Casting Files

The answer for the blog hop this week is “If your favorite book hasn’t been made into a movie yet, who would you cast as the characters?”

There are a number of books I would love to see as a movie or series. One of them, The Last Herald Mage trilogy from Mercedes Lackey, was optioned for a series in August of this year. Executive producing will be Ted Fields (The Wheel of Time), with Kit Williamson (Netflix’s Eastsiders) and Brittany Cavallaro (author of the Charlotte Homes series) writing. The pair reportedly bonded over the books in school.

Since the news of the deal is less than two months old, no casting has been announced. Whoever is cast, Michael Praed won’t play Vaneyl Ashkevron, our title character. The author admitted her visual for the character was inspired by Praed in Robin of Sherwood. But that was 1989. We’re all a bit older now. Do I hope Praed might appear in the series? Yes, but as an older character, perhaps Herald-Mage Jaysen Kondre.

I would love Lena Headey as Savil, Vanyel’s no-nonsense mentor and aunt. The character does not suffer fools gladly, and Headey would carry that off to perfection. Perhaps with a bit less alcohol consumption than Cersei Lannister.

Then there are the Companions, horse-like beings with psychic and mystical powers who play a pivotal role throughout the 35+ books in the series. They’ll be “played” by actual horses augmented with some CGI, I imagine. But the Companions also speak to the Heralds they are bonded with, so voice talents will be required.

Yfandes, Vanyel’s Companion, has a female persona, I think Adjoa Andoh’s voice talents might be right. Loving, fierce, willing to tell her herald when he’s being a fool, and determined to be at his side until the end. Think Tony Stark and Jarvis, and how much their interaction added to Iron Man.

But as much as I could spend hours casting the roles, I’m hoping the producers will find talents I’m not familiar with, or don’t remember them from a small part in something I watched. Going into Thor in 2011, I thought, “Hemsworth, who? Hiddleston, who?”

I’ve never been lucky getting my casting choices. The two actors I wanted as the Doctor in Doctor Who turned down the role. I cast my books in my head, because no need to deal with pesky little things such as contract negotiations and the actor not being the right age any longer (or possibly not with us). Casting for movies and television? I’ll leave that to the producers because they need to play out their vision.

That’s it for me. Next up is Leslie Hachtel and her thoughts on the casting process. Be sure to check out her new release, Murder Most Notorious, available on all major sites. “A beautiful homicide detective and a sexy cold case guy have to team up to find a vicious axe-wielding killer. Brutal murders have shocked the city and all the evidence points to a twin sister once thought dead.” Oh, there’s some interesting cast possibilities.

Until next time, stay safe, stay healthy, and happy reading.