TVLine Items: Wheel of Time Season 2 Casting, Barba Back on SVU and More
The Wheel of Time has added a Wise One to its ranks: Ayoola Smart, whose previous TV credits include Killing Eve (as Kenny Stowton’s onetime flame Audrey), has joined Season 2 of the epic Prime Video adaptation in the recurring role of Aviendha.
An Aiel Maiden of the Spear, Aviendha in Wheel of Time lore is a Wise One of the Nine Valleys sept, and one of the three lovers that Rand al’Thor takes (though we of course will see if the TV series offers a new spin on the heroine).
Previous Season 2 castings include Hanna‘s Guy Roberts (as Uno Nomeshta), The Last Kingdoms’s Arnas Fedaravicius (as Mesema), A Discovery of Witches‘ Gregg Chillingirian (as Ingtar Shinowa), Ceara Coveney as Elayne Trakand, and Natasha O’Keeffe (Peaky Blinders) and Meera Syal (Broadchurch) as “two of the most important characters in the series.”
Ready for some more recent newsy nuggets? Well…
* Raúl Esparza will reprise his Law & Order: SVU role of Rafael Barba in the May 19 season finale, which will also feature guest star Jordana Spiro (My Boys), Give Me My Remote reports.
* Sean “Diddy” Combs will host the 2022 Billboard Music Awards, airing Sunday, May 15 on NBC.
* Netflix’s untitled global spy adventure series starring Arnold Schwarzenegger has added to its cast Jay Baruchel, Aparna Brielle, Andy Buckley, Milan Carter, Fortune Feimster, Barbara Eve Harris, Gabriel Luna, Fabiana Udenio and Travis Van Winkle (The Last Ship).
Which of today’s TVLine Items pique your interest?
I truly wish they hadn’t made it so difficut for
Barba to return to being an ADA. They could have used him on the flagship show. After watching the new L&O, I wished Nolan Price to fall under a bus so we could at least get someone interesting, like Maroun.
Barba would have been so good on the mothership. Hugh Dancy doesn’t do it for me as ADA – I don’t buy him as a NYer in the role.
BArba!!!! Yes, yes!!
This series is garbage. Another book destroyed in a movie or series. Aviendha is a tall white woman with bright red hair. Now she is a black woman. I am not racist,but now it’s racist if you are white. A white person can not play a white role.This world is crazy.
White? Where did it say she was white? Redhead, yes. But white? The Aiel live in a scorching, blistering desert. And you think they’re not tan-skinned? C’mon.
I have no problem with the casting, if the actress plays the part right. But yes Aviendha is described as having white skin under her clothing where the sun didn’t tan.
It has also long been a joke in fandom that Jordan put Irish redheads in a desert local. When asked about it I believe he just shrugged, but it’s been a while since I heard that could be wrong.
As a white person I say so what. As long as the actress pulls off the character, that is all I care about. If you don’t like don’t watch.
If the fandom don’t watch this it will flatline quick enough,have other weaknesses that need attention.
Book fans should be respected and not simply told to grin and bear such racist casting.
The girl is obviously a mix leaning on caucasion. Your racist comment is the racism here.
Its a trope now that white redheads are replaced with black women. Blondes stay, gingers replaced.
This production is a **** show in continuity errors, and will only get worse as they continue to depart from the books.
I honestly don’t care about the ethnicity of who they pick, but they really need to stay consistent so that those from specific kingdoms have the same or similar ethnicities.
I mean Rand looks nothing like the Aeil I guess if Aviendha is the example.
Streaming services cast catering to whatever cultural zeitgeist is most marketable. They are more interested in attracting new customers than they are in maintaining the integrity of the series on behalf of the established Fandom.
Their attempts at manufactured diversity are a cheap marketing plot masquerading as virtue. If the prevailing social “ideal” in the mainstream was one of unrepentant racism (much as how the current political ideal has become), there’d be more white in that series than the Brady Bunch.