Interview with ‘The Wheel of Time’ Season 3 Actor Kate Fleetwood

WotSeries had the opportunity to interview Kate Fleetwood (Liandrin) about Season 3 of The Wheel of Time, which was released on Prime Video on March 13, 2025.

Read more to hear her thoughts on complicated characters, her favorite props, and Shakespearean villains. If you missed our other Season 3 interviews, make sure you read our chat with Madeleine Madden and our other interview with Marcus Rutherford, Donal Finn, and Rafe Judkins.

Interview with Kate Fleetwood

Cait: Your character on the page and your character in the show are pretty different, and we love what you and the writers have brought to Liandrin’s character. And we were wondering, what did you know about her before you started filming her? Like, did you know her whole arc already, or are you learning season by season with us?

Kate Fleetwood: I didn’t know anything, and I sort of know her arc, her book arc, a bit.But I don’t try. I don’t need to know all of it right now in order to play the now. I mean, it’s just a sort of, it’s a basic acting, you know, thing. Don’t play act five while you’re in act one, you know. So I live, I live and breathe from moment to moment. And at the beginning of every season, the writers will sit each of us down and have a cup of tea and talk and talk through the arc of that season. So I I don’t want to know too far ahead. No. OK. But. But yeah, it’s yeah, it’s very much the here and now when when you’re acting.

Cait: So the props and the costumes on the show are fantastic. We were wondering which of which prop or costume do you wish you could sneak home with you? And it doesn’t have to be one of Liandrin’s!

Kate Fleetwood: Oh, well, I would always want to take the ring home, but we’re not allowed. But I did steal some chopsticks from Tanchico.

Cait: So we know that some of the cast pay attention to what the fandom has to say about the show and about characters on social media. Do you have any favourite comments or reactions you’ve seen to your work that fans have?

Kate Fleetwood: Oh God, I mean, no, I can’t get into it. I mean sometimes they’re a bit mean, but I try not to look. I just try not to look. I just hope that the show’s landing. I like, you know, obviously she’s a really strong flavour, Liandrin, so some people really love her and and some people really don’t. And I don’t think it’s personal. So they respond to the character. So that’s, you know, I accept that. You know, I often play naughty, difficult people. But I’m drawn to those characters because that’s where the friction is and the conflict. I like playing characters with a double mask. You know that you think one thing but then something else happens or you’re like you go, “Oh actually, she is really, oh God.” I’m always looking for that sort of tension to play in every character I play.

Cait: Well, I reread between season two and three and you have replaced the character [for me]. I mean, that backstory that the show has brought to her is canon for me. So I love her now.

Kate Fleetwood: That’s amazing, that’s amazing. 

Cait: I actually have a friend (Brandon from EDN) who just rated his top five characters and had Liandrin in the top five and did not have Rand al’Thor. So I think that’s testament to your portrayal of her.

Kate Fleetwood: Well, I’m very lucky. And I’m also, well, she’s a good character for the story though, isn’t she? I mean, I think fans recognize that, that she can move, you know as an antagonist, she can move the story on. It may not be, you know it…she can move things because of her motivations. And so that’s really helpful for us, for narrative storytelling. When you’re putting something on the television, you need characters that can take you and bring the characters to another thing where something happens to them. So I’m a kind of useful character.

Cait: Well you definitely start things off right away in episode one, for sure. So you’ve portrayed a variety of roles, some virtuous like Desdemona and Juliet, and some more villainous like Cruella de Vil and Liandrin. Do you take any inspiration from other famous villains, Shakespearean or otherwise, when you portray Liandrin?

Kate Fleetwood: Well, interesting you say that Juliet is virtuous. I mean, she is virtuous, but if you look at the language that she uses, she’s actually a bit of a goth. I always felt, because I’ve played Lady M, I always felt that the language…because I played Juliet when I was a very young actress and then I played Lady M when I was a bit older and I found them really similar. Shakespeare had given these really, really… she talks about charnel houses and bones and dying and it’s really dark. So when I was playing Lady M I was like, “These words really remind me of Juliet!” And that there’s this sort of dark Gothic quality.

And I guess one can learn from that is don’t judge a book by its cover. Every character, you know, every character you play will have that yin and Yang and that dark and light. And everybody thinks that Liandrin’s this thing or you know, Elayne is this thing. And it’s not, you know, we’re not the thing. We’re not that thing. I always say that to young actors, actually, when they talk about auditions. You can’t be everything you are in one go, just be who you are in that moment. And if that’s what they’re looking for, that’s what they’re looking for. But characters are just the same, you know, it’s you can’t, you’re not one thing all the time, right?

The third season of The Wheel of Time, based on Robert Jordan’s fantasy book series, premiered 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.

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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 conversation.