Seven new faces (so far) will join The Rings Of Power cast next season
Season 2 of Amazon Prime's The Rings Of Power may still not have a release date, but that doesn't mean shakeups aren't afoot in Middle-earth
Aux News Rings of Power
We’re less than two months out from the finale of the inaugural season of Amazon Prime’s Lord Of The Rings prequel The Rings Of Power, but new forces are already rising ahead of season two. Today, the streamer announced that seven new cast members have been confirmed for the series’ second season.
Hanna’s Gabriel Akuwudike, The Witcher’s Yasen ‘Zates’ Atour, The Crown’s Ben Daniels, Peaky Blinders’ Sam Hazeldine, Amelia Kenworthy, Persuasion’s Nia Towle, and The Two Popes’ Nicholas Woodeson are the seven new Middle-earth dwellers joining the cast next season. The series announced the news today via its Twitter account, welcoming each and every new actor to the series with an individual post.
“Since its premiere, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power has been bringing audiences together to experience the magic and wonder of J.R.R. Tolkien’s magnificent Middle-earth. To date, season one is the top Original series for Prime Video in every region and has been viewed by over 100 million people worldwide, a truly global hit that speaks to the universal nature of powerful storytelling,” Vernon Sanders, Amazon Studios’ head of global television, shares in a statement alongside the casting news. “We welcome these wonderful actors to our ‘fellowship’ and look forward to telling more incredible Second Age stories in season two.”
As of this writing, specific details on any of the new players’ roles are still being kept under wraps. Sam Hazeldine marks the only exception—the actor will replace Joseph Mawle as Adar in one of the biggest shakeups on the season 2 bill. Adar, the mysterious Elvish orc leader and first elf to be tortured by the dark lord Morgoth, served as one of the first season’s central villains.
Although the next installment of The Rings Of Power has yet to receive a release date, filming is reportedly already underway in the United Kingdom. All episodes of the first season are currently available for streaming on Prime.
29 Comments
Honest question, with two months removed, how do we feel about the series?
That is more of a binge show than a weekly show.
For me, I think essentially the same as when it ended, in that there was a lot of potential and beauty, undermined by some shallow narrative and characterization in places, plus the questionable use of mystery-box bullshit. Genuine creative artistry did somewhat shine through the heavy-handed corporate brand-management directives.
I only got four episodes in, but it felt like homework. There were flashes of charm, but overall it felt too self-serious and more invested in lore and action than I was.
I love LOTR, and enjoyed having something new to watch on Fridays. Definitely liked this show more than i thought I would, especially since I generally don’t like prequel series. That said, if I had to pick only one Amazon Prime show to get another season… not sure which I’d pick, this or The Peripheral.
I genuinely liked it, but it had serious problems with pacing that need to be corrected in S2 (and to be fair I think the pacing issues got a lot better in the last few episodes). I would also like to see more depth to the characterization – Galadriel is one of the oldest, most powerful elves still living on Middle Earth, descended from the most important family in elvish history, and Elendil and Isildur are destined to be two of the greatest kings in Middle Earth’s history, but I didn’t see the character depth that would imply any of that in any of those characters.
I agree with you, but I think there are plenty of examples in Simarillion and BoLT that show the Elves’ “maturity” doesn’t’ always align with their age.
That’s true, I just mean that the show fixates on her brother Finrod’s death as her sole motivating factor in life but totally neglects that (a) Finrod himself had a pretty interesting life that goes much, much deeper than just “Galadriel’s dead brother” (b) Morgoth and Sauron inflicted a lot more suffering on her family than just Finrod’s death; (c) her family had intense, conflicting dynamics that the show completely ignores in favor of “she’s sad that her brother died” and (d) there’s literally never any clue in the show that she’s much, much older than Elrond and Gil-Galad. Like I said, I actually do like the show but I was frustrated that for a show with such glacial pacing they barely scratch the surface of the pre-existing Tolkien characters that they’re using.
