There is no shortage of Aussie stars making a name for themselves in the world of streaming television. One such name is none other than the astoundingly talented Madeleine Madden. Having begun her acting career at just 8 years of age, Madden has fought invading forces in Tomorrow, When the War Began, disappeared as a schoolgirl in Picnic at Hanging Rock, and adventured through the jungle in Dora and the Lost City of Gold. Most recently, however, she has been tasked with bringing the formidable Egwene al’Vere to life in Prime Video’s adaptation of Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time.
Ahead of The Wheel of Time’s Season 3 release, we caught back up with Madden to talk about Egwene’s continued evolution from a village wisdom in training to one of the most remarkable Aes Sedai to grace the vaunted halls of the White Tower.
“I think that this season is our best one so far,” Madden begins, “because we’ve established the world. We’re well established in the world now and I feel like all of our characters are really fleshed out, really strong, really standing on their own.”
Of course, Madden’s Egwene has certainly had a lot to help shape her character since first setting out from the Two Rivers in The Wheel of Time Season 1. While her aptitude for harnessing the One Power ultimately saw her become a novice at the White Tower, Season 2 also saw her betrayed and given over to the invading Seanchan.
“She really learnt her full capabilities and how powerful she really was,” Madden says of her character’s Season 2 enslavement. “And as brutal as her treatment was there, I think she really understood how powerful she could be, and that’s forever changed her.”
Yet despite the inner strength her character’s plight would endow her with, getting back into that mindset did pose a challenge for the actor.
“It was quite difficult actually,” Madden admits. “Because there’s so much time in between seasons that having to get back into that mindset can sometimes be a bit difficult. And I was like, ‘Oh God, I don’t want to go back into the [Seanchan’s] kennels. I don’t want to put the collar back on.”
Thankfully, however, Season 3’s story will draw primarily from Jordan’s fourth book, The Shadow Rising. As such, Egwene is set to find herself on a new journey and come to embrace an ancient power not seen among the Aes Sedai for almost a thousand years.
“This season tracks the books the closest compared to the other seasons,” Madden explains. “But for Egwene, I’m really excited for audiences to see her step into the dream world and how she navigates that and the philosophy and lore around that.”
While previous seasons have already hinted at Egwene’s ability to Dreamwalk, or enter the dream world known as Tel’aran’rhiod, the show’s third season will see Egwene enter the harsh Aiel wastes to learn directly at the feet of the Wise Ones.
“All of the Aiel Waste scenes are just like breathtaking,” she explains. “Because it also looks so different compared to the way the rest of the show has looked.”
But the introduction of this new location from the books was not without its difficulties, and filming in the sparse desert conditions certainly took its toll. “We had really, really hot days. We were shooting in the middle of the summer, a lot of times out in the desert or in sand dunes that are as white as bones,” she tells.
“[But] it was a real privilege to be there, because sometimes, when you’re shooting, you’re in a soundstage or you’re in front of a green screen, but having all of like the extremities of all of the elements really helps inform your performance and your energy. You look like you’ve been trudging through the desert for days, because you really have been.
“The landscape in itself is like a character in this world. And so, we really need to honour that, and also need to make the Aiel Waste look incredible and different to anything that we’ve ever seen before, because we’ve built it up so much in the story and it plays such an important role to not only the prophecy [of the Dragon Reborn], but to all of the characters that go there.”
With Rand al’Thor now officially proclaimed as the Dragon Reborn, and the battle of Falme proving the first victory for the forces of light over the Dark One’s Forsaken, The Wheel of Time Season 3 is now poised to propel its characters ever closer toward the prophesied last battle, Tarmon Gai’don. But Egwene, and her friends, still have a long way to go in their journey to shape the future of the world at large.
Summing up her character’s Season 3 arc in three simple words, Madden says, “Courageous, healing, and determined.”
The Wheel of Time Season 3 premieres exclusively on Prime Video on March 13
