Los Angeles, CA – Amazon Studios has announced that Orlando Bloom, break-out star of Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy, will appear in the next season of the The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.
Credit: Samir Hussein, Wireimage
Developers J. D. Payne and Patrick McKay confirmed that Bloom will appear in the second half of the season as Oropher – the grandfather of Legolas.
“J. D. was chatting with Orlando at an industry event and Orlando said that he wished he could step back into Middle-earth because he’d had so much fun the first time around,” said Patrick. “We put our heads together and came up with a way to have him play his own grandfather. This actually works well as Orlando is 25 years older than he was when the Fellowship of the Ring was filmed. Therefore, he’ll bring more depth and gravity to Oropher.”
Oropher was a Sindarin elf who led his people north to lands around the Mountains of Mirkwood. His motive was to move out of range of the Dwarves of Khazad-dûm and avoid the threat of Mordor. If the series continues through to the Battle of Dagorlad, we’ll get to see Oropher’s final battle and death.
Patrick wouldn’t give details of Oropher’s story arc but a source told TheOneRing.net that the character will be involved in the Silmaril storyline.
A separate source claims that Elijah Wood has also been approached for a cameo. However, John Rhys-Davies has flat-out refused to be involved in The Rings of Power because he “wouldn’t wear those bloody prosthetics again for all the jewels in Moria. Ishkhaqwi ai durugnul!”.
On April 1, 2023, Twitter is sunsetting Verified blue checkmarks from the previous 15 years. Many actors, writers and production people were verified to prevent spoofing and shenanigans, so fans could be safe and secure knowing they are following the real person and not a fake or bot. Since most are expected not to pay for a bluecheck going forward, here’s a handy list of all (we believe!) the official Twitter accounts of people involved with The Lord of the Rings:
LOTR fans started to embrace twitter as a community platform during The Hobbit years, ultimately helping #VoteBilbo win an MTV Movie Award. Twitter became the default social network for many fans over the years, including the most recent focus on (and disagreements over) The Rings of Power. Billionaire Elon Musk bought the website in 2022 and spent the first 6 months downsizing the company and free features, making blue-check verification pay-to-play instead of on merit. Many celebrities deal with imposters on social media, tricking fans into giving money to fake accounts. It is generally expected that with the removal of “fame” verification, there will be more copycat accounts showing up. As Gandalf would tell us, ‘Be on your guard!’
Hey y’all , I’ll loose the blue tick on Saturday I’m opposed to spending money on social media . I’ll go checkless . Please be careful of Imposters & money soliciting scams . I will never ask you for money on any social media platform . Cheers ✌🏽K
If we missed anyone, let us know in Discord and this post will be updated with the official accounts of our favorite LOTR people.
Update 21/04/2023: It appears that Nazanin Boniadi no longer has a presence on twitter. The best way to find Boniadi’s official online presence is probably via https://nazaninboniadi.com/. Thanks to Mirthfather on our Discord for the heads-up.
Prime Video have announced the final new cast members who will play recurring roles in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season Two.
The three actors are, as with previously announced new cast, acclaimed stalwarts of British television and theatre, with impressive credentials and long pedigrees of excellent work. It is exciting to see Rings of Power welcoming such talent to the fold, and bodes well for the quality of the show to come. (You can read about the rest of the new cast members announced for Season Two here and here.)
Here’s the official press release:
Ciarán Hinds, Rory Kinnear, and Tanya Moodie Join Cast of Prime Video’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power for Season Two
Mar 20, 2023
All three acclaimed actors join the existing cast of the global hit seriesin recurring roles for the forthcoming second season, currently in production in the UK
CULVER CITY, California—March 20, 2023—The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, which has been viewed by more than 100 million people worldwide and has been an unprecedented global success as the top Original series for Prime Video in every region in its first season, has announced that acclaimed actors Ciarán Hinds, Rory Kinnear, and Tanya Moodie have joined the series’ cast in recurring roles for the forthcoming second season, currently in production in the UK.
