As Maksim, the fierce, dependable and multifaceted Warder with succulent golden locks (which feels vital to mention) on The Wheel of Time, Taylor Napier is bringing much-needed polyamory and bisexual male visibility to the high fantasy genre.
In Prime Video’s beloved blockbuster series, the buff warrior is in a committed relationship with Alanna (Priyanka Bose), an Aes Sedai of the Green Ajah, and Ihvon (Emmanuel Imani/Anthony Kaye), a fellow Warder, a romance that has been lauded for its refreshing and normalised portrayal of non-traditional love.
“The thing that really makes it stand out for me, especially in a fantasy world like The Wheel of Time, is that we’re treated just the same,” Taylor tells GAY TIMES. “What we’ve done here is pretty cool: we’ve incorporated queer and polyamorous characters without making it a big deal. It’s just who they are, and I think that’s wonderful in a fantasy space.”
On 13 March, Prime Video released the first three episodes of The Wheel of Time’s highly-anticipated third season, which Taylor describes as “messier and darker” with a “pretty big journey of growth for Maksim”.
In this interview, we speak with Taylor about all of the above, from the trailblazing depiction of his character’s queerness to why the fantasy genre should be more inclusive of LGBTQIA+ stories. He also talks Chappell Roan, the sci-fi icon that would be an “incredible” fit on The Wheel of Time and the three f’s: “feasting, f**king and fighting.” So important.
Taylor, I saw you were at Elton John’s Oscars party?
I was. Yeah, it was an amazing concert. Elton John and Chappell Roan doing ‘Pink Pony Club’ together as a duet was pretty awesome, I’ve got to be honest. It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. So, it was a fun party for sure. [I] definitely had a little bit of a recovery day yesterday!
That was queer history right there.
It felt like I was witnessing something that was epic and should be in the history books at some point.
Alright then, while we’re here, which of Chappell’s songs makes you lose your absolute shit?
I mean, ‘Pink Pony Club’ is pretty good. What’s the other one that I really like? I like ‘California’ a lot. I’m from Tennessee originally, so all of the references to Tennessee, moving to LA to be an actor, and being queer, it all resonates with me fairly deep inside, so I like all of them.
Congratulations on the release of The Wheel of Time. This might just be me, but I feel like season three is always a great season for any show.
It’s because everything starts to click together. The first season, everyone’s just figuring things out. You know your characters and you’ve got the role, but you’re still figuring out how the world works. By the time you’re in season three, especially for this show because we’ve been filming for five years at this point, you sort of know everyone. It feels like a family, and it’s incredibly easy. That comes across with the writing, acting, cinematography, everything feels like it’s firing on all cylinders this year.
What does life usually look like for you ahead of the release of a season? Besides dancing to Chappell Roan?
Except for all of that! For me at least, because I play this character that’s a warder who’s essentially a knight or bodyguard, there’s a lot of training and going to the gym. There’s a lot of eating only grilled chicken and rice and being super disciplined, as well as training in sword fighting and stunts. So, there’s a lot of prep there, and that takes up a lot of your day. The other stuff for me is just rewatching the show and remembering the accent I use! We have such a long gap, sometimes, between filming [that I can’t really remember my accent].
With all of this training, are you ready for battle? If the apocalypse comes, should I get behind you?
You should. Yeah, one hundred per cent. Well, I’m ready for battle in a sense. The thing about The Wheel of Time for my character is, I’m in great shape – if I do say so myself – and do all the sword fighting, but in the show it’s all pretty useless if I’m honest. I shouldn’t say that, but [it’s] because I’m trying to protect this fabulous woman who can shoot fire out of her hands. So, I’m not sure how effective I am in protecting her, but it’s nice to have a companion once in a while when you’re traveling!
You say that, but in all of the fantasy and sci-fi shows and films I watch, I’m always drawn to the characters who keep up with the superpowered beings with just hand-to-hand combat. For example, Black Widow is my favourite Avenger.
In a world where so many people can do magic, have powers and all these crazy things, seeing someone who’s normal and able to kick ass is refreshing. They just have to get by as a human. That’s one of the things that is interesting about playing the character. Ultimately, how do you deal with being powerless in a world filled by all these people who are super powerful and have extra special abilities? You can swing the sword around pretty well! You have to use other skills to navigate those combat situations.
