Are you excited to finally get a chance to talk about Season 2?
Oh, hell yeah. It's been a while since we shot it, and it came out. We're dealing with a lot of stuff. We still were dealing with COVID while we're shooting it. Then there were the strikes, and I'm very happy that it's finally out and then I can finally talk about it.
It's been really cool to hear your insights and some of the behind-the-scenes stories. With Season 2 starting to pull back the curtain on your character and what it means to be the Dragon Reborn and then Season 3 presumably continuing that process, what has it been like balancing a character that is somewhere between an immature young adult and a reincarnated legendary hero?
That's the fun bit. He goes from the shepherd, the young man, to the savior of the world, basically, or the guy that breaks it. We'll see. That arc is fun. Season 1, we drew the lines. Season 2, we colored it a bit, and now Season 3, we're ready to have fun with it.
For Rand, Season 2 was about finding himself and realizing that he can't run away from it. He needs to do it with the people he loves. Season 3 is finally time for facing what he has to face. He's owning that prophecy more, and we see glimpses of why Rand is the Dragon Reborn and why he'll end up where he needs to end up.
As that evolution's taking place, what do you do to get into character as this character is evolving?
I'm very lucky that I have 14 books, which I have read, and that has given me a lot. I really understand Rand, and it's a lot of things. It's the conversations I have with Rafe [Judkins], the directors, and the writers. It's playing with all these amazing actors. It's the sets. Everything feels so real, and at the end of Season 3, we go to South Africa for two months, and being in that environment, all those things added up together, that helps you to get into the character.