CIARÁN HINDS
CIARÁN HINDS
Nominated for both an Oscar and a BAFTA Award as Best Supporting Actor for his performance as “Pop” in Kenneth Branagh’s film Belfast, acclaimed actor Ciarán Hinds has had an illustrious career on both stage and screen. He has starred in such films as Steven Spielberg’s Munich, Martin Scorsese’s Silence, There Will be Blood, Road to Perdition, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, In Bruges, The Phantom of the Opera, The Cook, The Thief, His Wife & Her Lover, Persuasion, First Man, Amazing Grace, Zack Snyder’sJustice League, and The Eclipse, a role for which he was awarded Best Actor at the Tribeca Film Festival. He is also known for his voice role as “Grand Pabbie” the Troll King in the animated films Frozen and Frozen II.
Television audiences know Hinds from his roles as “Mance Rayder” in Game of Thrones (HBO) and “Julius Caesar” in Rome (HBO) as well as starring roles in The English (BBC/Prime Video), Ivanhoe (A&E), Above Suspicion (ITV), Political Animals (USA), and Prime Suspect 3 (ITV). He most recently appeared in the comedy-drama series The Dry (BritBox).
Hinds’ wide-ranging theatre credits include Uncle Vanya, Translations, The Girl from the North Country, Hamlet, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Burnt by the Sun, Closer, The Seafarer, and many others. He toured internationally in Peter Brook’s company in The Mahabharata and has played leading roles at the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Royal Court, the Donmar Warehouse, and the National Theatre.
RORY KINNEAR
RORY KINNEAR
Rory Kinnear is an award-winning British actor, perhaps best known for his role as “Bill Tanner” in the James Bond films Quantum of Solace, Skyfall, and Spectre. Kinnear recently starred in Alex Garland’s Men, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival and saw him nominated for a BIFA award. Other recent film credits include Bank of Dave, Mike Leigh’s Peterloo, Broken (for which he won Best Supporting Actor at the BIFAs), and the Academy Award- and BAFTA Award-nominated The Imitation Game. Kinnear’s TV credits include Inside No. 9 (BBC), Penny Dreadful (Sky Atlantic), Southcliffe (Channel 4, for which he was nominated for a BAFTA for Best Supporting Actor), Charlie Brooker’s Black Mirror (Channel 4), and the dramaLucan (ITV) in which he starred in the title role. He can currently be seen in Taika Waititi’s series Our Flag Means Death (HBO Max).
Kinnear is hugely respected for his theatre work, winning Best Actor at the Evening Standard Theatre Awards in 2010 for his performances in Measure for Measure (Almeida Theatre) and Hamlet (National Theatre), and again in 2013 for his performance as “Iago” in Othello (National Theatre), for which he also received an Olivier Award for Best Actor. He previously won an Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance as “Sir Fopling Flutter” in The Man of Mode in 2008, and was nominated twice before for his performances in Hamlet and Burnt by the Sun. Most recently, Kinnear starred in Force Majeure at the Donmar Warehouse. Kinnear is also an award-winning playwright, penning his debut play The Herd in 2013. He made his directorial debut with the English National Opera’s production of The Winter’s Tale in 2017.
TANYA MOODIE
TANYA MOODIE
Tanya Moodie is an acclaimed British actress who won the Royal Television Society’s Breakthrough Award for the role of “Meg” in the BAFTA Award-winning comedy Motherland (BBC). Her numerous television roles include starring as “Hunter” in the miniseries adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere (BBC), as well as roles in Tin Star (Sky Atlantic), A Discovery of Witches (Sky One), The Man Who Fell to Earth (Showtime), and Sherlock (BBC).
Some of Moodie’s recent film roles include J.J. Abrams’ Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker as “General Parnadee” and Sam Mendes’ Empire of Light as “Delia.”
In the theatre, Moodie is a two-time Olivier Award nominee for Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre for her roles in Intimate Apparel and The House That Will Not Stand. She played “Gertrude” in Simon Godwin’s production of Hamlet for the Royal Shakespeare Company. Her performance as “Rose” opposite Lenny Henry in August Wilson’s Fences in the West End earned her a WhatsOnStage Awards nomination for Best Actress. She was nominated for a UK Theatre Award for Best Performance for her role in Trouble in Mind, and she has received additional Best Actress nominations from the London Evening Standard Theatre Awards and the UK Theatre Awards. Moodie studied at London’s Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, where she was later employed as an associate teacher and council member.
