The local star of Prime Video’s fantasy epic takes us through her life in television, including the trauma of 2000s drink driving ads and the Tribe spinoff that time forgot.
Local actor Zoë Robins is one of the many, many New Zealanders who have infiltrated huge budget behemoth television shows of late. Playing Nynaeve al’Meara in The Wheel of Time, Prime Video’s fantasy series based on the Robert Jordan books of the same name, her character is a fierce healer and “channeller” who joins a group of magical women called the Aes Sedai. She’s also, just casually, been brought back from the brink of death before.
“Nynaeve really needs a break,” laughs Robins. “But sadly I think the trauma continues for all characters on the Wheel of Time. She has to keep going through that journey of self acceptance, coming to grips with who she is and the gifts that she has.”
It’s a feeling that Robins herself can relate to as she grapples with being a part of such an enormous production (the first two seasons reportedly cost $260 million). “It’s this total juggling act of the two very different lives that I lead on the opposite sides of the world.” For 10 months of the year she films the series in Prague, before returning to New Zealand where “nobody cares that much about who people are, which is so refreshing.”
Robins says she is also grateful for the chance to escape reality into such a fantastical world. “I’m a fantasy noob, but it’s a nice form of escapism and the world is so incredibly exciting and rich and vast,” she says. “That’s what’s really nice about working on a fantasy show – the possibilities are limitless. I’ve just been able to learn so many new skills and have these crazy experiences that I probably wouldn’t have had if I wasn’t working on a fantasy genre show.”
With the third season of Wheel of Time out now on Prime Video, Robins took is through her own life in television, including the trauma of 2000s drink driving ads, and the spinoff series of The Tribe that time forgot.
My earliest TV memory is… The furthest back I can remember is the ad with the little girl wrapping up scorched almonds individually to give as Christmas gifts. I completely took that idea and decided to do the same thing for my family members on Christmas. I’m sure they were very polite about it.
My earliest TV crush was… Jonathan Taylor Thomas from Home Improvement. He had this smirk and this real sort of knowing about him. I liked to keep my crushes pretty secret and to myself. I had another big one on Jacob Smith from the movie Cheaper by the Dozen. In wood technology at intermediate, I made a wooden pencil case and then etched his name under the lid of it. I was so embarrassed when my friends found it.
The NZ TV ad I can’t stop thinking about is… It’s an ad against drink driving, and there’s a big car crash. This guy wakes up to his friend lying dead on him, and he’s screaming, “get the hell off me”. It was a lot, and I have very visceral memories of it. I feel like they could not have played it before 9pm.
My first time on television was… I played Faygar on a television show called The New Tomorrow, which was a spinoff of The Tribe about kids under 12. My character was a very devoted fan of a character called Zoot that was in the previous Tribe season. She was kind of a religious fanatic, constantly praying to the gods. That was my bizarre full time job for about six months. I missed a tonne of school, but it was great times.
My TV guilty pleasure is… When I’m in the midst of filming and things are a little bit heavy, I will watch Love is Blind or Selling Sunset. It’s complete escapism, and I’m just in awe of the people that that go on Love is Blind. I think it’s really endearing to want love that badly and I feel, for the most part, that a lot of people are really sincere in their quest for it. There are some really lovely moments in those shows.
A TV moment that haunts me is… The Lost finale. Lost was a big part of my life in my teenage years and I watched it religiously with my mum. It was one of those shows where I feel like they set up so much mystery and intrigue and everyone kept watching because we were so keen to see how it was all going to pay off in the end. I just remember it wrapping up and being like… OK… so? What’s with all the polar bears in the forest, you know?
My favourite TV character of all time is… Tony Hales as Gary Walsh in Veep. He’s like a human lap dog, and he’s so brilliant. That entire cast is actually, I feel like that’s a really underrated show. It’s so funny.
My favourite TV project I’ve been involved in is… The Wheel of Time. I feel like I’ve learned so much about myself and about myself as an actor as well, and I can only hope I’m getting better as I go. I’ve been able to watch some incredible titans of the industry, like Rosamund Pike and Sophia Okenodo, and how they conduct themselves on set and how they interact with people. Their care for the craft has been really inspiring.
A TV project I wish I could work on is… I think I would like to play Jeremy Allen White’s character in The Bear. I’m in complete admiration on what he does on the show. I wouldn’t even need to be his character, actually, I’d be anything. I’d be a fly on the wall.
My controversial TV opinion is… I think there’s too much of it. I think we’re getting to a place of over-consumption, and it makes way for things to be more content-focused, as opposed to making good art.
A show that I will never watch is… Game of Thrones – I think I’ve seen one episode, and that was for research purposes. I feel like I’m now just like so late to the game that I just can’t see myself starting it. And also there’s a part of me that likes to be a little bit of a contrarian.
The last thing I watched on TV was… The Court of Gold basketball documentary on Netflix. It’s about the journey to the Olympics for the basketball teams last last year. It’s a show that I’m watching with my son, who’s a basketball fanatic. I’d recommend it – good TV.
