Back for a hotly anticipated second season, fantasy series The Wheel Of Time – based on the books by American authors Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson – again focuses on the story of humble farm boy Rand al’Thor, played by Josha Stradowski. Rand learns he is The Dragon Reborn, a dangerous figure prophesied to either save the world from a primordial evil known as the Dark One, or break it once more.

Think of Liverpool’s attempts to thwart Man City’s dominance in recent years and you’re getting there. Heading up the cast once more is the brilliant Rosamund Pike as Moiraine Damodred, the Aes Sedai of the Blue Ajah, who is searching for the Dragon Reborn. Among the other characters suspected of being the Dragon Reborn is villager and gambler Mat Cauthon, this season played by Cork actor Donal Finn, who takes over from Barney Harris.

When Hot Press catches up with Finn in Prague, he’s taking the recasting in his stride. 

“With any job, the initial feeling is, ‘I can’t believe it!’” says the affable actor, speaking before the SAG-AFTRA strike. “But naturally, there’s other things with this job. There’s the scale of the show, and of course the recasting. If I had any opportunity at all to stop and think about it, I might have been daunted. But at that time, the notion of getting that call and starting the whirlwind experience of coming to Prague – I was acting mindlessly! 

“I didn’t have much of a chance to allow myself to get daunted. That really spoke in my favour. It was a great thing to go straight into set and work very instinctually on the part. From the first episode, I managed to use all the scripts to feed a back-story. That meant I started the character as I would any other, picking it up on page one. 

“But I also had the gift of having a huge amount of context from the previous seasons. I read the first season, and then looked at the books for all the moments where I felt the character’s spirit.”

As he explains, Finn was searching for particular scenes that would illuminate the character of Mat.

“You’re looking for those moments where you can see the character’s way of seeing the world, or their values or motives,” he notes. “You want to bring all that into the show. What’s beautiful is that now I’ve seen season one and filmed season two, there’s the perfect amount of harmony and cohesion between season one and two Mat. I think that speaks to how evident his spirit is. In both performances, there’s a shared energy.”

The Seanchan Empire, Loial played by Hammed Animashaun, The Dark One played by Fares Fares

The character is a bit of a rogue, which presumably is an aspect Finn relished.

“The rogueishness, I don’t know where I got that,” he chuckles. “I definitely had influences that I was drawing on to get that sense of – for want of a better word – devilment. Personally, it feels quite fitting that I’m Irish and playing the part. I tried to imagine the spirit of devilishness that I had in school with my pals in Kanturk. 

“It comes from a place of wanting the very best for my friends, because there’s so much arduousness, hardship and obstacles to overcome. It takes someone to say, ‘There’s a lot of danger around us, but because we’re safe right now, we should have the craic and enjoy each other’s company. Stop and smell the roses a bit.’ For Mat, that comes from a place of really wanting to ease the strain of life for his friends. Understanding his motives has helped me tap into it.”

As seems par for the course with nearly every major TV and film production these days, there is a considerable Irish influence on The Wheel Of Time. As well as drawing on elements of Irish mythology, the series boasts considerable Irish talent both in front of and behind the camera.
 
“I was made to feel at ease really quickly,” acknowledges Donal, “because a phenomenal Irish actor called Michael McElhatton was working on season one. Also, Ayoola Smart who’s in the second season is from Schull in West Cork. There’s Jay Duffy and Stuart Graham as well, and a fantastic assistant costume designer from Galway, called Saileog O’Halloran. Having all these people here in Prague did make it feel like a more easy thing.

“There are things about it that draw on Celtic mysticism. The story has its own version of druids, and the things that are in our mythology. It was easy to lend that part of the imagination to this story, because we have a storytelling culture. Whether you believe it or not, we have stories of banshees and fairy forts and things like that. 

“Because the Irish mythology is really imaginative and colourful, it was nice to access that part of me imaginatively and feed it into this story, which is so high stakes and adventurous.”

Was Donal a big fantasy fan beforehand?

“I’m a massive fan of fantasy,” he nods. “As a child, I was the first boy in Mahon Point Shopping Centre queuing up for the midnight release of Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows. I was that child getting my picture in the Evening Echo! But that gave me a great understanding of what it is to be a fan of something that’s adapted from a book that’s so loved. 

“That really encouraged me to pursue moments in the books that speak to the character, even if they’re non-verbal. It could the way he moves, or what he carries on his person, or the way he interacts with his family and friends. You’re trying to find moments in the books and pull those onto screen when they’re suitable. I wasn’t aware of the world of The Wheel Of Time, but once I was cast in it, it was remarkable how many people were connected to it.”

Madeleine Madden (Egwene al'Vere), Zoë Robins (Nynaeve al'Meara), Ceara Coveney (Elayne Trakand)

Indeed, the actor quickly found out how big The Wheel Of Time’s fanbase is.

“I remember filming on a project in Donegal in February, and speaking to this lovely props master, Steve,” recalls Finn. “I said, ‘Is there any chance I can move this over here? And by the way, I’m Donal!’ And he went, ‘Oh no, I know who you are.’ Then he pulled up his sleeve, and he had a Wheel Of Time tattoo. He was like, ‘I was buzzing to see you were on the show.’ 

“That was a really flooring moment for me, to see how much people care. I did the musical of Sing Street in Boston, and it was incredible how many fans of The Wheel Of Time travelled such phenomenally long distances to come and see a show, which they didn’t really know about – but they knew the actor playing Mat was in it.

“The fans are incredibly kind and impassioned people, and as someone who’s been a big fan of stuff myself, it’s a real privilege to be a part of bringing a story they care about to life.”
 
The Wheel Of Time is available to stream on Amazon now.

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