Is The Rings of Power ruling them all?
THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE Rings of Power is proving to rule them all.
Well, at least in the hearts of Filipino subscribers of Amazon’s streaming service Prime Video. Three episodes into the series, it’s the No. 1 show in the Philippines on the platform (as of presstime).
Globally, the Rings of Power’s pilot episode drew more than 25 million viewers, setting the record as the biggest premiere in the history of Prime Video. The Rings of Power is available in over 240 countries and territories worldwide.
Jennifer Salke, head of Amazon Studios, said in a media statement: “It is somehow fitting that Tolkien’s stories — among the most popular of all time, and what many consider to be the true origin of the fantasy genre — have led us to this proud moment. I am so grateful to the Tolkien Estate — and to our showrunners J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay, executive producer Lindsey Weber, cast and crew — for their tireless collaborative efforts and boundless creative energy. And it is the tens of millions of fans watching — clearly as passionate about Middle-earth as we are — who are our true measure of success.”
The Rings of Power airs every Friday through the Oct. 14 season finale.
Set in the Second Age of Middle-earth’s history, the story of The Rings of Power unravels thousands of years before the events of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings (LOTR) novels. It follows an ensemble cast of characters as they face a long-feared re-emergence of evil — the “greatest villain that ever flowed from Tolkien’s pen” — in Middle-earth. The first three episodes have established that sense of foreboding that increases with every new scene. The end of Episode 3, a big bad villain was teased — an Orc leader that goes by the name of Adar. The fourth episode drops today.
In an interview with The STAR, showrunner J.D. Payne assured that you don’t have to know anything about Tolkien to enjoy the show. The series targets both hardcore fans and non-fans of the master storyteller and wildly imaginative creator of LOTR.
“We designed this in such a way that people who had never read the books or seen the movies could just come in fresh to Middleearth, and experience these very emotional stories,” he said in a virtual chat.
If you haven’t kept up yet with reportedly the most expensive TV show ever made, here’s a crash course introduction to some of the major characters (both canonical and non-canonical) that appeared in the first three episodes, courtesy of the actors themselves during a recent virtual presscon.
Robert Aramayo (Game of Thrones) plays the younger version of one of the iconic LOTR characters, Elrond. The show introduces him as an ambitious young elven statesman who tries to rein in his close friend, the legendary elven commander Galadriel (played by Saint Maud actress Morfydd Clark), who follows her gut feeling that evil is returning.
He said, “He’s half-elven, which is sort of a unique thing in the elven world… He’s ambitious. He’s serving his king,” referring to Gil-Galad, High King of the Elves (played by Benjamin Walker, The Golden Compass).
Another major character — created specifically for this show — is Bronwyn played by Nazanin Boniadi (Homeland). She’s a healer and a single mother to a rebellious teenage son named Theo (Tyroe Muhafidin). She also has a forbidden romance with the elf soldier named Arondir (played by Puerto Rican actor Ismael Cruz Cordova).
“(He’s) tasked to watch over the Southlanders, I play a Southlander, whose ancestors, historically, chose the wrong side. They chose evil over good. She’s trying to redeem them,” she added.
She loves that Bronwyn has a gift for healing. “I was going to be a doctor before I started acting. I have a degree in biology. That healing side resonates with me. Also, her determination to redeem her people and to liberate them from the shackles of their past really resonate with me as a longtime activist from my homeland Iran. Women in Iran and in many places in the world are at the forefront of the move towards democracy, freedom and human rights. That’s where I drew inspiration,” the actress said.
The start of the series also presents the Harfoots, regarded as “ancestors” of the wellloved Hobbits before they settled in the Shire. Markella Kavenagh (True History of the Kelly Gang) plays Nori Brandyfoot while Megan Richards (Wanderlust) is Nori’s bestfriend and sometimes accomplice Poppy Proudfellow.
Markella said, “Harfoots are a migratory group, they are a community and they have big feet and ears, and they have a lot of heart and joy. They stick together in the face of adversity. They’re constantly looking over their shoulders but they’re optimists as well, despite having to be survivors.”
Megan, on the other hand, said that Nori and Poppy’s friendship will lead to a lot of adventure and mischief. They come across as this series’ Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamgi.
“They’re very much the yin to each other’s yang. Poppy is more cautious and I think it’s safe to say Nori is the more adventurous of the two of them… Poppy sticks by Nori’s side throughout the series… She has such love and loyalty for her friend,” she added.
Another character already introduced is the gifted elven craftsman Celebrimbor, played by Charles Edwards (The Crown). It’s the first time Celebrimbor has been featured in a live-action adaptation of the Tolkien stories.
“Obviously, there are many stories and themes in Tolkien and in our show, but ultimately, the story of The Rings of Power is the one that brings them all to a head. That’s what is so interesting with Tolkien. For such a major storyline, he gives Celebrimbor very little page space,” Charles said.
“He’s mentioned briefly and those mentions contradict each other. So what we hunt — the show runners, myself, heads of department, the directors and writers — is to find the hooks that Tolkien has given us and hang a few things on there and see how that goes. And rummage around the wardrobe a little more and see what else one could find in there — a few more hooks, a few more bits and pieces, hang it all up and see how it looks.”
Lloyd Owen (Apollo 18), meanwhile, plays Elendil, a widowed and grieving Numenorean sea captain. “He’s a very well-known character in the legendarium and many fans of the movies would have seen him in brief. But if you read the books, he’s referred to a lot,” the actor said.
“He’s a sort of hero archetype. He’s very dear to a lot of the fans and part of that reason is because of his ultimate self-sacrifice at the end during the Alliance of Elves and Men, where he dies in the act of trying to defeat Sauron. But then again, there are sort of limited signposts along the way that Tolkien gives us so there’s this great sort of responsibility, privilege and excitement to be able to fill out those gaps.”
Portraying Elendil’s son, Isildur, is Maxim Baldry (Doctor Who). “He’s a sailor on the cusp of adulthood. But there’s an emptiness and a void in him. He doesn’t really want to fit into society’s expectations. He doesn’t really want to be like his father in a way, but there’s pressure also. You kind of meet him deliberating and yearning for something else that potentially is not in Numenor, not on the island.”
These are just some of the major characters, but J.D. promised during a presscon that each cast member “in some moment this season will take your breath away.”
He said, “They truly have that something special, that is part of Middle-earth, that is inside of them, and that they have managed to capture it with their characters.”