The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power
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The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is an upcoming American fantasy television series based on the novel The Lord of the Rings and its appendices by J. R. R. Tolkien. Developed by showrunners J. D. Payne and Patrick McKay for the streaming service Prime Video, the series is set thousands of years before Tolkien's The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings in the Second Age of Middle-earth. It is produced by Amazon Studios with the Tolkien Estate and Trust, HarperCollins, and New Line Cinema.
Amazon bought the television rights for The Lord of the Rings for US$250 million in November 2017, making a five-season production commitment worth at least US$1 billion. This would make it the most expensive television series ever made. Payne and McKay were hired in July 2018, with the rest of the creative team publicly revealed a year later. The series is primarily based on the appendices of The Lord of the Rings, which include discussion of the Second Age, and it features a large cast from around the world. For legal reasons it is not a direct continuation of the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit film trilogies, but the production intended to evoke the films with similar production design and younger versions of characters who appear in them. Filming for the first eight-episode season took place in New Zealand, where the films were produced, from February 2020 to August 2021, with a production break of several months during that time due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The season is scheduled to premiere on Prime Video on September 2, 2022.
In August 2021, Amazon announced that production for future seasons would take place in the United Kingdom. Filming for the second season is expected to begin by mid-2022.
Premise
Set thousands of years before the events of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, the series is based on author J. R. R. Tolkien's history of Middle-earth. It begins during a time of relative peace and covers all the major events of Middle-earth's Second Age: the forging of the Rings of Power, the rise of the Dark Lord Sauron, the fall of the island kingdom of Númenor, and the last alliance between Elves and Men.[1] These events take place over thousands of years in Tolkien's original stories but are condensed for the series.[2]
Cast and characters
- Cynthia Addai-Robinson as Míriel: a human and queen regent of Númenor.[3]
- Robert Aramayo as Elrond: a half-Elven architect and politician.[2] He goes from being optimistic and eager to world-weary and closed-off throughout the series.[4]
- Owain Arthur as Durin IV: prince of the Dwarven city of Khazad-dûm[2]
- Maxim Baldry as Isildur: a human sailor and Elendil's son who will eventually become a warrior and king.[2][3] The writers wanted to explore Isildur's story more than the source material so the audience would feel that it ends in tragedy rather than foolishness. Co-showrunner Patrick McKay compared the character to Al Pacino's Michael Corleone from The Godfather (1972).[4]
- Nazanin Boniadi as Bronwyn: a human mother and healer who owns an apothecary in the Southlands[2]
- Morfydd Clark as Galadriel: an Elven warrior who believes evil is returning to Middle-earth.[2] Tolkien had described Galadriel in her youth as being a strong fighter of "Amazon disposition" and the series shows her journey from that point to becoming the "elder stateswoman" that the character is more commonly known as.[4]
- Ismael Cruz Córdova as Arondir: a Silvan Elf with a forbidden love for the human healer Bronwyn,[2] similar to Tolkien's love stories about Beren and Lúthien and Aragorn and Arwen[4]
- Charles Edwards as Celebrimbor: the Elven smith who forges the Rings of Power[2]
- Trystan Gravelle as Pharazôn: a human advisor to queen regent Míriel.[3]
- Lenny Henry as Sadoc Burrows: a Harfoot elder[2][5]
- Ema Horvath as Eärien: Elendil's daughter.[3]
- Markella Kavenagh as Elanor "Nori" Brandyfoot: a curious Harfoot[2][6]
- Simon Merrells as Trevyn[7][better source needed]
- Tyroe Muhafidin as Theo: Bronwyn's son[8]
- Sophia Nomvete as Disa: princess of the Dwarven city of Khazad-dûm[2]
- Lloyd Owen as Elendil: a human sailor, father to Isildur and Eärien, and future High King of Arnor and Gondor.[3]
- Megan Richards as Poppy Proudfellow: a curious Harfoot[2][5]
- Dylan Smith as Largo Brandyfoot[9]
- Charlie Vickers as Halbrand: a human running from his past whose destiny is entwined with Galadriel's[2]
- Leon Wadham as Kemen: Pharazôn's son.[3]
- Benjamin Walker as Gil-galad: the High King of the Elves who rules from the realm of Lindon[10]
- Daniel Weyman as the Stranger[6]
- Sara Zwangobani as Marigold Brandyfoot[9]
The following actors have been cast in undisclosed roles:[11][12][13]
- Ian Blackburn
- Beau Cassidy
- Kip Chapman
- Amelie Child-Villiers
- Anthony Crum
- Maxine Cunliffe
- Will Fletcher
- Thusitha Jayasundera
- Joseph Mawle
- Fabian McCallum
- Geoff Morrell
- Peter Mullan
- Augustus Prew
- Peter Tait
- Alex Tarrant
