In today’s cast spotlight, we focus on 3 actors with a strong theatre background, as well as prominent roles in some genre favorites. The staff of TheOneRing.net is proud to welcome them to the Middle-earth family!

Trystan Gravelle | Thusitha Jayasundera | Simon Merrells
Continue reading “Amazon Casting: Trystan Gravelle, Thusitha Jayasundera, & Simon Merrells”

British-born American actress Cynthia Addai-Robinson brings a broad range, strong epic roots, and even some LotR/Hobbit connections to Amazon’s new Middle-earth series.

Cynthia Addai-Robinson and Manu Bennett in Spartacus
Cynthia Addai-Robinson and Manu Bennett in Spartacus

She’s experienced with episodic television, with a 2012-13 breakout role as Naevia, the slave turned warrior in the STARZ series Spartacus. The Naevia role brought with it some serious sword training, familiarity with New Zealand filming, and an overlap with some familiar folk to the Tolkien universe, including fan favorites Craig Parker, and especially Manu Bennett, who starred as Naevia’s lover, Crixus, in the series.  Addai-Robinson’s credits stretch from drama (Marybeth Medina in the Ben Affleck vehicle “The Accountant”) to television series (appearing in all three CSI shows, and most recently in another STARZ series, Power), and geek-friendly offerings (like Aja in The Vampire Diaries and Amanda Waller in Arrow).  Prior to taking up acting, she was an accomplished dancer, again with a broad repertoire from ballet to jazz. With that kind of range, an elven warrior role seems completely conceivable.

“The great thing about really heightened historical dramas is that they can convey much larger themes.”

Cynthia Addai-Robinson
Cynthia Addai-Robinson as Treasury Department analyst Marybeth Medina in ‘The Accountant’

In reflecting on her acting opportunities, Addai-Robinson was quoted, “The great thing about really heightened historical dramas is that they can convey much larger themes.”  That sounds like someone ready to take on Tolkien!

Cynthia Addai-Robinson merrily ready for some epic mayhem… Instagram @cynthiaaddairobinson

Editor Note: Join TheOneRing.net as we focus on the recent cast member announcements for Amazon TV’s The Lord of the Rings inspired TV series. Throughout the month, and as part of our Tolkien Advent Calendar celebration, we will be taking a deep-dive into their previous work, relating that to the world of J.R.R. Tolkien.

One of the many great things about The Lord of the Rings is the extreme depth of characters you will find. For some collectors their favorite character may just fall into a secondary character status. Our friends at Weta Workshop know this and aren’t afraid to tackle someone who didn’t get a lot of screen time. Today’s review is a perfect example of this with Haldir. While Haldir didn’t get a lot of screen time his impact on the story shouldn’t be thought of as minor. This statue was done right and fans of Haldir should be proud to own him. You can still get him for $399 from the US and EU warehouses and with an edition of 750 there aren’t going to be too many of him left.

Continue reading “Collecting The Precious – Weta Workshop’s Haldir Statue Review”

Tonight our friends at Weta Workshop launched a brand new statue for fans to order and add to our collections. Once again, this is one of those pieces we’ve been waiting for going back to when the films were in the theaters. Who is this character that always seems to be near the top of any most wanted list? The character is Haldir who finally joins the 1:6 statue line as we saw him during The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. Haldir looks fantastic on the product page, and with an edition size of only 750 pieces he won’t last long. You can get him right now for $399, and for anyone who might need a payment plan Weta has one for this guy. Don’t wait too long for this one!

DragonCon 2008Friday is the official kick-off to the annual sci-fi and fantasy fest known as DragonCon in Atlanta and as it has for the last decade, TheOneRing.net will be there to celebrate everything Tolkien and bring you the goings-on to the best of our ability. We will have new Lake Town Archery Club shirts as well as the continuation of the themed shirts introduced at Comic-Con this year. TORn also has a panel about the very latest news on “The Hobbit,” on Friday morning and Sunday. As fast as news is changing, they may even be completely different.
The latest DCon news is Brad Dourif(television and film legend and of course Grima Wormtongue) has just been announced as a late addition-guest to the four-day convention. He will join Craig Parker and Peter Beagle as this year’s celebrities that add to a whole four-day track of Tolkien programming. Continue reading “DragonCon: Dourif! Parker! TORn!”