‘Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power’ First Story Details
Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power first photos are here, as well as new details on the story we’ll be following in September.
Fans got a quasi look at the show last week with a batch of faceless posters. Vanity Fair has the first look at The Rings of Power – with the faces of some key characters. As we’ve known for a while, this will be deviating from Tolkien’s work. That’s mostly due to having to create an accessible show that everyone can get into.
Showrunner JD Payne explains:
“We talked with the Tolkien estate. If you are true to the exact letter of the law, you are going to be telling a story in which your human characters are dying off every season because you’re jumping 200 years in time, and then you’re not meeting really big, important canon characters until season four. Look, there might be some fans who want us to do a documentary of Middle-earth, but we’re going to tell one story that unites all these things.”
via Amazon
New Faces
As well as some shuffling in the story, there are some new characters that help move it along.
“The show is a lavish, compelling mix of palace intrigue, magic, warfare, and mythology—and there are enough mysteries to power a thousand podcasts. Some characters will be familiar, and they will be the initial attraction as viewers watch their legendary fates unfurl. But the entirely new faces may ultimately become even more involving, since their destinies are literally unwritten.”
On of those newcomers is Arondir, a silvan elf, played by Ismael Cruz Córdova. He is in a forbidden relationship with a human healer who is played by Nazanin Boniadi (the pair can be seen above).
One of the central components of Tolkien’s stories is different people and cultures unifying to defeat a great evil. That’s present here. The cast is much more diverse and has a wider range of representation than any Tolkien project before it. Lindsey Weber, an executive producer of the series, explains:
“It felt only natural to us that an adaptation of Tolkien’s work would reflect what the world actually looks like. Tolkien is for everyone. His stories are about his fictional races doing their best work when they leave the isolation of their own cultures and come together.”
Of, course, there are always folks that will get mad about diverse casting choices. Tolkien scholar Mariana Rios Maldonado responded to them:
“Obviously there was going to be push and backlash, but the question is from whom? Who are these people that feel so threatened or disgusted by the idea that an elf is Black or Latino or Asian?”
Familiar Names
It’s not all new. There are going to be plenty of familiar faces from the trilogy set in the third age – like Galadriel and Elrond. The preview included a first look at Morfydd Clark as Galadriel in full armor. She captured the spirit of the character (and the crew) during shooting.
Showrunners Patrick McKay and JD Payne described an emotional moment on set:
“Everyone was crowding around the monitor as we’re doing this close-up where Galadriel’s face fills the screen and she cries, and she decides: I have to fight. It’s a perfect example of how Tolkien and Middle-earth have a way of finding you, even in the darkest and most uncertain moments.”
It’s clear that the folks behind the show have great respect for Tolkien and they’re completely behind this tremendous work.
“We think the work will eventually speak for itself. Before an orchestra starts, audiences will talk to each other, but then as soon as the music begins, you’re in and you’re listening to that music.”
Go check out the full article to learn more about the production and the cast, and see more behind-the-scenes photos.
via Amazon
“Amazon Studios’ forthcoming series 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. It 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.“
Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power debuts on Amazon on September 2nd.
