An ode to The Rings Of Power‘s strongest element, Joseph Mawle’s Adar
Following Prime Video's shocking decision to recast Adar, it's time for an appreciation of the Orc savior who salvaged the $500 million series
TV Features Joseph Mawle
The first season of Amazon’s The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power arrived on a great wave of controversy and debate. That’s nothing new for J.R.R. Tolkien, who consistently reworked, revised, and added to his legendarium throughout his life. However, the holes in Middle-earth’s history that co-creators J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay used to stage its narrative confounded fans, and their depiction of an angry, war-hungry Galadriel angered others. But almost everyone agreed on one thing: Joseph Mawle’s performance as the Orc leader Adar was something special.
A good villain can turn the dial on any story, but Mawle’s Adar seemingly unlocked the whole series, revealing the complexity and nuance beneath the franchise’s spectacle. From his first appearance in episode three, “Adar,” Mawle brought true menace and mystery to the series, driving audiences toward the season’s surprise climax: The eruption of Mount Doom. Unfortunately, Joseph Mawle won’t see his Orc children free. The role was recast with Sam Hazeldine from Peaky Blinders, and what a shame it is.
While a recasting isn’t always disastrous, fans are mourning Mawle’s departure with good reason. His Adar came fully formed as if we knew his character’s history the second he walked on screen. As sensitive as he was sinister, Mawle’s Adar was the key to the most exciting and necessary reckoning on the show, challenging the assumption that Orcs are inherently evil. If Galadriel’s (Morfydd Clark) opening lines this season, “Nothing is born evil,” are true, then Adar complicates her belief in the thesis.
Adar arrived in a cloud of mystery, capturing and interrogating Arondir (Ismael Cruz Córdova) in the trenches of the Southlands. The Uruk presented a different type of character for the show. Even more than Galadriel, Adar has been on the case for a long time. Among the Elves taken by Morgoth in the First Age, Adar was one of the Dark Lord’s earliest genetic experiments. But unlike the Elves, who barely notice the passage of time, Mawle presents a weariness. Unfazed by Galadriel’s plans, he simply lets the work proceed.
Mawle gives us a taste of his power and pain throughout the season. A scene in episode five, “Partings,” offers a poetic and disturbing explanation of the Orcs’ relationship with the sun, offering audiences a new twist for Middle-earth: Sympathy for the Orcs. As Mawle stands in the beams of light cutting through the forest, he instructs a nearby Orc shrouded in rags to hold out his arm and allow the sun’s rays to scorch the Orc’s skin. “I wish you could feel it like I do,” Adar says of the sun. “Soon, it will be gone, the part of me that knew its warmth as well.” Mawle’s combination of gentleness and simmering rage gives the audience a reason to empathize with the minions that, until now, have represented evil incarnate.
Mawle’s most remarkable scene was also the season’s high point. In the thrilling final third of episode six, “Udún,” Galadriel captures Adar, believing him to be a prime suspect in her season-long investigation into Sauron’s identity. But his performance goes one better, casting any simplified notions that Orcs are evil and Elves are good into the fire. Adar challenges the audience’s understanding of the battle lines, confronting Galadriel with the truth: He’s not the only Elf to touch the darkness.
His patience in the scene, his silence, ratchets up the tension. Unconcerned with Galadriel, Adar bides his time until his plan can commence. When Galadriel calls him a “Moriondor,” or one of the first orcs, he corrects her. “Uruk,” Adar responds. “We prefer ‘Uruk.’” When Galadriel mentions Sauron, he sneers. When she suggests bringing the “prisoners into the sunlight,” he wakes up. Mawle’s explanation of Sauron’s intentions to “heal the world” and to craft something “not of the flesh but over flesh” shows the actor’s gifts.
The subdued performance evokes an ancient pain and a historical depth that fuels the magic of Tolkien’s creation. And Adar cannot be separated by his history. He wears it on his face, it lingers on his trembling voice, and it drips from his every movement. Mawle did something all the prophecies struggled to do; he made the power of the unseen world tangible and dangerous simply by discussing it with conviction.
Joseph Mawle delivered a performance with a gravitational pull. For all the mysteries and twists in Rings Of Power, none matched his steady rise to power. His nuanced and sensitive interpretation of the oldest living Orc set a high bar for the rest of the series, and Amazon will have to conjure the power of the unseen world to get us to forget it anytime soon.
48 Comments
So why is he being recast?
What an idiotic move. While one of the (many) problems with the show was that the rest of the cast was so weakly characterized that you could have indeed replaced almost all of them for Season 2 without the vast majority of viewers noticing a change, Mawle and Morfydd Clark stood out. Unlike Clark, Mawle was allowed to do something significant with the role and made the most of it.I do hope we at least get a PR hack babbling about what happened, since on the surface this is just inexplicable.
