Orlando Bloom Didn't Originally Audition For Legolas In The Lord Of The Rings

Orlando Bloom's professional acting career started with a bang, as he landed the role of Legolas in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings series, a part he's still best known for to this day. Bloom didn't originally audition for Legolas, though. Instead, he first tried out for the role of Faramir.

Speaking to Variety, Bloom said it wasn't until later in the casting process that he became associated with Legolas.

"I had auditioned to play Faramir. I think they were probably just sifting through London and all the cities around the world to try to find these characters. I guess I probably fit the blurb of Faramir at the time. But then I got a callback to put myself on tape initially for Legolas," he said. "And I got another callback to meet Peter and Fran, who had come to London. And then I waited--I was at drama school. The rest is history."

The role of Faramir was played by Australian actor David Wenham, who turned in a memorable performance as the brother of Boromir (Sean Bean). Faramir had a complicated relationship with his father, Denethor (John Noble), and Faramir's scenes were some of the saddest and most somber in the entire trilogy.

As for Bloom, he remarked that Legolas was a "remarkable" character to play and that he felt "huge pressure" to do a good job. Not just because it was one of his first movie roles, but because the character was so beloved by fans.

"The character I knew was very beloved within the books and one of my favorite characters in the books when I read it. So I had this sense of wanting a deep desire to land the character correctly at least for the fans of the books," he said.

Bloom appeared in numerous high-profile movies early in his acting career. In addition to Fellowship of the Ring, he showed up in Black Hawk Down the same year (2001) and then came back as Legolas in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers in 2002, and then again in 2003 for Return of the King. Also in 2003, Bloom starred as Will Turner in the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie, which would spawn multiple sequels. In 2004, Bloom starred as Paris in Troy, but the actor has since said he didn't want to be in that movie.

Warner Bros. Discovery is now making two more Lord of the Rings movies, the first of which is in the works under the working title The Hunt for Gollum. Andy Serkis, who played Gollum in Jackson's trilogy, is directing the 2026 film and starring in it as Gollum once again.