The third season of the Prime Video fantasy series The Wheel of Time premieres on March 13 and things are about to change for fan favorite Maksim, played by actor Taylor Napier.
The Rafe Judkins series, based on the books by Robert Jordan, follows the growing divisiveness in the Westlands. Season three is based primarily on the fourth book, The Shadow Rising. Napier stars along a global cast that includes Rosamund Pike, Josha Stradowski, Marcus Rutherford, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Daniel Henney, Zoë Robins, Madeleine Madden, Josha Stradowski, Hammed Animashaun, Donal Finn, and Kate Fleetwood.
In season 3, Maksim becomes a Warder and a lover to both Ihvon (Emmanuel Imani) and Alanna Mosvani (Priyanka Bose). Napier talked to GLAAD about the inclusion of non-traditional queer relationships in a fantasy series, the need for more bisexual narratives, and the impact of TV on his life and acting career.
Was there a specific TV series, film, or moment in your life that made you want to be an actor?
I grew up watching a ton of television. Just so much — for better or worse. It was sort of the universal language in our house and I think it was always on. I even used to sleep with it on, so I’m not sure there was one moment or piece of media that stands out for me. Stuff like Mad Men, Breaking Bad, The Sopranos — that sort of peak TV era made me think it might be something I could do for a living but also be in something that felt like art. Being a movie star is a hard dream to have, but being on a TV show — that seemed more possible.
The first moment I stepped on stage — I was 6, in kindergarten, playing a chimney sweep named “Shingles” in some sort of insane Christmas play — I was hooked. I don’t think I’ve ever looked back.
Was there a specific LGBTQ person, character, series, film or moment that played a formative role in your queer upbringing?
I’m not sure there was one, at least in the TV/Film space. I grew up in the 90s — and while there was certainly the very beginnings of queer representation on TV, it was still sparse and filled with stereotypes that didn’t really match my existence or who I felt like I was or am. That’s not to take away from some of those amazing characters and performances. Without them we wouldn’t be where we are. There were so few openly queer actors that I was exposed too so it was hard to, being a small town kid from East Tennessee, identify with someone.
I will say that watching the original Queer as Folk when I was in high school opened up my eyes to the broader community — or at least what it represented at the time. Also, there was a period where I desperately wanted to be a journalist and seeing Anderson Cooper’s rise — who I thought was so cool when he hosted The Mole — was really inspirational.
How familiar were you with the The Wheel of Time franchise before signing on to play Maksim?
I had heard of the books but they always seemed a bit daunting. I tend to not start something I don’t think I can finish and 14 books with thousands of pages and named characters felt overwhelming. When you get an audition you normally only have — if you are lucky — a few days to prep, so for sure not enough time to read all that much. You try to get the broadest strokes of the world down, just so you understand it, but there’s not much else you can do. I’ve been trying to catch up ever since. It’s a monster, it’s deep. The lore is fantastic and the worlds that Robert Jordan has created are stunning and diverse.
Could I use a few less braid tugs and descriptions of skirts? For sure.
In the series, your character falls in love with Alanna and Ihvon. By “real world” standards, Maksim is in a polyamorous relationship. When you first read this, what was your reaction?
I thought it was really interesting, from an actor’s perspective. Obviously we’ve seen a rise in nontraditional relationships depicted on TV in the last decade or so — but to have something like this in a fantasy world felt really fresh and unique — especially as someone who identifies as more bisexual on the LGBTQ spectrum. Bi erasure is a thing in film and TV, with more bi characters having little more than a very occasional fling with a member of the same sex — you never really delve into what it is in any sort of meaningful way.
It’s such a cool challenge as an actor because I have to define my love for two people, romantically, and also figure out how our relationship works as a threesome. Does one care for one partner more than the other? Is it all truly equal? Are there alliances that form between them to solve difficulties and problems? Do those shift? With Maksim, he’s the newest one to join the relationship- he’s coming into something that was already established so how does he fit? How does gender play a role? The list of questions to explore just gets longer and longer — which is fantastic for an actor.