All eight first season episodes are now available to stream exclusively on Prime Video in more than 240 countries and territories in multiple languages.
The Rings of Power brings to screens for the very first time the heroic legends of the fabled Second Age of Middle-earth’s history. This epic drama is set thousands of years before the events of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings books, and will take viewers back to an era in which great powers were forged, kingdoms rose to glory and fell to ruin, unlikely heroes were tested, hope hung by the finest of threads, and the greatest villain that ever flowed from Tolkien’s pen threatened to cover all the world in darkness. Beginning in a time of relative peace, the series follows an ensemble cast of characters, both familiar and new, as they confront the long-feared reemergence of evil to Middle-earth. From the darkest depths of the Misty Mountains, to the majestic forests of the elf capital of Lindon, to the breathtaking island kingdom of Númenor, to the farthest reaches of the map, these kingdoms and characters will carve out legacies that live on long after they are gone.
The first season of The Rings of Power has been an unprecedented success, viewed by more than 100 million people worldwide, with more than 24 billion minutes streamed. The highly anticipated series attracted more than 25 million global viewers on its first day, marking the biggest premiere in the history of Prime Video, and also debuted as the No. 1 show on Nielsen’s overall streaming chart in its opening weekend. The show has also broken all previous Prime Video records for the most viewers, and has driven more Prime sign-ups worldwide during its launch window than any other previous content. Additionally, The Rings of Power is the top Original series in every region—North America, Europe, APAC, LATAM, and the rest of the world. The season finale also created a global cultural moment, with multiple series-themed hashtags, including #TheRingsofPower and others, trending in 27 countries across Twitter for over 426 cumulative hours throughout the weekend.
Season Two of the series is produced by showrunners and executive producers J.D. Payne & Patrick McKay. They are joined by executive producers Lindsey Weber, Callum Greene, Justin Doble, Jason Cahill, and Gennifer Hutchison, along with co-executive producer Charlotte Brandstrom, producers Kate Hazell and Helen Shang, and co-producers Andrew Lee, Matthew Penry-Davey, and Clare Buxton.
From the art of The Vatican to Lawrence of Arabia.
The showrunners of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power are bringing us back to Middle-earth. Now, with the entire season now out showrunners J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay have been sharing influences and the creative process behind their most-beloved and most-challenging aspects of the show.
From many interviews across the web, here are some of those in their own words.
On Building Relationships
“From the beginning we wanted to build a relationship between Sauron and Galadriel.” – J.D. Payne, Co-Showrunner
“I hope after the last episode airs, viewers watch the whole season again, which is now a different experience… We were concerned about a situation where the part of the audience steeped in lore is six or seven episodes ahead of the characters. If deception is an important part of the journey, we wanted to preserve that experience for book readers too.”
“Season one opens with: Who is Galadriel? Where did she come from? What did she suffer? Why is she driven?” says Payne. “We’re doing the same thing with Sauron in season two. We’ll fill in all the missing pieces. Sauron can now just be Sauron, like Tony Soprano or Walter White. He’s evil, but complexly evil. “
Galadriel’s in this place of betrayal and anger and mad at herself and at him, and Sauron’s really coming from this place of, “No, no, no, no, no. This is good. It’s all been leading up to this. This is what we’ve been doing all season. By combining our powers, look at what we’ve achieved. We could do so much more together.”
Halbrand’s first lines to Galadriel on the raft are: “‘The tides of fate are flowing. Yours may be heading out.’ That’s the same line that Galadriel says to Frodo when the ring comes into her orbit in LOTR. She’s repeating the first thing Sauron ever said to her.” – J.D. Payne to Vanity Fair
Introducing Sauron
“We began filming before telling Charlie Vickers he was Sauron. After filming episode two, we talked to Charlie during the pause we took because of COVID, and then episodes three through eight he was fully aware.” – J.D. Payne to Vulture
“It’s not an option calling him Annatar because the audience would know ahead of the character.” – McKay on The Ringer podcast. McKay also admits the clues are all there from the start, “in his very first shot, he’s looking over his shoulder with one eye. His second line is ‘Looks can be deceiving.'”
