‘The Wheel of Time’ star on epic battle of Two Rivers, saying goodbye to [SPOILER] and Perrin’s major decision

This article contains spoilers for The Wheel of Time season 3, episode 7, “Goldeneyes.”

A battle has found its way once more to the peaceful town of Two Rivers.

And what a battle it is. The latest episode of season 3 of Wheel of Time centers almost entirely on Perrin’s fateful trip to his homeland, where he returns to help his loved ones prepare for and eventually fight in war as Padan Fain (Johann Myers) and his army of Trollocs loom large. In a desperate attempt to protect the Two Rivers from imminent danger, Perrin forms an unlikely alliance with the Whitecloaks. A lovely reunion with the Tuatha’an — who promise Perrin they’ll take the town’s children to safety if the battle seems lost — is also had, as is crucial bond-forming moments between Perrin (Marcus Rutherford) and Faile (Isabella Bucceri).

As the epic battle wages, Loial (Hammed Animashaun) bids a teary goodbye to Perrin and leaves to permanently close the Waygate to stop the Trollocs once and for all. He dies in the process, as the pathway around him crumbles into the abyss, taking him with it.

After the battle is won, Perrin sees that Loial left his beloved book, and correctly surmises that the Ogier knew he wasn’t coming back. Perrin opens the book, and Loial’s voice then narrates Perrin’s journey. The Whitecloaks come to collect Perrin, who surrenders to them, and he tells Faile to respect his choice to stop fighting. “Violence never ends til someone says enough,” he says, as the Tuatha’an look on proudly. Loial’s voice narrates the end of the episode, calling him a man of honor and his friend, as the crowd chants “Lord Perrin!” as he’s ultimately led off in chains.

To break it all down, Entertainment Weekly caught up with Rutherford to discuss what it was like preparing for this battle, that emotional goodbye, and Perrin’s major decision to surrender himself — and what it all means for the character moving forward.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: This battle really stands out this season, and across the show as a whole. How did you prepare for it all, and did that preparation differ from maybe some of the other battles or action sequences you’ve been part of?

MARCUS RUTHERFORD: I knew it was a massive moment in the books. And then I spoke to [director] Ciaran Donnelly, who actually did the first block, so he’s kind of the king of action. He did the Aes Sedai fight in episode 1, and then he’s done all the action in 7 and 8 as well. I kind of just said to him that when we’ve done action before in previous seasons, sometimes the characters need to get somewhere or they need to go and help someone or there’s a conversation, and I think that is really needed for the story sometimes, but the pacing is really hard to keep the tension of a battle if people have got conversations and side missions. And I think he understood that.

We had a chat about space and bodies, and there’s different fighting styles with the Aiel and stuff, which is very clean. And I just wanted it to be a bit messy and a bit like people on top of each other, and people were falling over and get knocked, and bodies on top of bodies, and I think that was the idea we had for it. And then we really choreographed lots of action and lots of one-takes with the camera dude. So it was probably the most choreographed and planned stunt episode that I’ve been involved in.

Perrin, though he doesn’t know it at the time, gets to say one final goodbye to Loial. Was that emotional for you and Hammed filming what would be your last scene together?

We were quite lucky that we did [my storylines] quite chronologically, but I think at the moment [we shot their goodbye hug], to be honest, it was a bit open what was happening with Loial in the script at that time. I think because of the writer strikes, they couldn’t really edit, so it wasn’t certain what his fate would be, but it was implied in certain ways. But I’ve worked with Hammed so closely for three seasons now, and there isn’t anyone on the show who puts in that level of commitment and time, and he’s the best actor on the show, I’ll happily say. I think sometimes I don’t think people realize what he’s always doing. It’s so physically taxing, and he manipulates his voice in ways that it makes sense when you see all the prosthetics and everything. But he’s a stage actor, and he’s a comic actor, and he can do so much through the prosthetics. And I actually think in this season they’ve modified the look and tried to get a balance for what looks right, but also what’s not too demanding for Hammed, even though he does so much physically.

