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Casting? Best or Worse?


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While many new actors are on the scene in this production, How do you feel about the physical portrayals?  Lan?  Moiraine? Perrin?  Etc?

To get the ball rolling, always felt the dynamic of Moiraine and Lan was the very large Warder next to the diminutive, elegant Aes Sedai.  Yet, the power was still obvious between the two (Moiraine).  Lan not big enough Moiraine not small enough (appearance) 

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Agreed.  I always pictured the borderlands with a very asian aesthetic and have 0 issues with the Lan casting.  Moiraine was always going to come down to the portrayal for me, and so far so good.  I was psyched when Pike was cast and have seen nothing to dissuade me yet.  The protrayals of the EF5 have been solid.  My issues with some of their story arcs is not the fault of the actors.

 

What are some reactions to seeing the Trollocs?  

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 11/20/2021 at 11:08 PM, Taishar Hawaii said:

What are some reactions to seeing the Trollocs?  

I was impressed with the trollocs.  What I envisioned in the books was a little cleaner somehow.  Almost in the style they used for Loial (obviously still monsterous).  TV Trollocs are an upgrade from book trollocs.

 

I don't remember any details about the different bands or questions from Lan to Moraine about how they got there?

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Not sure why this is resurrected now, but I've been pretty happy with the casting. Kate Fleetwood is maybe being a bit campy and making it too obvious Liandrin is a villain, but I think it was pretty obvious in EOTW anyway. They're not what I pictured physically because the book physical descriptions are exaggerated as heck; tiny Moiraine, gigantic Perrin, even more gigantic trollocs and ogier. Trying to really fulfill that is too limiting and it's more important to get good actors. Casting Dolph Lundgren and Hafthor Bjornsson as Rand and Perrin is certainly more true to the books, but it's a lot easier to find decent actors at 6'2" and 6'4" than at 6'8" and 6'10" (guessing at Josha and Marcus' heights there). Moiraine is really the only one who stands out, but past EOTW, I don't remember her shortness being an important character trait.

 

I'm curious how they'll handle the Aiel. The one corpse they cast looked pretty big, so probably go big for the named recurring and main cast, but I can't imagine a casting call for a thousand extras who all have to be 6'5" is going to work. It might end up like The Expanse, where the one captured belter in season one they gravity tortured was really tall and skinny, but then they abandoned that and cast normal looking people.

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ZOMG

Quote

Roberts plays Uno Nomeshta, a gruff one-eyed soldier and tracker who serves Lord Agelmar. Fedaravicius plays Mesema, a quiet and intense warrior who serves Lord Agelmar. Chillingirian portrays Ingtar Shinowa, a lord and soldier from war-ravaged lands.

 

Thomas Chaanhing (Marco Polo) also guest stars in Season 1 as Lord Agelmar, and Sandra Yi Sencindiver (The Bridge 4) guest stars as Lady Amalisa.

 

 

edit: didn't see this was posted in the other thread. apologies

Edited by mogi68
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12 hours ago, AdamA said:

 Casting Dolph Lundgren and Hafthor Bjornsson as Rand and Perrin is certainly more true to the books,

 

Are you joking or is that what you really thought from reading the books? Rand should be a tall ginger male with bright eyes, slightly muscular from work on a farm. Perrin should be shorter but wider with strong arms from working at a forge.

 

I thought they made a good choice for Lan but there are too many smiles and fidgeting with the hands. I feel this isn't acting but characteristics of the actor himself. The adjustment of sizes between Lan and Moiraine above look good.

 

I think if they shaved Mats face to make him look younger it would have helped early on. If they are replacing him I think an actor similar to Tom Holland would do well.

 

I always imagined Eqwene, the innkeepers daughter, to be stockier (not fat) but more like a Bavarian barmaid at Oktoberfest carrying 3 steins in each hand. I wouldn't want this actress to serve me a single stein in fear she might drop it.

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Physical portrayal is fine for most of the characters with Rand and Moraine being almost perfect.  Lan is also very fine (but not the character). I don't like Mat but the actor is very good. Same goes for Liandrin that i imagined to be younger but still the actress is very good.

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12 hours ago, WhiteVeils said:

Before clicking the link I thought the actors might be at least slightly Asian looking. Apparently the actors playing Lord Agelmar and his wife ARE Asian looking. This diversification of races in all nations hurts the show I feel.

 

So many excuses have been on why the two rivers have African and Indian looking actors "the books say they have dark features" so does most of southern europe. But now they are mixing things up in Sheinar and I think in ep6 Siouan Sanche (the blue eyed blonde) becomes and old black woman.

 

I think they are trying very hard to not have any European looking actors in this show. Rand, Mat, Liandrin, Bornhald, Arams mom are the few exceptions. Thom has a distinctive American look to him somehow.

