The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 1 spoilers follow.
The cast and crew of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power have opened up about the impact that the iconic film franchise had on their performances.
The new Prime Video series branches off from the established works of JRR Tolkien with an original prequel story set during the Second Age of Middle-earth.
One of the most interesting aspects of the show is that it provides a backstory for Isildur, who some Lord of the Rings fans may remember being played by Harry Sinclair in Sir Peter Jackson's films.
While Isildur will eventually become the "last king of Gondor", this younger version of the character is a sailor who hasn't yet embraced the warrior within himself.
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Speaking to Digital Spy and other media at San Diego Comic-Con about the character, new Isildur actor Maxim Baldry explained that he did not want to replicate Tolkien or Jackson's versions of the hero.
"At this moment in time, he's a young sailor trying to find himself and I don't think thinking of the end goal would have been helpful as a character," Baldry said.
"He doesn't know where he's going, right. And he's trying to understand where he fits in. He's being forced and kind of led down a path to be his father's son, [but he's] like: 'I don't want to do this. What am I meant to do?' But there's something out there – he's got a romantic yearning – it makes the end result more tragic.
"I think you'll understand him more if you see him kind of struggling as well. Finding himself and his place in the world."
Robert Aramayo took a similar approach in his portrayal of the half-elven political power broker Elrond, another pivotal character from the books.
"I focused on what he's closer to [in Rings of Power vs the original trilogy] which is his choice of, you know, mortality [or] immortality," Aramayo explained.
"So I want to focus on that interesting, fun idea of he's still kind of trying to figure out who he is and that was really fun to explore. I think at this part of his life, he's trying to be the elf that he should be, and I think it's complicated for him."
Aramayo stressed that Elrond is in "a different place" in The Rings of Power than in Jackson's movies when Hugo Weaving played the character, so it only makes sense to bring fresh aspects to his personality.
"I love what Hugo Weaving brought to him but what's so fun is that I get to take him from when he was younger," he continued. "He's more kind of dealing with the fact that his dad's a star in the sky, looking at him every night, you know? So it was fun to start there."
Related: How to watch The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power
Sara Zwangobani, who plays Marigold Brandyfoot, looked at the show a bit differently because she is already quite "passionate" about Sir Peter Jackson's movies.
"Personally, I actually don't feel it ended up influencing me at all as much as I love those works," she said. "I really felt like this was something that we created with an absolute reverence and respect for what came before.
"So surprisingly, because I have watched them so many times, I would have thought they would, but they genuinely didn't actually. This was all about what was happening between us on the ground for me."
Megan Richards, who plays Poppy Proudfellow, agreed with her co-star: "I think I was able to build Poppy from the ground upwards and really feel her in my bones and also from working with such incredible collaborators. There's also just a lot of love that we have in our group, which I really hope you see on the screen.
"And I think that you do, but also within those scripts – those relationships were already there. They were already written [by] such incredible writers and world builders and developers. So, I felt that that's where my influence came from – the people around us."
Daniel Weyman, who plays the mysterious stranger who falls from the sky, added that the Rings of Power team were focused on making the series unique from the movie franchise at every opportunity.
"You know, people were really focused on the here and now and I feel like that's the way to protect the world for the fans to [enjoy]. I'm going to commit everything I've got to this second," Weyman said.
"And so at least what you're going to get is a piece of art and people are going to like it or they're not going to like it and there's nothing anybody can do about it, but they will have committed. I think that's all we can do. That's the biggest sign of respect that we can give to people because we know what it means to everybody."
Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is on Amazon Prime Video to stream now.
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Justin is a freelance entertainment journalist and writer. He first joined Digital Spy as a freelance entertainment reporter in 2010 and also worked as a sub-editor for the brand, serving as Night News Editor from 2016 to 2024. Over more than a decade, Justin has covered numerous major entertainment events from the US and has interviewed a wide-ranging group of public figures, from comedian Steve Coogan to icons from the Star Trek universe, cast members from the Marvel Cinematic Universe and reality stars from numerous Real Housewives cities and the Below Deck franchise. Justin has also been on the ground to cover major pop culture events like the Star Wars Celebration and the D23 Expo. He's written for titles across the Hearst network, plus the likes of CBR and Us Weekly.
Gabriella Geisinger is a freelance film critic and journalist, with a focus on J-drama & film, and the Japanese production industry. She was previously Locations Editor at Screen International and Deputy Movies Editor at Digital Spy. Her writing can also befound in Curzon, 1883, and more. A born and raised New Yorker, she loves coffee and the colour black, obviously.
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