‘The Wheel of Time’s Robert Strange Breaks Down His Terrifying Season 3 Character Reveal
Editor’s note: The below interview contains spoilers for The Wheel of Time Season 3 finale.
It would be impossible to quickly summarize everything that plays out in The Wheel of Time Season 3 finale. Now that the fantasy adaptation’s story has grown to span so many different characters and places, it means the finale has a lot of ground to cover in both resolving certain plots and setting up future seasons. Amid Rand al’Thor (Josha Stradowski) finally declaring himself as the Car’a’carn to Nynaeve (Zoë Robins) finally overcoming her block, many of our heroes are more powerful now than they ever have been — but one has a terrifying encounter that will forever change him, thanks to a mysterious red door and an interdimensional being with a penchant for making dangerous deals.
Ahead of the premiere of “He Who Comes With the Dawn,” Collider had the opportunity to speak with creature actor Robert Strange, best known for his previous work on shows like Penny Dreadful, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, and Doctor Who, about joining The Wheel of Time this season as the Eelfinn. Over the course of the interview, which you can read below, Strange discussed the experience of keeping his role a secret, the extensive makeup and prosthetic process, and the intricacies of the Eelfinn’s costume. He also reveals why his scene partner, Dónal Finn, didn’t want to look at him before filming, and which Easter egg fans will want to rewatch for relating to Elaida (Shohreh Aghdashloo).
COLLIDER: I’ve been sitting on this episode, having watched it and not being able to talk about anything, but for you, this has been a secret in the making for so much longer. How long have you had to keep this role a secret?
ROBERT STRANGE: We filmed it in 2023, I believe, so it was a good long time ago now. I remember at the time they said, “This is a very special character. This is a very special moment, albeit brief, for the fans of the book and for Mat’s storyline, obviously. So, hush hush.” But to be honest, I’m quite used to it. I play a lot of characters and do a lot of projects where things are quite hush-hush, so I’m used to the secrecy.
Given that your casting has been under wraps this entire time, fans have had theories. In terms of the audition, did you know what role you were being considered for when that whole process started?
STRANGE: I didn’t know. And I don’t know how people figured out I was in Season 3, because it wasn’t announced anywhere. But somehow, they figure out that you’re involved in the show, and then it’s quite fun. I look back, and the first tweet where someone predicted, I’ve bookmarked it so that when the episode’s out, I can say, “Look, you called it first. Well done!”
But yeah, I had no idea. The casting was all done under a secret codename for the show, and the character was a secret code name. I have to admit, I wasn’t familiar with the Eelfinn at all at that point. Once I got the role and found out who and what I was playing, I did my research and read the chapters that they appeared in. I tried very hard to read all of The Wheel of Time in time, but I had limited time to read 15 books, so I read as much as I could, and I read the Eelfinn moments. It was all amazingly done. The scenes were even changed for the audition, so we had the steel of the scene, but all the terms and names were changed. All I was told was it was these ethereal, very, very proud, very powerful, poised beings, and that’s it.
I did a few takes of slightly different accents and voices, some kind of a bit more up here, and some of them were gruff like orcs from the other series. I’d been recommended by Nick Dudman, the head of prosthetics, who I worked with before, many years ago, on Penny Dreadful. My first ever creature role was with Nick, 12 years ago now. He’d recommended me. Then I saw the casting team recently, and she said, “We actually already had you on our list,” because there’s not many people that do prosthetics and dialogue — I’ve kind of made that my little niche. Then I sent my tape, and then, next thing, I was in Prague.
Just as a side note, I love Penny Dreadful so much. I still mourn the end of that show.
STRANGE: It has a very special place in my heart. Not only was it my first filming job, really, but it was my first creature thing, which led me to this very point.
For you, did reading the book scenes help flesh out the kind of being you’re supposed to be playing? In the episode, it’s scary, but in the books, I think you get that vibe, too.
STRANGE: You felt that? Because that’s one of the important things we wanted to get across. Reading the book material did help, and it didn’t. They’re written by Robert Jordan so wonderfully that these things feel so detailed and so fleshed out, but they also feel so unknowable, and I think they have to be, by definition, because they’re not even of this world, of the world of The Wheel of Time that we’re in. So, they should feel alien in a sense, or just extra-dimensional, and yet they have these familiar features. The look of the makeup really helped, and Mat’s speech is so beautifully written in the scene where he talks about the fox den and the smell of the fox den, and he links it to something that’s very personal to him whilst he’s in one of the most outlandish moments of all the books.
So, yeah, the material was great to read because it just gives you a sense of the language they use, the power they have, the trickery, the playfulness. The Eelfinn were all in the writing of the book, so I tried to bring all that in. Then, I’m sure you will ask, but hugely important to shaping the character was the makeup, the costume, and the work with Naomi [Joy Todd], who was the dialect coach, as well, who taught me some of the Old Tongue and accents and language to use.
‘The Wheel of Time’s Robert Strange Filmed His Eelfinn Scene in One Day
How many hours did you have to spend in the chair for makeup and prosthetics? Did you go through any other iterations of the Eelfinn before they settled on the final version, or was it already figured out by the time you had to sit down?
STRANGE: I went for a few fittings. I have copies of amazing photos of me having molds done with my whole body and face. They did some fittings, and then I went back for basically a week, 10 days, and we did a series of makeup tests where they practiced it and refined it and little details. The prosthetics team is obviously always very close to my heart because I spend so much time with them, and I just think they’re the most unbelievable geniuses. They’re artists and craftsmen and women. They’re just incredible.