 

The theme we have seen in areas so far is european, with architecture, clothing. weather, forests, weapons. The diverse skin tones makes it all seem very jarring. Feels more like modern day multicultural countries like USA, Canada, Australia rather than the old world theme of Randland where people are mostly the same in their corner of the world. There is definitely a modern agenda being applied rather than the authors vision.

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26 minutes ago, grayavatar said:

Rand should be a tall ginger male with bright eyes, slightly muscular from work on a farm

Dolph Lundgren is 1,96m (~6' 5"). An inch short of book-Rand. He has blue eyes. Red wigs exist. Rand is muscular in the books. He weighs 106kg (235lbs) according to WoT Fandom wiki. Rand is a big guy. Dolph Lundgren was 10-15kg (30lbs) heavier in Rocky. He is physique-wise closer than Josha.

 

Agreed on Perrin's physique. Hafthor is too tall BUT there's nothing wrong to have a head-canon that differs from book descriptions.

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Moiraine - was super excited upon hearing she was cast, but way underwhelmed with her on-screen appearance.  She is beautiful irl.  Why did they put all the make-up on her to make her appear plain/ugly in the show?

 

Lan - very good, would have been nice to have him learn the sword

 

Nynaeve - excellent, fierce eyes

 

Mat - (original casting) mumbles a bit much, but excellent portrayal otherwise

 

Perrin - too tall?  But like him otherwise, shows his pain over Laila very well

 

Rand/Egwene - meh

 

Aram - very well cast against my head canon, very handsome actor

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20 minutes ago, grayavatar said:

Before clicking the link I thought the actors might be at least slightly Asian looking. Apparently the actors playing Lord Agelmar and his wife ARE Asian looking. This diversification of races in all nations hurts the show I feel.

 

So many excuses have been on why the two rivers have African and Indian looking actors "the books say they have dark features" so does most of southern europe. But now they are mixing things up in Sheinar and I think in ep6 Siouan Sanche (the blue eyed blonde) becomes and old black woman.

 

I think they are trying very hard to not have any European looking actors in this show. Rand, Mat, Liandrin, Bornhald, Arams mom are the few exceptions. Thom has a distinctive American look to him somehow.

 

The theme we have seen in areas so far is european, with architecture, clothing. weather, forests, weapons. The diverse skin tones makes it all seem very jarring. Feels more like modern day multicultural countries like USA, Canada, Australia rather than the old world theme of Randland where people are mostly the same in their corner of the world. There is definitely a modern agenda being applied rather than the authors vision.

 

And yet, a large portion of the actors ARE European. Thom is Danish, for example. From the main cast, Moiraine, Perrin and Mat are from GB and Rand is Dutch. For convenience, most of the guest actors are from Europe as well. I don't really know what you mean by European looking? 

 

I know this horse has been beaten to death, but to sum up the discussion that most of us on these forums has already had:

- Because of the previous age being very high tech, there already was a lot more diversity than what you would have seen in our world a few centuries back. 

- Because of the breaking, all nations and races were spread around the world.

- Jordan already described people of many different races in different nations. 

- No cultures matches the architecture and nature of their nation to our world, see gingers in the desert as an example. 

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Yeah Perrin is the right height, it’s Rand who’s actually a little shorter than he should but it was always gonna be hard to be cast a bunch of giants for the Aiel.

 

Believe Siuan was dark haired not blond. Beyond that she looks nothing like her description I believe but hopefully the actress puts in a great performance.

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Guest Cranglevoid

Moiraine is the worst for me. She is supposed to be small, elegant, and regal, with a very calm demeanor and way of expressing herself, but with an iron will.

 

I'm not getting any of that from the Moiraine in the show.

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Wolverine is supposed to be short, but I can't imagine anyone but Hugh Jackman playing him.

 

Yes, as a shorter woman myself I would have loved to see myself represented by a short Moiraine. But meh, Pike can act and I believe she gets it. Even if she is tall. I think she is elegant and that her appearance masks her strong character.

 

FFS, she was a Bond girl.

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4 hours ago, grayavatar said:

Are you joking or is that what you really thought from reading the books? Rand should be a tall ginger male with bright eyes, slightly muscular from work on a farm. Perrin should be shorter but wider with strong arms from working at a forge.

Not joking at all. I always pictured Perrin as both taller and more jacked than Rand. Rand around 6'6" or so, but skinny. Perrin more like 6'8" 300 lbs. I always thought that was unrealistic, of course. NFL O linemen only stay that big with constant working out and feeding, and hitting the road and living off the land for years is going to make you lean in reality even if you have a long history of swinging a heavy hammer. But it's still what I pictured.

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Size is probably the most unrealistic part of any medievalesque fiction. In reality, almost everyone was shorter than today because they were malnourished unless they were nobility. Only nobility was ever fat. Anyone soldiering or ranging or living in extreme cold was going to be really skinny. Samwell Tarly would have lost all that weight in his first year at Castle Black.

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