It could be a scheduling conflict…it’s not necessarily because they WANTED to replace him. Also, Robert Aramayo is killing it as Elrond and I would TOTALLY notice a new guy
Wait, they recast Rowan too?
Elrond’s so quiet these days.
Lmao.
Does anybody know why they did this? He’s one of only two or three good actors on the whole show.
I’m sorry. What?
Sorry, I said: “DOES ANYBODY KNOW WHY THEY DID THIS? HE’S ONE OF ONLY TWO OR THREE GOOD ACTORS ON THE WHOLE SHOW.”
What a disingenuous thing to say so loud.
What an easy word you have misunderstood.
The casting on Rings of Power was almost all very questionable. Maybe House of the Dragon snapped up all the actors who could deliver fantasy dialogue convincingly. But Mawle was an exception. He was great.
I was on the Mordyff Clark train for some time when it seemed like everyone hated her casting. Ultimately…maybe not the best choice for Galedriel. I do also question it. Was it mainly a writing issue? They made her say and do some of the most boneheaded things. Her sword fighting at Numenor was spectacular…I’d give her another chance.All the Numeorians felt like they were from central casting. Just flat. Lifetime movie level acting. Charlie Vickers? Not convincing. Theo was, (sorry Actor who plays Theo, if you’re reading) one of the worst actors I’ve ever seen. The harfoots – loved all that casting. The stranger – loved that casting. Where did that guy come from? Love his voice and presence. Elrond, Bronwyn, and any elf? I blame on writing. They had some moments. They held their own. Dwarves, no notes. Loved them. And Adar was a consistent shining bright star in the nights sky. Mawle was awesome.
Hard agree on the flatness of the Numenoreans. Everyone else was just OK though. And I do lay some blame on the dialogue. Overall I enjoyed the show but only despite the performances.
That one friend of Isildur – the redhead? Has the most amazingly comic/cartoon expressions throughout the series. We had many laughs freeze framing him throughout the show
I love Lenny Henry , but the Harfoots are an offensively bad “ Oirish” stereotype, being used to represent fantasy characters .
Gotta say you pretty much nailed it all.
No love for Lloyd Owen (Elendil)? Harsh.
I thought he gave one of the most charismatic performances in the show.
Trystan Gravelle (Pharazon) was no slouch either.
Pharazon, ok I concede, not horrible!Lloyd Owen, absolutely not a fan. Stoic to the point of robotic/boring or facially over acting. There was no in between.
It’s possible because most other characters are so two dimensional that Elendil comes across as over acting because he’s one of the more interesting characters. I thought Lloyd Owen handled being a captain and a father and an Elf-friend and a Numenorean and balancing his allegiances to all those things relatively well.
i loved all the Numenorians, but Elendil especially. he’s so great.
Anyone having to take a role previously played by Cate Blanchett is facing a steep uphill climb right out of the gate.
For me the problems with Galadriel is in the writing, not the casting, I think Ms. Clark does a fine job with what she has.
The issue with Galadriel is that she’s written as an impulsive hothead, which doesn’t mesh with her character in the films or the books, where she is portrayed as mysterious, measured, and wise. I’m guessing they want to build a narrative bridge between this younger, more foolish Galadriel and her later persona.
I would say it’s probably almost entirely the writing. With few exceptions (such as a huge name miscast for the sake of funding or something), I don’t blame poor performances on actors. They work with what they’re given and if their performance is really just flat bad, they didn’t cast or direct themselves.
Generally I would agree. People tend to blame actors first because they’re the face you see. It’s like going to the restaurant and soley blaming the waiter for the cold and boring food. There’s expo, prep chefs, the cook, the mismanagement of staff, the shipments that didn’t arrive on time that day creating havoc…stuff we don’t see…it’s not fair to blame the face when you don’t know what goes on behind the scenes.But there’s actors that do give lazy, wooden, boring performances. Usually they’re unprepared or confused or miscast. It happens. Not every performance is good…some are just bad. It is what it is. I’m not going to watch John Travolta do hamlet, (might have been good at some point) when he doesn’t care about investing himself in the project. (And there’s room for disagreement…others might find some nuance in a bad performance, that others can’t see).
After learning more about the history of Middle Earth when viewed in the light provided by Adar and Rings of Power, all the hatred and war between races becomes much more evident. Did you ever hear about the Petty-Dwarves in Silmarillion? They were a group made from outcasts from the 7 main dwarf groups due to being criminals they said but often because they were undersized. Yep, dwarves exiled from their families for being too short.