I’ve done 12 years of playing creatures. I’ve been in all sorts of creative prosthetics and suits and designs. This was one of the most intense — because I kept a little picture of all of my alarms from the day, my alarms to get picked up were at 2:10 to wake me up. I was picked up at 2:20 from the hotel, and then at the end of the day, I got back at 10:30 p.m. So it was a long day, but we shot it all in one day.
The makeup was also amazing. I could talk about it for a whole hour, this technique that, again, in my 12 years, I’d never done where I was furry. Because I was a fox, I needed to be furry. They do this technique called flocking, where basically they paint me in glue that’s got black paint in it, so I had this under layer that’s black, and then they have a gun that sprays very fine hairs at you, and they’re electrically charged as they fly out of the gun, so they all align together, and then they blow them down with an air gun. You get this pelt, like an animal pelt, that they can choose. Then they put on layers of orange and white and different lengths, like tufts on the elbows. So my whole torso from my waist up was covered in hair on my skin directly. It was remarkable. I’d never had that before. Then the face was all prosthetic pieces, which were pre-haired. They were pre-sculpted, and then they put the hair on and stuck them on. Then I have a wig and all sorts of things as well. And the nails and lenses, and teeth.
Related
Judkins also discusses which moment he fought to keep from happening and what Rand’s final scene sets up for a potential Season 4.
I just spoke with Sharon [Gilham] about Season 3’s costumes, and I am kicking myself because I didn’t ask her about yours. Those boots!
STRANGE: I play so many monsters where we’re usually soldiers, and we’re in the mud and I get rags. I don’t mind at all because it’s usually relatively comfortable, but when I went in, and they showed me this outfit I was wearing, which is this incredible sculpted harness, and the leather work and the skirts with this big split up the side, I was like, “This is so cool. I never get to wear stuff like this.” The boots, I walked into the fitting, the first one with Sharon, and they were sat to the side, and I just immediately went, “I really hope they’re for me.” And she was like, “Thank god, because our first question is, ‘Could you wear them?’” I was like, “I don’t care what they feel like. I will be wearing those boots.” They had a seven-inch heel but no heel, so it was just on tiptoes, and then a kind of cloven hoof in the front made from the same amazing white leather as the harness, which is designed to look like leather made from human flesh.
The details are so fleeting in the scene, but hopefully, Sharon will put up some pictures of all the details. There’s this design they came up with where the Eelfinn collected body parts from the victims who hadn’t passed, or they’ve managed to trick those who haven’t been able to escape. So, all down the back is a spine of leather noses and ears, and then these faces of stretched mouths, like a cuff made of leather that’s a mouth. It’s just the most unbelievable design. And the boots were… I mean, fashion is pain is beauty and beauty is pain. They were not comfy, put it that way. By the end of the day, when I’d been in them for 16 hours, I couldn’t shake and wobble or in the take. It would have just completely taken any power away from the Eelfinn looming over Mat, so I had to just hold it together. Then, as soon as they shouted cut, someone, bless them, rushed in, and they had these poles to hold onto to take my weight. I could take them on and off during the day, but they were laced all the way up the back. It took about 40 minutes, so I just left them on all day. So, it was a long, intense day, but I kind of like that. I like that process. It gives me something to lean into.
‘The Wheel of Time’s Robert Strange Surprised Dónal Finn On Set With the Eelfinn Scream
You mentioned looming over Mat, so I have to ask about your scene partner, Dónal Finn, and working with him, especially since this is also a big moment for Mat’s character.
STRANGE: He was brilliant. The energy and playfulness you see in Mat in the show? Dónal is just exactly like that. He’s just so playful with his approach. His delivery of lines is different every time. He did this wonderful thing where he didn’t want to look at me until the first take of the day, which was kind of brilliant, because I saw it in his eyes when he looked up at me for the first time. So, bless him, what it meant was we did rehearsals with Ciaran [Donnelly], the director, where he didn’t look at me for the rehearsals, which is kind of funny, but then in the moment where we did, I could see some of his reactions were very genuine. He was just so sweet and supportive as well.
Then I had some tricks up my sleeve for him with Ciaran, the director. We planned these noises that everyone knows who lives in a city, the noises foxes make outside in the night when they’re up to no good. I had prepared this kind of scream, which was a surprise for Dónal, as well. I think it alarmed him a little bit, which was the intention.
It works for what you need in the scene, which is something terrifying. I haven’t forgotten it since I watched it.
STRANGE: I love a little Easter egg. Did you notice when Elaida comes back, you can hear the Eelfinn screech? She’s obviously been to visit them, as well. It’s such a great little detail because you might not notice that until you’ve seen the scene. Listen for the noise when you rewatch it.
All episodes of The Wheel of Time are available to stream on Prime Video.
- Release Date
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November 18, 2021
- Network
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Prime Video
- Showrunner
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Rafe Judkins
- Directors
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Sanaa Hamri, Ciaran Donnelly, Salli Richardson-Whitfield, Thomas Napper, Maja Vrvilo, Wayne Che Yip
- Writers
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Amanda Kate Shuman, Dave Hill, Rohit Kumar, Justine Juel Gillmer, Celine Song, Rammy Park, The Clarksons Twins, Katherine B. McKenna