Vulture asked: “Why introduce Sauron through the form of this human disguise?“ Patrick McKay responded: ‘One of the earliest ideas we had for the storyline came from the moment in The Fellowship of the Ring when Galadriel is tempted by Frodo’s offer of the Ring. She talks about how well she knows and understands Sauron, and there’s a quote where she says, “I know his mind, and he gropes ever to know mine, but still the door is shut.” She clearly has a darkness — that turning down the Ring is a test she feels she has to pass to finally go West — and that the darkness in her is linked with her feelings about Sauron.’
“We wanted to do an origin story for Sauron. We didn’t want to make a show that was about the hunt for Sauron, but we love the idea of Sauron as a deceiver who could, hopefully, deceive some of the audience.”
Patrick McKay
Seems that the showrunners were trying to pull off a mic-drop moment only the greatest directors have ever successfully done, per this Empire magazine question from Patrick to James Cameron:
We tried to set it up where every single line would be true to a certain extent, no matter who he is.
Patrick Mckay
On Inspirations That Few Viewers Spotted
Patrick tells The Ringer podcast that the entire concept of Galadriel and Halbrand meeting at sea is based on the Neo-classical Romanticist painting “The Raft of Medusa” which hangs in the Louvre, and is surprised nobody picked up on the connection. The painting depicts the real life story of an actual boat named the Medusa that crashed at sea and led to cannibalism among the survivors on the raft.
The Raft of the Medusa, 1818, by Théodore GéricaultRings of Power Episode 2
“There’s something that Milton does in Paradise Lost where he makes Satan a really compelling character. In some ways, he’s the first antihero… and you (the reader) are unconsciously won over, so that you perceive your own fallenness and your need for redemption.” – Patrick McKay
“For my final audition, I had to do a speech from Paradise Lost. Literally, as Satan.” – Charlie Vickers, who plays Sauron. “By no means is this the definitive portrayal of Sauron. I think there’s comfort in the fact that it’s just adding another colour to what is already a really colourful page.”
In Episode 7, we see Galadriel and Theo hiding under a log. But that’s where the connections to Bakshi’s and Jackson’s films end. “It was written that they were hiding under a log, so it was ultimately led by the scripts I don’t think we ever consciously went back to the films and said ‘we want to do it like that'” says Alex Diesenhof, the DP for the episode, in Newsweek.
Ralph Bakshi’s LOTRPeter Jackson’s FellowshipRings of Power Ep 7
All of us on the ground who’ve made the show, we approached it with love and so many of us are huge fans, and we just want people to live in Middle-earth again, just like we want to live in Middle-earth again.
Alex Diesenhof, director of photography
image: Screenrant
On Mithril and Legends
One of the most controversial ideas put forth in The Rings of Power is the source of Mithril’s magic. Fans worldwide — from the Tolkien Professor, Corey Olsen, to the Tolkien Society, to nearly all lore YouTubers — universally loathed this effort to expand the Legendarium. The Showrunners justify their choice:
“What if there’s a grand unification theory that could connect the light of the Two Trees of Valinor, which went into the Silmarils, to the rings? The three elven rings were at least partially made of mithril… It was a way to connect many parts of the canon, including the elves fading.”
J.D. Payne, co-showrunner
“Mithril is unusual in Middle-earth. It’s Tolkien’s vibranium, or adamantium, or like the one in Avatar, unobtainium. I would trust Elrond’s read on this piece of lore.”
“I think we’re quite used to the elves doing exactly the right thing and knowing exactly what to do. And that’s not necessarily the case here. [Galadriel] knows that if she [reveals Sauron to Celebrimbor], the rings wouldn’t get made. She needs the rings to be made so that the elves can stay in Middle-earth and continue to fight him. But I don’t know whether that’s the right thing to do!” – Morfydd Clark
“She’s gonna get a bit more magical! I’m really looking forward to that. The gift, or curse, of foresight, I found quite interesting.”