Fine, if there’s a zombie apocalypse I’ll come to you.
Come to me! Then we’ll find someone who can do magic, and then I’ll be behind them and you can be behind me.
Alright, let’s get into The Wheel of Time season three. What can you tease about Maksim and the journey he goes on this season? Spoiler free, of course, because the fans will hire an assassin and kill us, probably.
Yeah, we’ll be dead! It gets messier and darker for and, ultimately, Maksim goes on a pretty big journey of growth. He goes from this boy who fell into the world because he was following and chasing someone he loved, then he has to figure out how to accept his place and responsibilities in that world, and own it by the end of the season. We will see if he gets there or not.
We must discuss the fact that Maksim is one of The Wheel of Time’s polyamorous icons…
“Polyamorous icon”, I like that.
And a bi-con, too. So, what can you tell me about how his relationship with Alanna and Ihvon develops over the course of season three?
I can talk a little bit about how the relationship kind of came together. We hint at it in the first and second seasons, but essentially, Ihvon is the linchpin of this whole trio in the polyamorous relationship. Ihvon was Alanna’s warder first. They fell in love, and then I come in, doing something somewhere on the streets of Tar Valon, and we fall in love. He then brings me in as her second warder.
By the time we reach season three, our relationship is really solid. I actually think it’s one of the most solid on the show. It’s interesting to see this non-traditional relationship, especially on a fantasy show, portrayed as something that actually works. And it works because we all communicate with each other so effectively, and we balance each other out. Ihvon, as a character, is grounded, steadfast and even-keeled, whereas Alanna and I are a bit more fiery. We’re emotional at times, we explode, and then we cool down. But we also drive Ihvon forward, and we act as the fuel that moves things along. That balance is critical and really important, and I think it works really well.
Now, what’s beginning to happen at the end of season two is that the world is starting to get a little darker. The characters are realising that this sort of utopia they’ve created—where they just feast, fight, and have fun—is maybe crumbling a little bit around them. It’s not necessarily because of anything they’ve done, but they’re going to have to deal with it. As they head into season three, they’ll be tested a bit, and things are going to get rocky. How will that relationship hold up? Will it continue to be harmonious, or will cracks start to form? We’ll see.
“Feast, fuck and fight.”
The three f’s! They’re the most important things.
When you signed on for The Wheel of Time, were you aware of how groundbreaking and subversive this relationship would be? It’s extremely rare to witness polyamory in any show, let alone one set in a high fantasy world.
When I came on board, I was excited to do this because I haven’t seen this type of relationship in fantasy before. I mean, this was 2019 when I joined the show, so it had been a while. There had been some little hints at it in other places, but nothing quite as explicit and intentional as what we’re doing here. The thing that really makes it stand out for me, especially in a fantasy world like The Wheel of Time, is that we’re treated just the same. It’s not just with our characters, but with other queer characters on the show as well.
What’s interesting is that there’s no baggage placed on these non-traditional lifestyle relationships. In Wheel of Time, there’s no societal pressure to be anything or any judgment on sexual preference or relationships. As an actor coming into this world, it’s fascinating because we’re not carrying the same societal expectations that we experience in our world. There’s no prism of ‘this is what society tells us we should or shouldn’t be’ to look through. The characters don’t have that, so they don’t see the world in that way.
Ultimately, I think this is groundbreaking for fantasy. High fantasy, in particular, has a poor track record with queer characters—especially queer men. They’re often disregarded or portrayed in extreme ways, sometimes with their entire families being murdered because of their sexuality. What we’ve done here is pretty cool: we’ve incorporated queer and polyamorous characters without making it a big deal. It’s just who they are, and I think that’s wonderful in a fantasy space.
Like you said, there’s an erasure of homophobia in this world, which makes sense because all the characters are too busy feasting, fucking and fighting.
There’s too much feasting, fucking and fighting to be concerned about homophobia!
Even in season one when they’re thruple status is revealed, there’s shock, but it’s not in the context of homophobia…
You’re seeing it through the eyes of Nynaeve, who’s from a very small, almost puritanical town. It’s not the shock that they’re gay or that two men are in a relationship, it’s the shock that they’re so open about sex. [Nynaeve] is almost portrayed as the one who’s out of touch with what’s happening, and not aware.
