Lanfear Actress Confirmed! Natasha O’Keeffe was cast quite some time ago for The Wheel of Time Season 2. Now it is confirmed that the actress is playing Lanfear! We picked up the update from WOTSeries who pointed to O’Keeffe’s own CV as the evidence, where she is listed as Lanfear.
When O’Keeffe was first cast there were many, including me who theorized this could be our Lanfear. However, with a such a predominantly female cast of varying ages (the Aes Sedai), you just couldn’t be sure. With how much O’Keeffe matches the book description of Lanfear, (to me) she was still my pick out of the unnamed new cast members.
You can see an image of Natasha O’Keeffe below. Book readers who know who Lanfear is can judge for themselves.
BREAKING: It is official. Natasha O'Keeffe to play the role of Lanfear in #TheWheelOfTime
cc: @InnkeeperHatch https://t.co/Mrv18ixwZP
— WoT Series (@WotTVSeries) June 22, 2023
Now for those who have not read The Wheel of Time books!
I don’t want to knowingly spoil some plot details of the upcoming seasons. Ergo, I’m going to place a SPOILER warning below for fans who want to experience the plot as it happens within the show.
For those not too concerned about spoilers, I’ll explain who Lanfear is, a little below. Bear in mind though, for a more detailed description you’d just have to google Lanfear. However, you’ll really have to be wary of major plot spoilers if you do that.
*Wheel of Time Season 2/3 SPOILERS Below!*
So who is Lanfear and why is she important? When we first meet O’Keeffe in Season 2, she will introduce herself under another name, that of Selene. I won’t get into the reasons for that here, however clearly this is not her real name. Instead this person has gone by the name Lanfear for a very long time. So long in fact that she was around during the Age of Legends, glimpsed briefly in a flashback within Season 1. In that flashback we met Lews Therin, one of the previous versions of The Dragon, now reincarnated into Rand Al’Thor.
Lanfear was once the lover of Lews Therin, and in many ways she views Lews as ‘hers’. Unfortunately for her, Lews ended it with her and later fell in love and married his wife Ilyena. However, perhaps what is most important to know about Lanfear is that she is one of the strongest channellers from the Age of Legends. The only reason she is still around, is because she joined the Dark One. Therefore, Lanfear is one of the Forsaken brought up briefly in Season 1.
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More than that it was Lanfear herself who was directly responsible for freeing the Dark One from his prison. Thus, causing the wars that ended the Age of Legends. A scientist, Lanfear was looking into a new source of power and unknowingly bored a hole to the prison of the Dark One. This freed the ultimate villain, thus dooming billions, as well as herself.
Therefore, Lanfear is powerful, immortal (kinda) and obsessed with a certain Rand Al’Thor. I would assume O’Keeffe is signed up for the rest of the series as Lanfear appears (periodically) throughout the tale right till the very end. It’s a juicy role for O’Keeffe to land. A woman so beautiful, intelligent, cunning and powerful that most Aes Sedai pale against her.
**End of SPOILERS**
As said in the spoiler section, this is a really great role to land in the series. Hardly one of the leads, but perhaps the most popular antagonistic role in the series from fans of the books. Lanfear is also a role that reoccurs throughout the series, so O’Keeffe is probably signed up for as many Seasons as the show takes to finish up.
What do you think of Natasha O’Keeffe as Lanfear now the casting is confirmed. Any book readers feel like O’Keeffe isn’t the right choice for Lanfear? Let us know below in the usual spot, or anything you want to say about The Wheel of Time.
