During The Wheel of Time panel at New York Comic Con, showrunner Rafe Judkins revealed three new cast members: Ceara Coveney, Natasha O’Keeffe, and Meera Syal. They join the previously announced Dónal Finn as new cast members for the second season of the Amazon Prime show.
Confirmation of Elayne Trakand
The announcement confirmed the previously rumored casting of Ceara Coveney as Elayne Trakand. Wheel of Time news Youtube channel WoT Up! revealed the Elayne casting in late July of 2021.
Elayne Trakand’s character first appears in first book of the series, The Eye of the World. However, it was widely speculated that the adaptation moved the introduction of the Trakands to the second season. This casting announcement confirms the speculation.
Coveney is a newcomer with three credits to her resume, all in independent shorts. She is represented by Insight Management & Production. Of her fitting the role of Elayne Trakand, Judkins said “Genuinely every single person on the production — from the first casting assistant that watched Ceara’s tape, to me, to costumes, to hair, to the cast, as every person has met her — they had come to me and said afterwards ‘She is Elayne. That girl is Elayne… I can never see anyone else being her now.‘”
Two New Important Cast Members
In addition to Coveney, Judkins also announced that Natasha O’Keeffe and Meera Syal have joined The Wheel of Time Cast. Of O’Keeffe and Syal, Judkins said “they are playing two of the most important characters in the whole book series”. This has lead to a lot of speculation online centering around Verin Mathwin, Elaida do Avriny a’Roihan, and Lanfear.
Natasha is known for her role as Lizzie Stark in Peaky Blinders and has most recently played the role of Emma Grieves in Intergalactic. She is represented by United Agents and her showreel can be found here.
Meera Syal is a British actor, comedian, writer, playwright, singer, journalist, and producer. Her most recent work includes television shows Back to Life and Code 404. She is represented by ARG Talent.
What are your guesses on who Natasha and Meera will play? Tell us in the comments below.
Natasha O’Keefe makes sense for Elaida, as Lanfear does not really appear beside Rand until the firework show in Cairhien. I believe that would happen in season 3 or 4.
Meera Syal would make the most sense for Verin of the “brown” ajah.
Nice spoiler there…
Natasha O’Keefe’s face , or one vey much like it, was always my head canon for Elaida!
Each episode makes me not want to watch another. I’ve read the series 3 times and am more disappointed by this crap, than by tue GOT crapfest. Sad….
I understand that in a show it veers away from the book. I am disappointed that this tends to be all over the place and the setups are off per se. It is not following the Game of Thrones as Jordan had intended in my opinion and is all over the place at this time. What I read and envisioned is quite different from what I am viewing, yet I will wait to before I put a complete fail on this. It tends to follow some of the plot as Jordan brought it to life but it does not feel like his vision at this time.
In what universe does Jordan’s story preceding GOT ever supposed to follow it???
What the hell does Robert Jordan have to do with GRR Martin’s never to be finished medieval snuff film, game of thrones? Are you plebs the same ones that go to Star Trek conventions dressed as Darth Vader?