Perrin, Mat, Egwene, Nyneave, and Elayne. For more side/main characters that don't have as much from their perspective, from Siuan to Lan to Thom to Tam to Logain to, you get the idea, for them I think that is where they should bring in the more big name actors. What do you guys think they should do for trollocs, ogier, fades, and the green man and stuff like that, CGI or practical effects or a mix?

Edited March 12, 2019 by Liam N
used the wrong there/their and spelling

[Liam N]

hey if you reply can you do it to this one forgot to check notifications again

[Ryrin]

I agree that the main characters will and should be relative unknowns.

[Shrike]

Jon Bernthal for Lan!

 

I love the idea of Christina Hendricks as Graendal.  If the series catches on, they will have time to draw in big names for the juicy recurring Forsaken characters, as they ramp in to the story slowly.

 

Alexandra Dowling would be a good choice for Elayne.  She already has queen chops from The Musketeers.  {EDIT:  Check that, she is almost 30 now... man it will be hard to cast age appropriate actors for the main characters}.  There are a lot of actors on The Musketeers I can easily picture in WoT roles... of course, the period is pretty similar (except for the muskets).  Peter Capaldi would make a pretty good Asmodean. 

 

I am fine with relative unknowns if they can act and are matched to the character well.  Better that than squeezing in a big name that is totally inappropriate (I am talking about you Tom Cruise as Lestat).

 

Edited March 21, 2019 by Shrike

[jd54psycho]

So...I am new to the forum but I am a long time reader. 

 

I have created a basic list of actors/actresses that could work.  I tried my best to identify people of a correct age and look while also picking people with some experience but hopefully not so expensive that the TV show couldn't afford them.  

 

Moiraine's character is someone I picture being the most well-known.  I also picked people who MIGHT not have long term filming plans and could easily slide into this show (maybe doing movies right now or they are/were in a show that is ending).  At this point I have come up with a lot of the main characters that would be prominently featured in the first season.  I tried to list their current age and what they may be known for.  I did list height for Rand as it may be important to at least make him look taller than the rest of characters.

 

 

Wheel of Time Cast:

 

Rand Al Thor- Jacob Elordi 21 (Kissing Booth) 6’ 4”; Ansel Elgort 24 (The Fault in Our Stars) 6’ 3”;

Matrim Cauthon- David Mazouz 18 (Gotham); Ty Simpkins 17 (Jurassic World);

Perrin Aybara- Dylan Sprayberry 20 (Teen Wolf); Noah Centineo 22 (The Fosters);

Egwene al'Vere- Chloe East 18 (True Blood); Meg Donnelly 18 (Disney Channel);

Nynaeve al'Meara- Crystal Reed (Gotham);

Moiraine Damodred- A.J. Cook (Criminal Minds); Morena Baccarin (Gotham); Haley Atwell (Agent Carter);

Al'Lan Mandragoran- Manu Bennett (Arrow);

Paidan Fain- Robin Lord Taylor (Gotham); Robert Knepper (been in a lot);

 

[Kinslayer]

Since it seems the show will focus on Moiraine as the lead character, I feel they will need to cast a relatively big name for her. One I would like to see for Moiraine would be Christina Ricci. I think she could definitely pull it off.