Saturday, June 10, 2023
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Web Desk

Rosamund Pike takes on dual role in 'The Wheel of Time'

By
Web Desk
|
Rosamund Pike takes on dual role in The Wheel of Time
Rosamund Pike takes on dual role in 'The Wheel of Time' 

Rosamund Pike, known for her role as Moiraine Damodred in the TV adaptation of "The Wheel of Time," is now recording the audiobooks of the series.

Pike's director for the audiobooks is her mother, Caroline Friend, a former opera singer. Their shared love for audiobooks dates back to Pike's childhood.

"When I was a child, we would often travel quite long distances in cars, and we'd listen to books on tape," Pike told EW. "We would always discuss the readers and whether they were successful, because some we really didn't respond to, but others were absolutely wonderful."

Pike sees narrating audiobooks as a natural extension of her acting career and has previously narrated books like "Restless" and a version of "Pride & Prejudice."

However, she highlights the challenges of becoming the voice of every character in the story and transitioning between different moods.

"You can be on the point of breaking with emotion as you play some very difficult scene, but then the narration in between the dialogue has to be sharp and clear," Pike says. "That's one of the difficulties: Characters can break, but the narration must stay, and you've got to be all those people.

Working on the audiobooks deepened Pike and Friend's appreciation for the grand scale and complexity of Jordan's "Wheel of Time" series, which expands far beyond initial comparisons to "The Lord of the Rings." 

Pike believes that Jordan's work reflects his journey of understanding and reconciling the contradictions and dualities of the world. The first three volumes of the audiobooks, narrated by Pike, are currently available, while the second season of the TV series is set to premiere on September 1st on Prime Video.