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Anna Wetherell

Played by Eve Hewson

Who is Anna Wetherell?
Anna Wetherell is a mysterious character who you meet as she arrives in New Zealand during the gold rush. You don’t really know anything about her, and you never really find out her history or why she chose to travel to New Zealand or what she’s possibly running from. She meets Emery, gets off the ship and then all hell breaks loose.

Anna (is) the only person who doesn鈥檛 really want anything to do with the gold

How do Anna and Emery meet?
Anna meets Emery on her first day in New Zealand, which happens to be her birthday. She doesn’t tell Emery it’s her birthday, but he tells her that it’s his. They have this beautiful, divine and deep connection. It’s like love at first sight, on crack. That scene really drives the entire story. Anna and Emery have this immediate interest in each other, but then the minute Anna steps off the boat, Lydia Wells (Eva Green’s character) comes in and tears them apart. The rest of the story is about them trying to find each other and rekindle their relationship. Anna and Emery are pulled towards each other for reasons they can’t really explain but eventually understand the bigger picture and why they feel so connected with each other.

Gold plays a huge role within this story...
Every character is driven and motivated by gold in some way. In The Luminaries, gold really highlights human greed and the lengths they’re prepared to go to get what they want, whether it’s fame or wealth or love or freedom. Gold represents different things to different characters. What’s interesting about Anna is that she’s the only person who doesn’t really want anything to do with the gold.

So Anna didn’t travel to New Zealand for gold?
Emery Staines travelled to New Zealand to dig for gold. Anna says that she did, but I don’t believe that. I think there are other reasons why she wanted to start a new life in New Zealand on her own and why she took that journey. It’s a big deal to want to get so far away from the place that you came from. I think that she was running from something. To me, Anna represents the consequence of when greed comes into play and people take something that they don’t own.

Eve Hewson on playing Anna Wetherell

Eve Hewson describes her mysterious character who travels alone to New Zealand.