WotSeries caught up with Marcus Rutherford (Perrin), Dónal Finn (Mat) and showrunner Rafe Judkins to discuss Season 3 of The Wheel of Time, which will be released on Prime Video on March 13, 2025.
First, our conversation with Marcus and Dónal together where we get some insight into their character’s thoughts and feelings for season 3.
Interview with Marcus Rutherford and Dónal Finn
Eri: Hi! We are Eri and Sara from WotSeries. We are huge fans!
Marcus Rutherford & Dónal Finn: Hey! Nice to meet you!
Eri: So, our first question is for Marcus. So, going home to the Two Rivers for Perrin was understandably full of mixed emotions. What was it like for you as an actor to return to the same sets and locations after two seasons away?
Marcus: Yeah it was a really kind of emotional and cathartic moment, you know. We filmed there in 2019. So returning there after this amount of time, I feel like I’ve changed as a person, as an actor. The crews changed. The world’s changed, you know what I mean. We’ve had pandemics and all different kinds of things in that time, so it was really weird to return there. And I was thinking it was going to be the same, but things have slightly changed in everyone’s lives, the cast, the crew. And similar with Perrin: he goes back thinking, wanting this kind of similar homely haven, but you realize that it’s kind of changed in a way, and it can’t be the same.
And so it was really emotional, and it was really cathartic, actually, to kind of have this village that had been burned down and then rebuilt and to see the kind of different designs there. But also there’s characters to be fully flashed out, Marin and Daise and Cenn Buie and all those kinds of characters to meet them in the village. It was amazing!
Sara: Our next one is for Dónal. We’ve seen Mat struggling with the fear of ending up like his parents, and then he finds out he’s one of the Heroes of the Horn. He’s still saying he’s no hero. Can you talk about Mat’s headspace going into season three and how you approached that?
Dónal: Yeah, I mean, first off, I really like that scene. It’s quite closely taken from the books as to like what happens in that scene where he says, “I do what I have to do, but I’m no hero.” I think that headspace is that he has had this huge kind of sense of affirmation from the end of season two. He’s had his confidence that he has to recognize that he must have some kind of future that is greater than just being a good friend to his close mates that are like — I think Perrin, you look at Perrin, and you look at Rand, and they quite clearly have something instilled in them, even from youth that would make them good leaders, would make them people that you trust. And I think Mat is really happy just to be their friend and to kind of see them on that quest.
But I think with that change at the end of season two, the kind of realization that maybe there is more to what’s in store for him, like what’s his future going to be like? I think that kind of adjustments of your sense of self takes time, and I think that was my headspace going into that scene in particular was that, essentially, if people tell you, “You’re gonna do great things, and you’re capable of so much,” as much as you might have that external kind of validation from something, you still have to embody it. And maybe he’s just not there yet, but I think he gets that external validation through the blowing of the Horn of Valere and becoming the Hornblower. And, it would be remiss of him as a personality, not to enjoy that or to to use it. And I think you see him enjoy his time and capitalize on it, and really just soak up a sense of being in the limelight, even though probably he shouldn’t boast about it or whatever, but I think he is delaying the examining of its responsibility and its fallout and what it costs him to be in that position.
Dónal Finn as Mat posting with the a of Valere from a promotional video posted by the show
Next up, our chat with showrunner Rafe about adaptational changes.
Interview with Showrunner Rafe Judkins
Eri & Sara: Hi, Rafe!
Rafe Judkins: How’s it going?
Eri: We’re Eri and Sara. How are you?
Rafe: I’m good! I’m great! We’ve been doing a whole day of press, so it’s fun!
Eri: Well, thank you for your time! So, I’ve got a question about the very beginning of season three. So, it’s definitely the most explosive opening of all the seasons so far. Please tell us the story of how that opening came to life.
Rafe: Yeah, it was one of the things that I had read in the books and been like, “I don’t know how this happens off screen. We need to see the Black Ajah attack on the Tower.” It’s so meaningful to so many of our characters, you know, it is meaningful to what the Aes Sedai and the White Tower represent for the rest of the series. So, something I really wanted to- that was kind of on the cutting floor of the books, we very rarely get to bring things that aren’t in the books onto the screen, but this was one of them that we felt it was worthwhile doing. And we also felt like starting season three, where you just throw people straight in to an action sequence — it’s so different than what we’ve done before where we sort of do a lot of, “Welcome back! This is what everyone’s feeling. This is where everyone left off!” and so to sort of shove that aside and come in in-action this season was a good change for us, and we always want to be doing that. We always want to be shifting how we’re approaching it so that the audience never gets into a feeling like they know what they think we’re going to do next.
Sara: Yeah, and kind of along that line — in terms of people not knowing what’s going to happen next for book readers — you know, we’ve started to see some of Mat’s iconic qualities emerging, but in a little bit of a different way than in the books. Can you kind of talk about what went into that decision of how to rework some of those qualities.
Rafe: Yeah, I think for us, Mat is always someone we want to see. He’s such an iconic character, who’s so exactly himself at all times, which makes him work so well in the books, and I think on-screen as well. And now that we’ve sort of like reset him across the course of season two from what happened across the end of season one into season two. I think that he’s in a really good place now for us to put some of his core qualities from the books into him and start to really see them, and you see that even more across season three. You see the fight with Galad and Gawyn. You see… we start to understand the memories that are in his head.
And a lot of times, for book readers, they’ll feel like those things should be disparate, but I think one of the things Dave Hill (who worked on Game of Thrones and also worked on Wheel of Time) brought was that one of the key things to try to work on for a television adaptation of Epic Fantasy is is to limit fantasy duplication. A lot of books have things that are similar, but they’re different in the books, and that can be a lot for new audiences to take in because they have to take them in as new things. The same way that in the books being a sniffer and being a wolfbrother were two totally different things that had nothing to do with each other, but they shared all of these very similar traits. So we combined them into one thing for the television show, and then there’s one thing that we can do well: Wolfbrother, and people can understand that and what it means, and it means a lot to Perrin.
Same thing with Mat and the memories… the big, iconic thing he does is blow the Horn of Valere. It gives him access to these past lives, and what happened in them. And so, to start to see that his memories are coming from that huge event that the audience has really seen and understood, it gives us a real grounding for the other things that are happening to him and how we understand them. And you’ll see… I can’t speak to all the details of it, cause you’ll see how it feathers out to the rest of the season!
Eri, Sara: Thank you so much. We’re really excited! Thank you!
Rafe: Oh yeah! We’re over [on time], but it was so nice to see you, too. Thank you so much for all you do for the show, too.
Sara: Oh, thank you!
The third season of The Wheel of Time, based on Robert Jordan’s fantasy book series, will premiere on Prime Video on March 13, 2025. All episodes of the first two seasons of The Wheel of Time are now available on Prime Video. The series is co-produced by Sony Pictures Television and Amazon MGM Studios.
Editorial note: For clarity and readability, we’ve made minor edits to this interview, such as removing filler words and repetitions. The responses remain true to the original recorded conversations.
Great questions!
Such great interviews with really thoughtful questions! I can’t wait to see everything, especially what happens with Mat!
excellent questions and answers, all of them. Marcus is always so thoughtful provoking and Dónal really understands Mat’s confusion, inner fear and trying to work out his role in the world in comparison to Perrin and Rand while trying not to lose himself.
So that one is clear. Its not Mat’s foray into Finnland that is going to give him his lost memories, it’s the damn tea. Hopefully, they don’t kill off the Finnland parts.
Great questions! Can’t wait for the new season!