The Wheel of Time’s second season brought layers of complexity to Prime Video’s adaptation of Robert Jordan’s fantasy series. The season began with the Two Rivers youths scattered and on separate journeys of self-discovery. Each faced the looming shadow of the Dark One. That including confronting two of his most devoted members of the Forsaken: Ishamael and Lanfear. Wildly powerful and focused on their own goals, the duo manipulated Rand and his friends. However, they showed their humanity too. We talked separately with actors Fares Fares and Natasha O’Keeffe about exploring the right balance for Ishamael and Lanfear.
Finding Ishamael’s Humanity
Though Ishamael appeared in The Wheel of Time season one finale, none of the characters were aware of his true identity. Season two revealed who he is. It gave Fares Fares the opportunity to fully explore the character and bring complexity to the leader of the Forsaken. He played Ishamael with gentlemanly, polite qualities.
“Exploring the humanity of Ishamael, that made it so much more interesting and very layered,” Fares said. “I knew when we talked about the character, when we shot the first season already, that a lot of that stuff was going to happen in season two. For me, it’s not very interesting to kind of portray someone that’s pure evil. There’s no fun in it. And it wouldn’t be convincing for me to try to convince the others to join our cause because if I wouldn’t believe in it, they wouldn’t either. It would be too obvious. They would be like, ‘Oh no, that sounds stupid. Why should we listen to you?’ But if I was humane and convincing, it would make it so much more interesting.”
From Selene to Lanfear
Lanfear also hid her identity at first. She entered the story as Selene, a wry and wise inn owner in Cairhien. Rand fell in love with Selene, learning too late that she’s one of the Forsaken. Natasha O’Keeffe said it was tricky to keep the Lanfear out of Selene. “I had to really keep a cap on my excitement of getting to play Lanfear. Because if you imagine, for so long—or what felt like so long—what you’re doing is playing that different kind of character,” she said. “The thing is, I think Lanfear is actually a really good actress. When she is Selene, she is Selene. She’s embodying that character in herself because otherwise I just don’t think she’d be able to convince him [Rand] all that strongly.”
She joked it was freeing to finally play Lanfear just so Selene could let people know what she was up to. And that included her designs on Rand, the reincarnation of Lanfear’s former lover, Lews Therin. “Rand is there, and he’s showing signs of potential to be maybe a man that could step into Lews Therin’s shoes. That intrigues her, because I don’t think she ever meant to fall for him in such a way,” O’Keeffe said. “For her, it doesn’t matter that it’s a different person really. As long as she knew there was a little sprinkle of Lews in there, that’s enough. That’s how much she loved Lews.”
O’Keeffe thinks of Lanfear’s darkness as a sickness, like she’s sick in love. That contributes to why Lanfear is so determined to be with Rand and relive that love again, even though horrible things happened to her the last time.
Ishamael and Lanfear, Working Together (Mostly)
Ishamael freed Lanfear from her prison by breaking the cuendillar seal and summoning her. They both serve the Dark One, but each of them approaches their end goals in different fashions. Ishamael is willing to play the long game; Lanfear tends to be more impulsive. Both are powerful.
“Ishamael knew that he needed Lanfear. That’s why she was the first one that he brought in. He knew that,” Fares explained. “But I feel like he believes in the idea that to be able to change someone, you need the time to do it. He doesn’t really use his powers that much. He knows that he’s too powerful and that he doesn’t need to use them. It’s more interesting, the way he started was trying to make Rand’s friends to join the cause first and then get to Rand that way. He probably knew that he couldn’t trust Lanfear, although he loved her so much as a friend, but he wasn’t counting on her interrupting his plan by moving too fast.”
Lanfear and Ishamael have a long history, going back to being friends with Lews Therin during the Age of Legends. It showed in their scenes together, which Fares and O’Keeffe both enjoyed filming. “Those were my favorite scenes in the season,” Fares said. “First of all, the scenes are complex, but also I really loved working with Natasha. We had a great chemistry together and you could see that coming out. We took our time, and had mutual respect, and we played with some stuff and that added a few layers to the scenes and I feel it was great.”
O’Keeffe likewise gushed about Fares. “It genuinely was that much fun having scenes with Fares. And it is a beautiful thing when it feels like that when you’re having fun with somebody and then it bounces onto the screen. Fares is very laid back and I thought his choices for Ishamael as an actor were really interesting because it wasn’t—he was really broken as well, isn’t he? It’s very painful to be him. He didn’t just play that pure evil. And I don’t think that’s the intention with any of the Forsaken.”
The Flashback with Lews Therin
To illustrate that, we saw a flashback with Ishamael and Lews Therin in the Age of Legends. It’s just before Lews seals Ishamael into his prison. Ishamael asks Lews for the mercy of friendship. It shows the vulnerability in Ishamael, and also how weary he is of the cycle.
Fares recalled, “It was amazing working on the Old Tongue, practicing all that stuff with the dialect coach and practicing a new language and understanding the words, and then the meaning of the words to be able to make the scene, but also to show that Lews Therin was really his best friend. And I guess I saw that at some point it started as an argument [between them,] like, we are going for the same thing, but we believe in different paths for it. This is how I imagined it started. Throughout the season you can see that he still has a huge respect for him, and that he still has a lot of love for him as well.”
“Seeing Ishamael and that scene, being in a way weak, because I was playing the character as if he was a cat and in total control of everyone, he toys with everyone basically more or less,” Fares continued, “And that scene with Lews Therin and with Old Tongue, he wasn’t in control at all. He was very desperate. And you can see those moments in Ishamael in that scene. And also when he realized that he’s going to be in prison forever and this is the last thing that he wants.”
It’s why Ishamael’s defeat in Falme landed so squarely. Fares said, in a way, Ishamael let it happen. “One of his goals is to end everything and to end it all because the suffering is just too great. And he knows that. He probably saw it in the moment when Rand was walking up to him that… this is maybe the ultimate death and that means the end of suffering, at least for him. And I think he kind of took that opportunity when it came. Other than that, we’ll have to wait and see.”
All episodes of The Wheel of Time season two are available to watch on Prime Video.
