Willem Nijholt had set his mind on playing the part of Theo ever since reading the original novel by Louis Couperus. However, by the time this series went into production, producer/director Walter van der Kamp felt the 40 year old Nijholt was too old play the 21 year old character, despite his youthful looks. Nijholt then offered to help him with screen testing other actors & actresses and during this process convinced Van der Kamp that he was the only choice for Theo after all.