It’s baffling that we don’t see more queerness in high fantasy, because in that world, heteronormativity shouldn’t make sense.
There are some things that are obviously based on history, and so I don’t have a problem with using it as a plot device, but it feels like there’s either queer erasure or it’s all negative. Or, like I said earlier, people are murdered, killed, whatever, because of it. And so, I think it’s nice to see so many queer characters in high fantasy in this show. At least from my experience with the fandom, there are a lot of queer people who love these books and love these stories, and they relate to them in so many ways. And so, I’m happy that we get to kind of represent that.
I’ve been to Comic-Con a few times in my life and, without generalising, there are a lot of people in those spaces that are queer.
It feels like something queer fans relate to. Queer people relate to what’s in these novels, in these books and [it brings them] joy. And so, it feels weird that [queerness] is not reflected as much, but hopefully we’re changing that a little bit.
Outside of The Wheel of Time, are you a sci-fi and fantasy fan?
I’m a fan of the genre. I’ll be honest, I haven’t read all of the Wheel of Time books just yet! I always try to read up to where we’re shooting. I want to be kind of in the world the character is in, so I’m like four or five [books] in. I’ve read the Game of Thrones books, or the Song of Fire and Ice books, I should say. I’ve done some of the Mistborn series. I’m often hesitant to start a series because of how look these books [typically] are, so I feel like I have to be on vacation where I have time to read because I like to finish things. So, I don’t want to get three fourth’s of the way through and then toss it, spending that much time on something if I don’t like it.
This is the fantasy and sci-fi geek in me: if you had to bring one iconic character from the genre into The Wheel of Time, who would it be?
I think Sigourney Weaver, Ripley from the original Alien films. She would be an incredible Aes Sadai. Probably is already, if she existed in that world!
Sci-fi and fantasy fans are extremely passionate, and you’re representing two rather marginalised communities in mainstream media with a bisexual male character and polyamorous romance. What has the response been like from viewers?
I would say overwhelmingly positive, except for a few cases of it being overwhelmingly negative. I think it’s been like 90% positive. A lot of the fans have been really lovely, wonderful and kind. I think any time you go into a sci-fi or fantasy space, you do find a segment of fans who are lovely, but they are very close-minded about the type of characters that should be represented in fantasy. So, there has been a little hate in that regard, but 90% of people have been absolutely warm and enthusiastic about these characters and the expanded role they have, and the expanded polyamory, for lack of a better way of putting it.
How do you combat the negative? Do you and try and block it out?
Yeah, you just block it out. It’s one of those things where, if you give any fuel to that fire, you only make it worse. It’s hard not to look at it, and hard sometimes not to internalise it as it is not to internalise any criticism you get, but ultimately it’s not about you. It’s about the way they view the world and what they think is right and wrong and should be portrayed on their show; what they think is their show. The best way is to say nothing. Move on with your life.
I understand you’re also passionate about writing, having written the screenplay and starred in your own short film Atacama…
Yeah, it’s a short film I did in the Chilean desert. It’s a bit of a thriller. I wrote it and produced with my friend, who’s also starring in it, Clara Larrain, who is a wonderful Chilean actress but lives in Spain now. It’s a cool little piece, weird and sci-fi-y and out there. It’s very different from The Wheel of Time. There are no women who can do magic other than the normal, everyday kind! It’s a fun 15 minutes, and we were successful in some film festivals in Latin America. We went to Sanfic, which is the biggest film festival in Chile. I love writing, I love getting to create a world. Selfishly, as an actor, it allowed me to play every character while I’m putting it on the page, and getting into all of their heads.
Can we expect more writing from you?
I hope so! I’ve got a lot of things that I’ve written, a lot of things that are out there that we’re trying to get made and funding for. So, hopefully in a bit you’ll see something coming out!
Thank you so much for chatting with me, Taylor. I can’t wait to watch the rest of season three.
It’s good. I’m not actually bullshitting! It’s a great season. It only gets better.
More feasting, fucking and fighting?
Feasting, fucking, fighting. The three things that are the most important for all of us.
The first three episodes of The Wheel of Time season 3 are now streaming worldwide on Prime Video.
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