The Fourth Wing TV Show's Perfect Dain Actor Has Already Aged Out Of The Role

There’s a great deal of speculation surrounding the Fourth Wing TV series in development at Amazon Prime Video. With the talk of a new fantasy adaptation coming to the small screen, the conversation of perfect casting choices always follows, and Fourth Wing is no exception. Fourth Wing has amazingly well-written characters, each with their internal struggles and depth. One character in particular stands out as a difficult role to cast due to the duality of being protective and antagonistic – Dain Aetos.

Dain is the childhood friend of the novel’s protagonist, Violet Sorrengail, and plays a prominent role in both the Fourth Wing and Iron Flame books, and is expected to be a major character in Onyx Storm. The star of the Divergent trilogy, Theo James, has been flagged as a great option to play the overprotective stickler for the rules Dain, but his age may get in the way of the casting. Fourth Wing is set in Basgiath War College, a place for younger people to learn the art of dragon-riding. Theo James might be a little too old for the role in the Fourth Wing TV show.

Theo James Would Have Been The Perfect Dain Actor For Amazon’s Fourth Wing TV Show

Both Dain Aetos and Theo James Carry Themselves With Strength

15 years ago, Theo James would have been ideal for the role of Dain in Amazon’s Fourth Wing. Dain’s physical description in the novel invokes the appearance of Theo James, especially in some of his earlier roles. He is relatively tall, standing at around 183cms and carries himself with a stoic but compassionate presence. Appearance is not everything to a character’s role, but how the character is perceived can make or break the part. Theo James could easily perform as a character with some redeeming qualities, though with an initial conflict with the hero, Violet.

Unfortunately, Theo James is much older than Dain. In Fourth Wing, Dain is 21, whilst Theo James is 35. It would not be the first time fantasy fiction adaptations have changed characters’ ages to make a novel work better with an actor or on screen. Games of Thrones famously upped the age of numerous characters, such as Brienne of Tarth being 17 in the books and 32 in the show. Considering Dain is a second-year at Basgiath War College, increasing the character’s age too dramatically to fit Theo James’ age would be far too jarring.

Divergent Already Proved Theo James Can Handle A Book Character Like Dain

Theo James’ Performance As Four Shows Is Charm And Also Depth

The covers of Fourth Wing, Onyx Storm, and Iron Flame in front of a fiery background — Custom Image by Yeider Chacon

Even with the question of age being a reasonable consideration for the role, Theo James’ role as Four in Divergent showed his range as a complicated character. There are certainly some stark differences between Dain and Four. Dain is much more manipulative in protecting Violet when he considers her incapable of taking on risks, whilst Four allows Tris Prior to embrace the dangers to become stronger. They both care for their female companions but approach their relationships much differently. This is likely due to the childhood relationship Dain and Violet shared, whilst Four and Tris meet in Dauntless.

Dain’s focus on order and authority ultimately clashes with Violet’s more chaotic personality and doing what is right.

Dain’s focus on order and authority ultimately clashes with Violet’s more chaotic personality and doing what is right. This relationship is reflected in Four and Tris to some degree, showing how Theo James can bounce off a co-star with differing personalities. A major difference is that Dain’s relationship with Violet in Fourth Wing remains unsteady by the end, without them coming to a resolution, unlike the relatively secure relationship between Four and Tris. It would not be until Iron Flame that things improved.

Amazon’s Fourth Wing Show Must Strike A Delicate Balance With Dain

Dain Is A Mixture Of Antagonist, Love Interest, And Support

Dain’s role in the first novel is not exactly the expected male love interest for the hero. While he may play toward that role as the story progresses in the second novel, his position in Fourth Wing is far more antagonistic to Violet’s agenda. His zealous behavior in his arrogant perception of what is right directly clashes with Violet’s arc and, as such, is an obstacle to her journey. His stubborn decisions make him somewhat unlikable, even if readers can decipher that his motives are not evil, just misguided.

Due to Dain’s behavior in Fourth Wing, Amazon will need to carefully cast and write a character who is an antagonistic force to Violet’s story but also has the likability to find some sort of redemption readers hope for in the third installment, Onyx Storm. Theo James would be perfect for the role of Dain to aggravate the audiences enough but still have the charm to pull viewers back to his side in the future, just like Nikolaj Coster-Waldau did for Jaime Lannister in Game of Thrones if he was just 10 years younger.