Shohreh Aghdashloo’s career goes back decades, with her big breakout coming in 2003’s House of Sand and Fog, and roles since in X-Men: The Last Stand, 24, The Punisher, The Penguin, and more. But most genre fans look at Aghdashloo and think of one character in particular: The Expanse‘s Chrisjen Avasarala, the fierce, fabulous defender of Earth throughout the much-loved sci-fi series. And as it turns out, her popularity on that show helped bring her to her latest role, Wheel of Time‘s similarly fierce and fabulous Elaida a’Roihan.
Speaking to Collider, Aghdashloo credits Expanse fans with sparking her interest in joining Wheel of Time, now in its third season on Prime Video. “As soon as I was done with The Expanse, the fans of The Expanse and those who liked my work on The Expanse, they started saying, ‘We need to find her another TV series because we want to see her at work,’” she recalled with delight.
“One of them came up with the idea of The Wheel of Time. I had seen The Wheel of Time, and I was thinking, ‘Would there be a place for me in The Wheel of Time?’ Obviously, I didn’t say anything. It wasn’t for me to initiate. Then [fans] started saying, ‘Yes, she should come to The Wheel of Time, and she can do a good job with the series.’”
Aghdashloo’s social media person took note and encouraged the actor to follow up, especially since her fans remained so enthusiastically persistent about the idea. “Again, I said, ‘Well, it’s not for me to initiate. Let’s go find a showrunner!’ One of them came up with his name: the amazing Rafe Judkins, [Wheel of Time‘s] showrunner—one of the best showrunners I’ve ever worked with. He started DMing, saying, ‘Yes, she’s been on our radar since 2018, but we knew she was busy with The Expanse. She’s not busy anymore? Bring her over.’ Two weeks after, I received an offer from Rafe. I was so happy. I could not believe it.”
And indeed, it all worked out: you can catch Aghdashloo—whose jewel-bedecked wardrobe as Elaida is nearly as stunning as her Avasarala outfits were on The Expanse—stealing every one of her scenes on Wheel of Time season three, now on Prime Video.
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