And I think there’s something about that episode where you can see him smiling, and you can see his features and his emotions coming through, especially in the Waygate, and it’s just, it’s so beautiful. It was a really lovely scene. It was really sad. I think it almost felt like two lads having a bit of a private chat outside, and he’s an absolute joy to work with, and I’m so glad that he has some really lovely moments [in his final episode].

And then there’s his voiceover, which, I’ll be honest, gutted me.

I think that final sequence, I remember reading the episode, and that final sequence is with Loial’s voice narrating it. And I think that’s what kind of sent me. They got Hammed to probably just do a voice note — he’s that good, he’s like a Shakespearean actor, so he probably just did it in the car — but they played that over my scene of when I’m reading his book. Because it is Loial writing the books in the series, it is from his perspective, so there is something really beautiful and powerful about that. And there’s something sacrificial and similar to Perrin in a way. It’s not big and loud, like, “I’m going to go defend the Waygate, and I might not come back!” And there’s something really quiet and subtle about their heroic nature, which I think is really lovely to watch.

Let’s talk about Perrin’s decision to then surrender to the Whitecloaks. What’s the significance of that moment for the character?

There’s been some different adaptation of the Dain-Perrin relationship in terms of, I think in the books, he thinks I’ve killed his dad, and obviously in the show I actually have, and the thing I quite like about the conversation he has with Dain, is it isn’t sort of a good-versus-bad scenario. There’s things that Perrin’s done that are equally bad, and there’s things that Dain’s done. And I don’t think it is as simple as light, dark, good, bad. And I think that’s what’s really refreshing about that relationship. I think Perrin at the end, I think when he starts to see it could kick off again and people are starting to draw their weapons, I think he’s just realized that a lot of the destruction that has come followed him around, even if he’s tried to remove himself out of it, the Whitecloaks and Trollocs have come to his hometown and caused a lot of damage.

There’s all these kind of inner conflicts going through him, but I think that moment to the Whitecloaks, it’s just to remove himself. I think Faile has helped him find a certain level of confidence and love himself, but I think he can’t continue to bring destruction to anyone else near him. And I think he feels like that’s the only way to end it really.

With the finale next week, I have to ask: Is there anything you can tease for fans about what to expect?

I think Josha [Stradowski] continues his development of Rand and his journey of potentially being the Car’a’carn and all those things, which is, there’s some scenes visually — I think if people liked some of the visuals in episode 4, I think there’s going to be some things that continue on from that. There’s some things from the books. There’s particularly one thing I love that interacts with Mat, a very interesting new aspect that we haven’t seen. So there’s new elements and there’s all these little threads that have been happening from the Andor episode and things like that that all get tied up — Nynaeve [and her problem channeling] — things like that. There’s big culminating moments and big visual moments that are just stunning really for all of the characters.

Where would you like to see Perrin’s journey go from here? What aspects of the character are you hoping to explore more?

So, for starters, this was a real lovely, cathartic, cyclical moment to go back to the Two Rivers and film [episode 7]. I feel like the relationship with Faile is only really starting, and in such a short window. I just absolutely loved working with Isabella. I know in the books she actually gets taken captive, and there’s Perrin trying to rescue her. So the fact that Perrin’s captive here is a really interesting dynamic, and how that would develop. And it’d be lovely to see more like Saldaea culture, where she’s from.

I’ve played this character who’s been very inward, very shy, very quiet, doesn’t really speak much, not confident. And I think for a moment [in episode 7], he’s got his shoulders back and before the battle happens, there’s really sweet moments with Mat’s sisters and people in the village that are really sweet and warm and funny. So I think to just continue that really, to play someone now who isn’t always head down or isn’t sad boy vibes all the time and is a bit of a warrior, has accepted his abilities and what he is as a wolfbrother, but also has this incredible partner now in Faile, and to develop all that further would be amazing.

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