What else can we expect from Maksim this season?
Maksim gets to kick some ass! The season opens with a bang for him and it doesn’t really let up. It’s a journey and half and he grows up a great deal during it. He has to overcome his world shifting violently and I think he comes out a very changed person on the other side. Up until now, he’s someone that has always defined himself by — and maybe even hidden himself in relationships, humor, and charm. I think it will be interesting to see what happens when he’s forced to confront and figure out who he is and what he wants when that’s stripped away.
You’ll see Maksim use every weapon imaginable this season — from spear to broadsword and bow and arrow. Tons of actions. Which was pretty challenging for me, but pretty fucking cool for him to look like a badass.
Why do you think fantasy and sci-fi is an ideal genre to tell LGBTQ stories?
I think it allows us to approach a ton of these stories without the baggage of our own world. One of the challenges of playing a queer character on a show like this is checking your own perception of what it means to be queer, because many times it doesn’t mean the same thing to these characters. There’s something so liberating in getting to play a queer character that probably doesn’t have some sort of moment in their history where they were made to feel inferior or shameful because of their sexuality. It makes it hard to return to our world, to be honest.
I also think fantasy is great because it allows us to tell those stories, without telling that exact story. You don’t have to do the cliche coming out episode- but you can show what it means or how that feels in a different way that may actually be more impactful for those who need it to be.
What does it mean for you to be in a series like The Wheel of Time when LGBTQ representation is under attack?
Honestly, it’s been a really interesting ride to watch the tides change. When I started on Wheel — the push, it seemed in the industry — was for tons of diversity in all ways. Clearly that has changed since we started. You can see it in the way films and tv shows are marketed today. Which actors networks and studios are putting on their posters and the way they are selling these projects to audiences. Even down to the types of stories they are greenlighting. Quite frankly, the drive towards inclusion and subsequent pull back from it only displays corporate hypocrisy and greed at the highest level. They just want to display whatever morals will sell.
The joy of being on The Wheel of Time is that we aren’t doing that. We’ve been an incredibly inclusive, diverse show since the beginning- with something like 1/3 of our series regular characters falling in the LGBTQ community. We have faces from all over the world because we are trying to create an epic show that is global in scale and if we are lucky enough to continue, I have full faith that won’t change. We will stick to what we believe in- even if it’s under attack. We will always tell those stories. I will give Amazon Prime and Sony Television credit for that. It seems to be the story they want to tell with this series as well.
How do you think LGBTQ actors and performers in film and TV, like yourself, navigate an industry going through growing pains? In other words, how have you stayed sane since 2020?
I’ve been lucky enough to work on The Wheel of Time, to be honest. We shoot for almost 8-ish months every season, but that’s often been extended through COVID and the strikes. It’s not been easy — sometimes you find yourself working on a project in lockdown (at least during the first part of the decade) away from family and friends and in isolation. It is certainly not ideal but I am very happy to have been a part of a few wonderful projects during the last five years to keep busy.
With how the industry is headed — it feels very easy to shut down, especially in LA — where so much of the lifeblood of the city rests within entertainment, so I think it’s important to remember why you do this as an art; which for me is to tell stories.
I love to travel and to write. Both keep me open to the world in different ways and they also fill me up artistically. Acting is a difficult art form because you need an audience- otherwise you perform monologues to yourself in a mirror. And typically you need some funding to mount the project- the nice thing about writing is I just need my computer (or even just a pen and notebook) and my brain.
Also… when I write I get to play all the characters and I’m super greedy so that makes me very happy!
What is the project or genre you would want to tackle next?
I’ve always wanted to play a spy or maybe a vampire. Maybe a vampire spy. There’s something about spy dramas that are always cool- always. Throw in a vampire? Now it’s really fucking cool.
The first three episodes of The Wheel of Time season three premiere on March 13 with the remaining five episodes premiering weekly after through April 18.