Storytellers On Tour: Rising Shadows by Phillip Blackwater – Encore

It took me a while to find who I would want to play Wariel if my book was ever turned into a movie. But when I saw Tom Welling in Lucifer, I stopped having doubts. Like a lot of people my age, I saw Tom Welling as Clark Kent in Smallville a while ago, and seeing him again, years later and more mature, made it clear to me. Wariel is a veteran soldier, a hardened general. I thought Tom Welling, with a bit of gray in his beard and hair, was a perfect fit. Plus, Tom still looks beef as hell! Perfect for my soldier. Seeing the Superman of my childhood in Wariel’s golden armor, and be the face of my fantasy series, would be a dream come true. 

Runner-up: Henry Cavill 

I saw Marie Avgeropoulos in The 100 and really liked her. What made it easy to cast her as Ilisa, is that I think of my Elves as Roman or Greeks. I took inspiration for the main city of my Elves from them, with their white buildings, columns, and statues. With her Greek heritage, this was a no brainer to me. She has the exact look I imagine when I think of Ilisa. 

Runner-up: Alexandra Daddario 

This choice might surprise some people, even more if you’re like me and know Terry Crews mostly as a funny guy from Brooklyn 99, but I just think he looks exactly like I picture Medregal looking like. Medregal has gone through a lot, has lived long, has been a king, and ruled his people. I didn’t want a young actor to portray Medregal, I wanted someone experienced. And seeing Terry outside of his comical sergeant Jeffords would be quite interesting, don’t you think? 

Runner-up: Idris Elba 

I haven’t seen a lot of Nikola, aside from The Last Airbender and the Transformers movies, but I liked her. What really struck me about her is her piercing green eyes, which is exactly how I imagine Dana looking like (especially with the pale hair on this picture). She’s quite younger than Tom Welling though (eighteen years to be precise), but Wariel is a bit older than Dana too, around five years. Since Wariel is a hardened soldier, and Dana has been pampered in a castle, I think it wouldn’t look out of place for the two actors to have such an age difference. 

The choice to cast Alex Wolff as Warold Trebor was easy when I saw this picture. Seeing Alex’s hair like that made me think that’s probably what Warold would look like if he didn’t grease them up and kept placing them all the time. So far, I think I’ve only seen Alex in his limited role in the new Jumanji movies, but, like all the actors I’ve chosen so far, I liked what I saw of him. 

 I think Zendaya would fit the bill perfectly for Saharen. She has the look in her eyes that she’s going to take shit from nobody, just like my Saharen. Plus, I’d like to see Zendaya kick some ass instead of only being Spiderman’s girlfriend. I’m eager to see her in the new Dune movie! 

Runner-up: Logan Browning 

I think I only saw Alan Van Sprang perform in Shadowhunters, and when I saw this picture, with the look in his eyes, it made me think of Timili Ilita immediately. My Elven king is the kind of man to impose authority, and I just thought that his gaze in this picture was very fitting. I just wonder what Alan would like with white hair and a white braid. Not sure about that part… 

I really liked Avi in The Walking Dead as Siddiq. Even though his character was one of the good guys in the tv show, I’d like to see him play the deranged and maniacal Heddrien. 

The last character I found someone for is Lidia. I didn’t really see Jaime perform, aside from Sif in the Thor movies (I should probably give Blindspot a try). This picture though represents what I think Lidia exactly looks like: the short dark hair and the intense gaze with pale eyes. The only thing not fitting in the picture is the jewelry (since Lidia hates it), but that can be arranged easily.