The elves made them extinct (though the last one, Mîm, was killed by a man, Húrin who then looted his treasure). They thought them animals at first then just liked to take their homes and lands. Finrod Felagund was Galadriel’s brother and took the last major home of the Petty-Dwarves as his own. His name Felagund means ‘Lord of the Caves’, those being the stolen home of Mîm and his brothers.So Galadriel in Rings of Power is like a conflation of all the most bloodthirsty genocidal elven tendencies.
She was also Noldor and while not helping Feanor in the Kinslayings, their kind was banished from Valinor for slaughtering other elves. More of her kin died as a result of elven Silmaril lust than due to orcs. Since orcs are twisted versions of elves and her family’s minds were twisted by Melkor/Morgoth into killing elves, it’s like a form of self-hatred.
Well, luckily for Rings of Power, House of the Dragon couldn’t have cast Mawle anyway.
Based on tweets made by the actor, sounds like he chose to leave on his own so he could explore other opportunities. My guess is the gap between seasons and filming location for this show is tough on actors.
I read that, and didn’t think it sounded so convincing or definitiveI wonder what happened. I mean other than Rosamund Pike and Sophie Okonedo, the rest of Wheel of Time are mostly scrubs too
Until we hear otherwise it’s probably the usual reasons for recasting: scheduling conflicts or personal reasons.
Hardly “disastrous”.
No idea why the author bizarrely assumes it was “Prime Video’s decision”. Nothing Mawle stated indicates that. These shows are massive productions that ask for months of actors time on the other side of the world, sometimes it doesn’t line up with other commitments. I agree he was one of the highlights of the series, but this is how TV shows work. There were also 3 different guys who played The Mountain. It happens.
The Mountain was just a big dude. He wasn’t a standout in the cast. He barely spoke more than 5 words in the whole series…If anything it’s more like Dario’s recasting.
That’s a shame. He gave one of the few interesting preferences among that mostly milquetoast cast.
Mawle’s Adar introduction was equally mesmerizing and frightening. I remember being scared in that moment he appeared. Time seemed to stretch way longer than usual when he was on screen. He seemed unpredictable. An incredible presense. Strange decision Amazon. And overall ROP was a messy, messy series.
I thought maybe he wanted out because they moved production from New Zealand to the UK. But Mawle’s English, so wouldn’t that actually be better? I’m making the assumption that he doesn’t live in NZ.
Maybe it wasn’t worth it once it was no longer a nice trip to beautiful NZ. Maybe he hates his family and was looking forwarded to months away.
He was recast after he journeyed north of The Wall and no one heard from him again.
shame there wasn’t a single line of memorable dialogue
GALADRIEL: They are not children, they are slaves.
ADAR: But each one has a name. A heart. A heart.
GALADRIEL: A heart created by Morgoth.
ADAR: We are creations of The One, Master of the Secret Fire, the same as you. As worthy of the breath of life, and just as worthy of a home. Soon… This land will be ours. Then, you will understand.
While they’re at it can they recast the hobbits with actual Irish actors ( of all colours) , or just drop the racist as hell portrayal of them as dirt covered illiterate Oirish tinkers.( but keep Lenny Henry maybe , and just let him use his own accent instead)
Of all the liberties with the source material that the show took I think “hobbits are old-timey Irish peasants who never bathe” was the weirdest.
Its less liberties with the source , and more ..this is offensive to people from Ireland . I mean hobbits arent real , but coding them in a horribly racist way is still offensive . Like if someone portayed Dark Elves using blackface and 1920s ‘african jungle savage’ tropes. https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2022/sep/28/irish-people-have-faced-centuries-of-discrimination-why-are-lord-of-the-rings-accents-so-offensively-bad
Oh yeah it’s definitely offensive no matter what, I’m just saying that unlike some of the other fictional races in Tolkien’s books where there are some pretty clear and offensive parallels to real life racist caricatures, this is a situation where the showrunners made an active choice to introduce offensive caricatures where none existed in the books.
well… there was a lot of animosity between different groups even among hobbits. And the whole servant class like Samwise did strike a nerve.
Lenny Henry’s character died at the end of season 1
Eh, I can’t say I particularly care myself, as someone from the island. The Irish are not discriminated against in this day and age, and we’ve exported plenty of oppression ourselves by siding with oppressors in the colonies, we can take the stereotyping.
Also, “tinker” is considered a slur against Travellers these days, maybe don’t use it.
His performance only stood out because of the terrible casting and performances everywhere else on this extremely bad show
Probably a scheduling conflict. Shows like this that have big gaps between production of seasons have to be tough for actors with other opportunities. Kind of wonder if we’ll see more exits as the show goes on.