These witches are lesser conjurers than one of the wizards would be, and are bested here, but they escape in another form. While the visual language is a little similar to the Nazgûl, we’re also thinking about Macbeth and we’re thinking about the old crones and the three witches and just trying to come up with something strange and weird. We know they come from Rhûn, and we know there are magic cults in Rhûn, which is one of the things Tolkien writes about. So maybe there’s a slightly different kind of magic and we can peel back the layers in future seasons.
Patrick McKay
J.D. Payne continues that we haven’t seen the last of the three witches, “were they just temporarily vanquished? I think that’s a story point that people can be thinking about… That’s him seeing into the Unseen world. The ring takes you into that place where you can see the true form of things.”
Númenor
The showrunners tell Joanna Robinson at the Ringer podcast that they are shocked nobody has compared the reveal of Elendil to its inspiration from Lawrence of Arabia. In the classic film, considered one of the top 5 films of all time, the shadow scene represents the title character Lawrence adopting his savior-ego complex and leading the Arabs to potential freedom. In Rings of Power season one, Elendil loses his children to politics and war, but will eventually lead some Númenorians to safety and freedom.
Above: Lawrence of Arabia, Rings of Power episode 2
“If you look back over her trajectory this season, it seems like Isildur’s sister has been pulled into the Pharazôn camp, and that could mean big things for Númenor moving forward. Could she touch the Palantir and increase her sympathies toward the faithful, Or take issue with the idea that the queen has been using an Elven artifact and go the other way?” – via Vulture
“There was more about Isildur not wanting to be a sailor. We could do a whole season on that.” J.D. Payne to The Ringer
The School of Athens by Raphael, c.1510
Númenor’s aesthetic is directly based on the classical Raphael portrayal of Athens as seen in the Vatican, McKay tells the Ringer podcast. Tolkien famously based his myth of Númenor on the ancient Grecian stories of Atlantis, made popular by Plato in his Athenian storytelling. In Letter 163 J.R.R. Tolkien admitted, “I have what some might call an Atlantis complex. … I mean the terrible recurrent dream (beginning with memory) of the Great Wave, towering up, and coming in ineluctably over the trees and green fields.”
Responding to Fan Criticism
Hollywood Reporter asked the writers to respond to five constant criticisms of the lore, paraphrased here:
Dwarf women have beards. “Tolkien has answered this particular question both ways.”
Elves all have long hair. “If Tolkien ever wrote a comprehensive style guide to hairstyles, I would love to see it.”
Galadriel is too masculine. “Her nickname [by Tolkien] is “Nerwen,” which means “man-maiden.”
Costumes are too new. “Guess what? Sometimes clothes are new.”
Pacing is too slow. “Tolkien will take his time and let you sink into characters, into a journey, and… I hope people will have the patience to settle in for a Tolkien epic.”
“The storytelling will be different next time, not because of the response to the show, but because of the experience of making the show for us. We’re certainly listening to the critics and to our audiences. You don’t want to give any one voice too much weight, but figure out what people are responding to.” – via Vulture
“We felt it was very important that season one be about reintroducing Middle Earth in this new era. Introducing all of these kingdoms, and all of these peoples and all of these characters and knowing what was important to them, and what they had at stake.” – Patrick McKay, who still needs to introduce 16 leaders of men and dwarves to be corrupted by the rings of power.
“People of the world will think everything, love/hate & in between, I’m quite sure, but it certainly seems like everybody’s talking about it and people are watching. I think we always knew there would be a lot of chatter from all corners, and it’s good to be talked about.” – Lindsey Weber
“It’s not a mystery it’s a character journey. Watching fans fight each other bums me out. Sauron enjoy seeing us tear each other part” – J.D. Payne
“Some portion of audience don’t want to go in journey of discovery. That surprised us. We thought fans would enjoy Galadriel not having husband and child.” – Patrick McKay on The Ringer podcast
“The guys really wanted to devise a story that would work from service level the first time and then would work on a whole new level when you saw it again with the full knowledge of the season.” – Lindsey Weber
“What matters to us is if it’s entertaining enough that people are digging into it and debating it. One of the big things we learned was even when it’s a small scene, it always has to tie back into the larger stakes. It has to be about good and evil and the fate of the world or it doesn’t have that epic feeling you want when you’re in Tolkien.” – Patrick McKay
“Bezos is a huge fan of Tolkien and has a great knowledge of the lore. The whole idea of why we got the rights to begin with was to tell the story of good versus evil — of people coming together from all different worlds to fight evil, really. Leaning into light was the other thing that was really appealing to everybody — bringing something to our global customer base that is hopeful and has light and that a family can watch.” – Jennifer Salke, president of Amazon Studios
Good Things Are Worth Taking Time
“We wanted to explore what it meant for Galadriel to, who had been right a lot, to be wrong, really, really wrong for a minute. We wanted her to have to live with those consequences, and in a way that she couldn’t fix in the short term.” – Lindsey Weber, Executive Producer formerly from Bad Robot, on why the volcano wasn’t the triumphant climax of season one.
