WARNING: The following may contain spoilers for Season 1 of The Wheel of Time.
A character whose background is a pivotal plot point in The Wheel of Time may have already been cast, with a debut in the Amazon Prime Video series' first season.
Swedish actor Alexander Kalim will be playing the role of Lews Therin Telamon, also known as The Dragon, according to the YouTube Wheel of Time news show WoT Up. Although this has not been officially confirmed by Amazon, the news reportedly comes from multiple reliable sources.
In the source novels by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson, The Dragon was a title given to Lews Therin, a powerful Aes Sedai from the long-ago Age of Legends whose actions led to the corruption of the male side of the One Power. Lews Therin lost his mind, killing everyone he loved before he died, but he was prophesied to be reborn one day to either save the world or destroy it.
The main plot of The Wheel of Time deals with the rebirth of Lews Therin into one of the present-day characters. Although this reincarnation will be played by another actor, Lews Therin himself remains important throughout the story. His inclusion in Season 1 could mean that the flashback scene from the prologue of the first book in the series will be adapted, or that developments from later books will be pushed back and addressed earlier.
Alexander Kalim is known for playing Ihab Rashid in FX's Tyrant, as well as having roles in Zero Dark Thirty and Nicolas Cage's 2014 thriller Dying of the Light. He is also considered a top-tier actor in the film and television industry in his native Sweden.
The casting leak also notes that Kalim speaks in a conlang (constructed language) from The Wheel of Time called the Old Tongue, which suggests that the words and phrases written for the books have been expanded into a complete language. This is an appropriate feature for Lews Therin, as the Old Tongue is said to be what was universally spoken in his time.
The tragic history and world-shattering rebirth of The Dragon will come to life on Amazon Prime when The Wheel of Time premieres on November 19. Executive produced and written by Rafe Judkins, the series stars Rosamund Pike, Daniel Henney, Barney Harris, Josha Stradowski and Madeleine Madden.
Source: YouTube