My overall impression was good but the last episode left a bad taste in my mouth, rushing through an event that should have taken an entire season to take place.
Alternatively intriguing and narratively inert. Neither the story nor the character development should have taken that long. Galadriel just happening to run into Sauron-in-disguise in the middle of the ocean was much too convenient.The departures from Tolkien’s text bothered me much less than some other fans, because the material the writers based the show was only published in outline form with a few narrative fragments. Also, Tolkien’s timeline of these events was far too long for a TV show. Otherwise, the cast would need to change nearly every episode, apart from the elves.
“just happening to run into Sauron-in-disguise in the middle of the ocean was much too convenient.” Pretty sure it was planned.
This is a good take. Although I’m wondering if it was possible that Sauron “devised” the “chance” encounter on the seas. Hard to imagine how, but possibly a hole season 2 will fill in.
Pretty charmless writing, nothing very memorable came out of it. The arguments online seemed more passionate than the storytelling on display.
I could write a few thousand nitpicky words, but so many people have done that before me I doubt any of it would be new. Roughly speaking, I enjoyed most of the Elf and Dwarf content, humans less so, and was sorely tempted to fast forwarded through anything Harfoot. I’m disappointed the actor who played Adar won’t be returning, but I’m looking forward to season two.
I waited until the season had finished before I dove in. And I was actually surprised. There’s a few minor things here and there, but that’s all they are, minor. On the whole, I’m looking forward to season 2.
i really enjoyed it. that tolkienesque optimism was so refreshing to just live in for a few months. it hasn’t quite hit the stride i need it to for me to fall in love with it, but i’m eager to see how season two will build on what they’ve laid out so far
It’s probably a C+/B- rating for me. Will I watch season 2? Probably, but we’ll see.
I really liked it, and im a big Simarillion/Book of Lost Tales nerd. I think I had low expectations, but I enjoyed how they referenced and mashed up stories in a way that indicated they understood the themes/feel of those books without necessarily honoring the technical details.It still feels like a manageable story in a much bigger world, which is a great sweet spot.
Does some basic/important things quite well and a lot of the casting has been great, but the source material’s totally unworkable, the showrunners aren’t really knocking it out of the park even on those terms, and it’ll probably be remembered more as the most expensive TV series in history than anything else.
The music is excellent.
I really liked it, it probably helps that I never read the Simarillion or delved deeply into Tolkein-lore so I couldn’t be too bothered by the deviations from canon. It was stupendously beautiful and they took the time to build up characters (with a couple exceptions) rather than just making them plot devices or shallow archetypes. Plus I was all in for Miriel’s amazing crown and jewelry game.
SEVEN new characters who’s names I’m not going to remember as they whisper their dialog amidst earsplitting orchestral themes?
Seven characters important enough to get casting announcements (but not n]descriptions) seems like a lot, but remember that we’ve left behind most of the Harfoots (for the love of Eru please let this be true and not a cruel fake out) and killed off a few principal humans (haven’t we? I’ve had a hard time vesting in any of them. I’m Team Elf and Team Dwarf at this point).
Watch with subtitles.
Or headphones. The music’s worth it.
Just one more way for me to turn into my mother.
Not happy that Mawle is leaving; he did a solid job, and it’s always good seeing a disabled actor get work. Meanwhile, I’m assuming one of these new people is playing Celeborn.
Even though the LOTR Wiki page IMMEDIATELY spoiled the big twist for me when I went to look up something about Elendil and it offered “similar articles,” I still enjoyed the back half, which is considerably better than the first half. Episodes 6 and 7 are just amazing. Stunning TV. Wish the whole season had been like that, but I’ll take what I can get.
I only watched the first 2 episodes, but i read about that twist where a character revealed themselves as another character.for those who watched it, was it a good twist? no spoilers just whether it was executed well? i love a good twist.
It was a terrible execution of a twist and down right insulting to anyone that has even a cursory knowledge of the source material.