“JD and Patrick talked about Stalingrad and Battle in the Streets, not sort of full epic but more hand-to-hand and brutal with surprising twists and turns.” – Lindsey Weber
Mystery Boxing The Obvious
When quizzed about the Gandalf-like similarities of The Stranger’s voice and accent Patrick McKay responded: “The specifics of these things matter so much. Daniel Weyman, who plays The Stranger, developed a voice with vocal coach Leith McPherson that has a little twinge of the Irish lilt the Harfoots have. Whatever name he may one day be known as is not actually important at this stage of his journey. What matters at this stage is… his own relationship to power and good and evil and darkness and light.”
“I was playing what was put in front of me. I felt I could really play it honestly.” – Daniel Weyman, who is following his nose to Rhûn, wasn’t told his character’s name at first.
“There’s even references to Gandalf himself possibly coming much earlier in some different form — he ‘walked among the elves’ — there’s a story to be told with a wizard in this age feels in harmony with Tolkien’s canon.” – Showrunners J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay
“Apples have a lot of mythological resonances in cultures really across the world. There’s, obviously a biblical idea. I mean, it’s also commonly associated with the tree of knowledge of good and evil. The taking of fruit in a garden setting is something that portends kind of a loss of innocence, a leaving of Eden and heading into the difficult world. But rather than eat the apple, he holds on to the apple, as you know, holding onto the friendship.” – J.D. Payne
Sticking to the Plan
Lindsey Weber, Rings of Power producer who previously produced Star Wars Episode 9: The Rise of Skywalker, told the Ringer that “their (Patrick and J.D.) passion for and knowledge of Tolkien—combined with their clarity of vision for the whole series, across multiple seasons—was uniquely impressive.”
“We don’t want to make something disposable,” Payne says. “Carrying the responsibility of this material and this man’s life’s work, we aspire to making something that’s special and not like anything else you’ve seen before. … It’s not ours. We have a responsibility to this world and this history and this mythology that this guy created that means so much to these people and want to do right by it.”
J.D. Payne
“I wouldn’t say we’re over-correcting for any of it, but we’re certainly listening to people’s responses.”
Patrick Mckay
McKay tells Vanity Fair in a season-ending interview: “In the fourth episode, she asks him for advice, and he says basically, “the way you beat your enemies is to figure out what they need and figure out how to give it to them. Help them master their fear. And then you can master them.” And that’s exactly what he’s doing to her the entire season — maybe what he’s going to do to everybody over the following seasons. That’s his modus operandi.”
Here’s some reactions from the writers of Season 1 of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, now streaming all episodes FREE with your existing Prime membership that most people already have for free shipping.
From a handful of us writers in a room imagining what felt like impossible things to amazing artists and craftspeople making those impossible things possible — what a privilege. I will forever be grateful to be a part of this show, among these wonderful people.
Before this TV show was a worldwide phenomenon, it was just words on a page, and some of those words came from my brain! Seeing my name credited on such an epic show is without a doubt one of the most surreal moments of my life. Hope you all enjoy episode 6 of the Rings of Power! pic.twitter.com/KeXBo6bdNE
A second round of new casting for The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power has been announced by Prime Video. Eight new cast members – mostly stalwarts of British television and theatre and with impressive credentials – have been revealed. Previous appearances by these actors include shows such as Game of Thrones, Bodyguard, Versailles, The Sandman, Bridgerton,and The Crown.
