Wheel Of Time S2: The Real Reason Liandrin's Red Dresses Are Getting Darker - Exclusive
Contains spoilers for "The Wheel of Time" Season 2
Liandrian Guirale (Kate Fleetwood) has been a major character in the first two seasons of Amazon Studios's "The Wheel of Time" series. The Aes Sedai hails from the Red Ajah and is the perfect embodiment of the strict, overpowered policing terror that those red robes portray.
However, as Season 2 has progressed, some eagle-eyed viewers may have noticed that her cardinal clothing has slowly taken on a deeper tone. This isn't by accident. The darkening of Liandrin's color palette is a very deliberate decision made by the creative team.
In a recent exclusive on-set interview, Looper was given a tour of the costume department led by the show's costume designer, Sharon Gilham. When we came to Liandrin's crimson costume, the designer told us, "Liandrin is here on her own, being individual, standing out. I've made her costumes much darker red this season as she's getting darker, going to the dark side."
When we asked if that was true for all of the Red Ajah, Gilham responded immediately in the negative. "No, it's just for her." We followed this up with the question of if this was indicating a shift toward another color, to which Gilham responded, "Yes."
Liandrin and the Red Ajah
In the source material, Liandrin is one of the primary antagonists of the story's main heroes. She begins as one of the Red Ajah, which is something that the show jumped on from the get-go. The first shot of Season 1 opened with Liandrin and several of her Red sisters hunting down two men who could channel before gentling them — i.e., irrevocably cutting them off from the source of the One Power.
In Robert Jordan's world, the Aes Sedai are female wielders of that same One Power (While technically very different in their makeup, history, and complexities, the ageless characters fill a similar role to Tolkien's Wizards in the overall narrative). The Aes Sedai are split into various colors, with each one focusing on different areas of expertise. Most Aes Sedai bond themselves to male guardians called Warders with one exception: the Red Ajah. That's because these powerful female channelers specialize in hunting down and cutting men off from the mind-melting male half of the One Power.
This police role is important, and Gilham highlighted how she wove it into the Red Ajah's costumes on the show, explaining that they have "corseted belts and things like that because [they're] very restrained and very controlling, and they're police, that idea with the epaulets and things to give that idea of that side of them."
New episodes of "Wheel of Time" premiere Fridays on Prime Video.