Welcome back to The Wheel of Time Casting Call! We’re down to the end-game here, crunching the big numbers for the stars of our movie, and it’s going to be a fun, exciting, and likely controversial last five weeks!

Before I jump in, I would like to say that for this last Tier, I have necessarily had to let age go as a strong determining factor. The problem is that all the main characters are young. And not just young, but literally teenagers. And I’m sorry guys, and I mean no offense if you are really into these teeny-bopper actors right now, but most of these young actors in Hollywood right now simply don’t fit my needs. They’re either too fake-looking (for the women), or they just simply can’t act. I don’t care how much you like One Tree Hill, or the 90210 remake, the actors suck. Sorry if that bothers you. Now, for my Casting, for any of the characters where I can fit the age criteria, I certainly will, but I’m pretty sure that only one of the main characters I’m casting is going to fall in the actual age of the actor I use. However, I will be using actors that can (and have been known to) play younger roles than their age, and I hope you all find this to be a forgivable offense.

As a note on the art: For most of the art I use for characters, I am getting it from the amazing Seamas Gallagher gallery, who does some of the best WoT art out there. Some of the other I’ve used is from the equally amazing Jeremy Saliba. A lot of the art I use is cropped, so that I can fit the most character on the screen without having to deal with fancy borders and such, so you guys should definitely check these guys’ sites out (where you will find the full, beautiful pictures) and support them if at all possible. Some characters, no matter how important(ish) they are, do not have art though.

Oh, and there will be spoilers, up to and including Towers of Midnight. You have been warned.

The first part of Tier 1 will be casting a couple major characters that get a ton of flack throughout the series for having some rather boring and unfortunately long-winded storylines. Elayne (and her ‘Queening’) and Perrin (and his ‘Faile-ing/ – no double entendres there, nosiree!) are often lumped in a category of main characters that people get tired of reading about, due to some stupid decisions they make (I’m looking at you all the time, Elayne!) or some really long ‘quests’ they take. These two storylines I’m referring to are also unfortunately thrown into the portion of the series that are often argued as the worst books written – Path of Daggers through Crossroads of Twlight (though neither ends there, they take up a lot of time through those books), which doesn’t help redeem these story arcs in most readers’ eyes.

Perrin Aybara and Elayne Trakand, by Seamas Gallagher

However, when you take them on the whole, both storylines are not only necessary for the character development of Elayne and Perrin, but they’re kinda fun – if they were shortened anyway. I mean, Perrin chasing through the wilderness, then pretty much single-handedly ending the Shaido threat is nothing to be laughed at – it just should have been condensed down to one book (at the most, two), each in ten-to-twelve-chapter-lumps, instead of spread out through five frakkin books. And Elayne’s was important, and we always knew it was coming, because it finally puts her in a place where she can have importance in the Last Battle.

So let’s talk about them and what we need to cast them.


For most of the series, Elayne Trakand is the strong-willed princess Daughter-Heir to the throne of Andor. She eventually takes said throne, but even with all the political maneuverings, her pregnancy, and all the shiz-nit she’s been through, we still have to remember, she’s a young woman. At nineteen years old (and 17 or 18 when the series starts), she should, in all honestly, be expected to make rash, impulsive, and quite frankly stupid decisions. Which she does with great aplomb. So we have a young woman, prone to making decisions that may not be the wisest in the world, and she’s young.

Physically, she is strikingly beautiful, with red-gold curly hair, and sapphire-like blue eyes. She is tall-ish for a woman, and has long limbs and good form. She is mentioned to have a “perfect oval face,” and full red lips. So we’re looking at someone here who fits a very traditional and classic sense of beauty.

A couple favorites for Elayne seem to be Amanda Seyfried and Amber Heard. Amanda Seyfried is a full-on dismissal for me – it’s not that she doesn’t fit some of the criteria, I just think she has a quirky look to her beauty that doesn’t fit that near-perfection we need. As for Heard, sure she’s pretty (hot?), but I don’t particularly find her acting all that suitable. Granted, I’ve only seen her in Pineapple Express, but I just wasn’t impressed. That doesn’t mean she couldn’t make a good Elayne, I just don’t particularly see it. So who would I choose?

Ladies and gents, I give you Anna Camp. Many will not know who this lovely lady is, but I assure you, after seeing her pictures and checking out some of her acting, you should have no problem accepting her for Elayne. She is absolutely gorgeous in the traditional sense, and has almost all the features necessary – height, oval face, gold hair (possibly a little dye to add some red-ish-ness to it), and beauty. We would have to give her some blue contacts, but I’m not too terribly concerned about that, since we’ve always known we’ll have to make sacrifices here and there. The point is, she is beautiful, fits most of the physical criteria, and is a great actor on top of it all. Plus, she looks like Amy Yasbeck, who is my Morgase pick. Enjoy!

Anna Camp as Elayne Trakand

Places you’ve possibly seen her:
True Blood
Mad Men
Various other TV shows

Perrin ebook cover
Next up on the list is our favorite EMO, Perrin Aybara. Known for, amongst other things, whining his way through many of the books, Perrin is one of the ta’veren, which means he (likely) has a major role to play in the Last Battle. He is the mopiest of Our Heroes, but he is also possibly the most logical and rational as well, making decisions based on long contemplation and thought, instead of just jumping into the mix and hoping for the best. He became the leader he needed to be in Tower, and is likely to be at the head of Rand’s forces beside Mat in the upcoming battle.

Perrin is very large – not tall, and certainly not “thick.” He is pound for pound muscle, having worked for years at the blacksmith’s forge, and he shows it. Everyone that comes in contact with him for the first time notes his size. He is of average height, has curly brown hair, and has been sporting a full beard since The Shadow Rising. His eyes used to be brown, but are now golden like a wolf’s.

A lot of people like Ryan Reynolds for this role. I am actually a big fan of Reynolds as an actor – I was uber-excited to see him playing Hal Jordan (though I would have rather seen him play Barry Allen), I really liked him in the new Amityville, and he’s just all-around a funny and charismatic actor. Unfortunately, I just don’t think he fits what I’m looking for. I know he can get buff (there’s a great picture of him holding an axe for Amityville that I think most people get their Ryan=Perrin inspiration from), but he overall has a very slender frame, and I just don’t see his voice working for Perrin. However, were I to not use the actor I’ve chosen, Ryan would be in strong contention for this role.

So who did I go with? Scottish actor Paul Telfer, that’s who. When looking for actors for Perrin, I originally just googled “strong young actors,” and started filtering through pictures. One picture in particular (top-left below) caught my eye, so I started looking up Paul. And it turns out that I actually knew who he was, having watched NCIS and Hotel Babylon. So I rewatched the episodes necessary and found myself really liking his abilities. Then to top it all off, he has (or can have) a great build to play Perrin. He is, of course, older than Perrin, but I think he looks young enough so as not to cause any major concerns.

Paul Telfer as Perrin Aybara

Places you’ve possibly seen him:
Hotel Babylon
NCIS
Various other TV Shows

So there you have it. Tier 1 is going strong, and next week, we’ll take a look at a few rather important villains, and see if you guys can stand behind my choice for the most beautiful woman in the world.

Cheers!
-Brandon Daggerhart