Here’s the official press release:
Prime Video’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Announces Additional New Cast Members for Season Two
Eight additional new actors join the existing cast of the global hit series in recurring roles for the forthcoming second season, currently in production in the UK.
CULVER CITY, California—December 7, 2022—The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, which has been viewed by over 100 million people worldwide and has been an unprecedented global success as the top Original series for Prime Video in every region in its first season, has announced an additional eight new recurring cast members for the forthcoming second season, currently in production in the UK.
The new cast members are Oliver Alvin-Wilson, Stuart Bowman, Gavi Singh Chera, William Chubb, Kevin Eldon, Will Keen, Selina Lo, and Calam Lynch.
OLIVER ALVIN-WILSON
OLIVER ALVIN-WILSON
Oliver Alvin-Wilson’s television credits include The Bay (ITV), as “Guy Townsend,” Murder in Provence (ITV) as “Luc Martinez,” Collateral (BBC) as ”Chips Benson” and Lovesick (Netflix) as “Alex.” In film, Oliver has been seen in Harkness, Wonder Woman 1984, and The Huntsman. He has appeared on stage in All of Us (National Theatre), Henry VI Rebellion/War of the Roses (Royal Shakespeare Company), The Twilight Zone (Almeida Theatre/Ambassadors Theatre), The Doctor (Almeida Theatre), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Young Vic Theatre) and Nine Night (National Theatre/Trafalgar Studios) among many others.
STUART BOWMAN
STUART BOWMAN
Stuart Bowman can currently be seen in the television series The Pact (BBC), Karen Pirie (ITV), and The Control Room (BBC). He has previously played recurring roles in Alex Rider (Prime Video), Guilt (BBC), Bodyguard (Netflix), Versailles (Netflix), Grantchester (ITV), and Deadwater Fell (Channel 4) opposite David Tennant. Stuart’s work in film includes Man and Witch, The Cursed, Sunset Song, and Slow West. His recent theatre credits include Macbeth (Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre) as “Macduff.”
GAVI SINGH CHERA
GAVI SINGH CHERA
Gavi Singh Chera was most recently seen in the television series The Undeclared War (Channel 4) and The Lazarus Project (Sky). Other television credits include Vera (ITV) and Doctors (BBC). On stage, Gavi has appeared in productions including The Cherry Orchard (The Yard Theatre), Our Generation, Behind the Beautiful Forevers (National Theatre), Duck, 1922: The Waste Land (Jermyn Street Theatre) and Pygmalion (Headlong).
WILLIAM CHUBB
WILLIAM CHUBB
William Chubb is a prolific actor whose television credits include Vampire Academy (Peacock), The Sandman (Netflix), Pistol (Hulu), Quiz, Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell (BBC), Law & Order: UK (ITV)and House of Cards (BBC). On stage, William has appeared in numerous productions including The Tempest (Theatre Royal Bath), The Taxidermist’s Daughter (Chichester Festival Theatre), Witness for the Prosecution (County Hall, London), Othello (Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre) and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (Old Vic). His film credits include Sam Mendes’ Empire of Light, A Week in Paradise, and Adrift in Soho.
KEVIN ELDON
KEVIN ELDON
Kevin Eldon is a well-known performer in television, film and theatre. On television, Kevin has starred in Game of Thrones (HBO), Shadow And Bone (Netflix), Inside Number 9 (BBC) and has had recurring roles in Trigger Point (Peacock) and Dad’s Army. He also appeared in The Crown (Netflix), Criminal: UK (Netflix) and Doctor Who (BBC). In film, he has been seen in Martin Scorsese’s Hugo, Hot Fuzz, Four Lionsand Set Fire to the Stars opposite Elijah Wood.
