Ceara Coveney Doesn't Want to Know Too Much About Elayne's Journey (Yet)

The Big Picture

• Ceara Coveney enjoys using Robert Jordan's books as an encyclopedia of the Wheel of Time world and annotates her scripts with quotes.
• Coveney appreciates the unique friendship dynamic between Elayne and Nynaeve and their growth throughout Season 2.
• The "core moment" of Rand and Elayne's first meeting leaves questions about their future and the alignment of their journeys.

While we might be several weeks out now from The Wheel of Time's Season 2 finale, enough plays out over the course of that epic episode that we knew we needed the help of some of the show's cast to unpack it all. Not only does Rand al'Thor (Josha Stradowski) finally proclaim himself as the Dragon Reborn (with a little help from Rosamund Pike's Moiraine, that is), but we finally get to see the Two Rivers group reunited — overlooking the city of Falme in the aftermath of a big battle between Seanchan, Whitecloaks, Aiel, and... is that a new Forsaken (Laia Costa) lurking from the shadows?

Although there's still a while to go before the much-anticipated third season drops, that leaves us with ample time to pore over some of Season 2's biggest moments — and in the coming days, we'll have some of The Wheel of Time's most recognizable faces to give us their takes on what their characters faced (as well as hint at what's to come). Ceara Coveney, who joined the show for the first time this season as Elayne Trakand, sat down with Collider via Zoom for a spoiler-filled interview discussing some of the Daughter-Heir's biggest scenes. She also discusses how far into Robert Jordan's books she's read, what she enjoys about getting to play Elayne and Nynaeve's (Zoë Robins) unique friendship, what Rand and Elayne's meet-cute signals for their future, and more.

The Wheel of Time

Set in a high fantasy world where magic exists, but only some can access it, a woman named Moiraine crosses paths with five young men and women. This sparks a dangerous, world-spanning journey. Based on the book series by Robert Jordan.

Ceara Coveney References the 'Wheel of Time' Books After Reading Her Scripts

COLLIDER: Elayne is a character that fans know has a very involved history in the books, and she has this journey that she goes on, but you're playing her at a very early point in the story. When you were cast, how many of the books did you read ahead of time? Was there ever a point where didn't want to go too far because you didn't want to know too much beyond where you were supposed to be inhabiting her?

CEARA COVENEY: Absolutely. I read The Eye of the World once I was cast and used that to really fill out the world for myself and understand the characters. Then, once I got the scripts, I went further with the books up until the point that the scripts went to. I personally don't like reading too far. I know the main points of Elayne’s journey, but I don't want to read too far because I want the scripts to be my first and initial impression, and then I love using the books almost as an encyclopedia of the world. It's my favorite part of my process, actually. Once I've read the scenes and the episodes, I love going to the books and finding those moments in the books and really dissecting them, because I think Robert Jordan's work has so much description and there's always those little metaphors or sayings or moments that maybe haven't made it onto the page, but I want to embody those underneath and in my performance.

So, I love doing that. My script is always annotated with little quotes from the books, which I really love. But I don't want to read too far ahead, only because I want to plant the seeds of where Elayne’s journey is going. I don't want to know too much because I don't believe Elayne knows herself yet. She's quite unique in that her future really is set for her. She's much more aware of it, perhaps, than any other character because she has this duty to the throne, so she really knows where her future is leading. But I'd like to kind of keep as much as I can a mystery for my embodiment of Elayne.

I'm glad you brought up Elayne as a character who knows what her duty is, knows ultimately where she's destined to be. How do you feel as though her life prior to coming to Tar Valon affects her decisions throughout Season 2? There are definitely times where she wants to go in all Daughter-Heir, and then has a bit of a wake-up call.

COVENEY: Absolutely. She meets Egwene and Nynaeve, and they’re two equally strong, headstrong, powerful women, and she learns so much from them. Coming to the Tower, she maybe thought she knew everything, or close to. She really has a thirst for knowledge, and she is very book-smart, but in meeting Egwene and Nynaeve, they teach her a lot more about the real world and how to navigate it. It was really fun to play those dynamics of Elayne perhaps having the knowledge, but Egwene and Nynaeve having the bravery and something a bit more raw and instinctual about them. There's definitely that playing off each other, and Elayne definitely chooses her moments when to use her training and when to follow and go with the flow and see what happens.

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Ceara Coveney Enjoys Playing Elayne and Nynaeve's "Friends by Force" Dynamic

I like that we get to see Elayne and Nynaeve’s unique — I will call it a friendship, because they come at it initially from a common love of Egwene, and then she gets kidnapped, and it forces the two of them to team up. It kicks off what I've seen fans refer to as the Nynaeve/Elayne Detective Agency, because those who know the books know this is the start of their unlikely partnership in a lot of ways. What did you enjoy most about getting to find the beginnings of that relationship as an actor with Zoë [Robins], and figuring out what that dynamic was going to look like?

COVENEY: It was so fun to play off Zoë and really find that relationship. It was like bickering sisters. Especially in the early stages of their relationship, they're just constantly at each other's necks and just ready to tell the other one that they're wrong, and that was a lot of fun to play. It was this push and pull, and it came from the same place of frustration and this same place of desperation to find their friend. It was really fun to just explore that relationship and how these two people interact because they're definitely not friends by choice, but in the end, by force, and they start to really find this mutual respect and understanding of each other, as much as maybe under different circumstances they would never form this friendship. But I think they start to learn slowly, as much as they didn't start that way, how much they complement each other and how much they can teach the other, which has been really, really fun to explore.

Ceara Coveney on the "Core Moment" of Rand and Elayne's First Meeting

I wanted to get your thoughts on a scene in the finale, which I joke is sort of a Little Mermaid moment with Elayne and Rand. He's dying from this wound, and then sees almost this angelic figure standing over him. It's significant, enough that the show kind of takes a pause. What did you really want to capture about the importance of that relationship for Elayne, as well as the fact that it feels like an “Oh,” sort of realization for both of them?

COVENEY: That was completely what we wanted to capture was this moment of… I think it happens sometimes in life, where you meet someone, and you have this feeling of, “Oh, you're someone that's going to be important to me. I don't know how, I don't know why,” but you just get this feeling. That was really what we wanted to capture in that moment. I think the sun was a paid actor. It was coming in from behind, and it was creating this dreamlike, almost, image. It kind of all came together in this moment of creating something that felt very distinct, and it felt very purposeful. It’s kind of a core moment. It's really exciting because it leaves questions as to what may come in the future, and what these characters do really mean to each other, and how their journeys are going to align from this point.

We see Elayne bump into certain characters this season, but obviously, this cast is huge and growing all the time. I'm sure you cannot go into too many spoilers about Season 3, but for Ceara the actor, which characters are you really excited for Elayne to get to have more screen time with?

COVENEY: I'm really excited to continue the journey that Zoë and I have started with Nynaeve and Elayne. I'm really excited to see where that goes because they've had such a rough start and were thrown into such extreme situations. So yeah, if the fans lovingly call it the Detective Agency, I'm excited to see if the business is thriving.

Both seasons of The Wheel of Time are available to stream on Prime Video.

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