Will Keen will soon start production on Prime Video’s My Lady Jane. He most recently wrapped the indie feature Borderland opposite Felicity Jones and Mark Strong, as well as the TV series The Gold (BBC1/Viacom). He was most recently seen in Ridley Road (BBC) and The Pursuit of Love (BBC) opposite Andrew Scott and Emily Beecham. His other TV credits include His Dark Materials (HBO), The Crown (Netflix), Genius: Picasso (National Geographic), Wolf Hall (BBC) and The Musketeers (BBC). Stage credits include Patriots (Almeida Theatre), Ghosts (Almeida Theatre), Waste (Almeida Theatre), Quartermaine’s Terms (Wyndham’s Theatre), The Arsonists (Royal Court) and The Coast of Utopia (National Theatre).
SELINA LO
SELINA LO
Selina Lo is a British-Asian actress and former martial arts champion, whose film credits include starring in Boss Level (Hulu) as “Guan Yin” and Hellraiser (Hulu) as “The Gasp.” Her work in television includes a recurring role in One Child (BBC) as “Xu Lian.”
CALAM LYNCH
CALAM LYNCH
Calam Lynch was most recently seen in Bridgerton (Netflix) as “Theo Sharpe.” Other television credits include Derry Girls (Channel 4) as “John Paul O’Reilly” and Mrs. Wilson (BBC) as “Gordon Wilson.” In film, Calam starred in Black Beauty (Disney+), Benedictionopposite Jack Lowden, and Dunkirk. He has appeared in theatre in productions including Much Ado About Nothing (The Rose Theatre) and Wife (The Kiln Theatre).
All eight first season episodes are now available to stream exclusively on Prime Video in more than 240 countries and territories in multiple languages.
The Rings of Power brings to screens for the very first time the heroic legends of the fabled Second Age of Middle-earth’s history. This epic drama is set thousands of years before the events of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings books, and will take viewers back to an era in which great powers were forged, kingdoms rose to glory and fell to ruin, unlikely heroes were tested, hope hung by the finest of threads, and the greatest villain that ever flowed from Tolkien’s pen threatened to cover all the world in darkness. Beginning in a time of relative peace, the series follows an ensemble cast of characters, both familiar and new, as they confront the long-feared reemergence of evil to Middle-earth. From the darkest depths of the Misty Mountains, to the majestic forests of the elf capital of Lindon, to the breathtaking island kingdom of Númenor, to the farthest reaches of the map, these kingdoms and characters will carve out legacies that live on long after they are gone.
The first season of The Rings of Power has been an unprecedented success, viewed by more than 100 million people worldwide, with more than 24 billion minutes streamed. The highly anticipated series attracted more than 25 million global viewers on its first day, marking the biggest premiere in the history of Prime Video, and also debuted as the No. 1 show on Nielsen’s overall streaming chart in its opening weekend. The show has also broken all previous Prime Video records for the most viewers, and has driven more Prime sign-ups worldwide during its launch window than any other previous content. Additionally, The Rings of Power is the top Original series in every region—North America, Europe, APAC, LATAM, and the rest of the world. The season finale also created a global cultural moment, with multiple series-themed hashtags, including #TheRingsofPower and others, trending in 27 countries across Twitter for over 426 cumulative hours throughout the weekend.
Season Two of the series is produced by showrunners and executive producers J.D. Payne & Patrick McKay. They are joined by executive producers Lindsey Weber, Callum Greene, Justin Doble, Jason Cahill, and Gennifer Hutchison, along with co-executive producer Charlotte Brandstrom, producers Kate Hazell and Helen Shang, and co-producers Andrew Lee, Matthew Penry-Davey, and Clare Buxton.
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It’s that time of year… awards season has begun! While the Emmys are many months away, many critics groups and craft guilds will be honoring the best in film and television for 2022 over the next few months.
Already The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power has received a nomination for the People’s Choices Awards for Best Sci-fi/Fantasy Show (losing out to Stranger Things) and Bear McCreary received a Hollywood Music in Media Award nomination for Best Score – TV Show/Limited Series (losing out to the composers of 1883.)
Today, the 28th Annual Critics Choice Awards television nominations were announced. While Rings of Power did not get nominated for Best Drama Series, congratulations are in order to Ismael Cruz Córdova for being nominated for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series! Ismael recently received the breakthrough actor award for television at the Critics Choice Association’s 2nd annual Celebration of Latino Cinema and Television in November.
The Critics Choice Awards will be broadcast live on The CW on Sunday, January 15, 2023.
