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Amazon's Lord Of The Rings Show Adds 20 New Cast Members

The Lord of the Rings prequel series is currently in production in New Zealand.

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Film and TV production in New Zealand resumed several months ago, and one of the biggest shows currently shooting there is Amazon's highly anticipated Lord of the Rings TV show. A host of new names has now been added to the cast of the series.

As reported by Variety, an additional 20 actors will appear in the series, hailing from a variety of different countries, including New Zealand, Australia, the US, Sri Lanka, and the UK. The full line-up is as follows:

  • Cynthia Addai-Robinson (Arrow)
  • Maxim Baldry (Last Christmas)
  • Ian Blackburn (One Thousand Ropes)
  • Kip Chapman (Top of the Lake)
  • Anthony Crum (The Wilds)
  • Maxine Cunliffe (Power Rangers Megaforce)
  • Trystan Gravelle (Mr Selfridge)
  • Lenny Henry (Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban)
  • Thusitha Jayasundera (Doctor Foster)
  • Fabian McCallum (You, Me and the Apocalypse )
  • Simon Merrells (Knightfall)
  • Geoff Morrell (Deep Water)
  • Peter Mullan (Ozark)
  • Lloyd Owen (The Bodyguard)
  • Augustus Prew (Prison Break)
  • Peter Tait (The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King)
  • Alex Tarrant (Shortland Street)
  • Leon Wadham (The Bad Seed)
  • Benjamin Walker (Jessica Jones)
  • Sara Zwangobani (Doctor Doctor)

There are no details yet about who any of the new cast members will be playing in the series. In a statement, showrunners JD Payne and Patrick McKay said, "The world that J.R.R. Tolkien created is epic, diverse, and filled with heart. These extraordinarily talented performers, hailing from across the globe, represent the culmination of a multi-year search to find brilliant and unique artists to bring that world to life anew. The international cast of Amazon's The Lord of the Rings series is more than just an ensemble. It is a family. We are thrilled to welcome each of them to Middle-earth."

The initial cast list was announced in January, and included Roberto Aramayo (Nocturnal Animals), Morfydd Clark (Crawl), Owain Arthur (The Palace), Ismael Cruz Cordova (Ray Donovan), and Tom Budge (The Proposition). It's been reported that Clark will play a younger version of Galadriel, the Elf played by Cate Blanchett in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings movies, while Aramayo will reportedly play a young hero named Beldor.

The show will be set thousands of years before the movies in a time known as the Second Age of Middle Earth. The setting was revealed in a series of tweets, which showed the island of Númenor on a map. In Tolkien's mythology, Númenor was destroyed long before the start of the Fellowship of the Ring, the first part of the Lord of the Rings. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom director J.A. Bayona is helming the first two episodes, but no other directors or a premiere date have been announced yet.

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hordicus

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this cast of so great and so world famous artist will get us easily forget the likes christopher lee, ian mac kellen, vigo mortensen or elijha wood, who's thes guys people would tell? ^^

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deactivated-6099af8688db0

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Lol, "diverse." Then why, pray tell, were there exactly ZERO people of color in ANY of the theatrical movies?

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jenovaschilld

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Edited By jenovaschilld

@The_Darkwalker: Tolkien works Hobbit, LOTR, The Silmarillion all had races of many colors, language, beliefs, shapes and sizes, and he emphasized that we are all one together. He was most notable for emphasis on the common man, like the Hobbit.

But for LOTR, his time in WWI when many of his friends died tragically in the war, and the comraderies of men in a hopeless situation. The focus was on their journey, like the harrowing one he had to live through. I mean if Jackson threw in diverse characters of color, for just those movies, it would be like doing the same thing with Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. Where Jackie Chan plays Beth... sob poor Beth.

But since this is a prequel based loosely on Silmarillion and larger parts of middle-earth with a more varied races, why not open it the wide and wonderful variety that we see in our own world.

The idea of a literature or work of art from the past as white only cracks me up. Britain expansion across the globe was also an act of purification, where they destroyed the history and stories of other nations and or copied and retold them as their own, whitewashing history as we know it. Do you believe that all the history of man, that black, brown, and asians did not write great works of their own. Take Ireland, who were forbade to speak their own language, books and history destroyed, teachers slain. And cuss words or foul language created as history, in reference to their own language. One of the most lavish of story telling people and history, where an estimated 95% of their history and stories were lost, and worse -as some were retold as Britain.

With internet, fast travel and more open minds, the world is expanding past the idea of a monotone racial nonfiction story and for the better. I mean we all know that Tom Cruise was truly the Last Samurai but who knows what other great stories might be out there. WE are at a time when people scoffed, became scared at Star Trek's first interracial kiss in 1968. Those who are now afraid of women in leadership roles, or gay people adopting on TV as the end of the world. Or worse people of color taking any role other than, foreigner. Thankfully years from now, we will be dead and gone, and those that look back will think how silly people were back then.

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Ormgaard

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@The_Darkwalker:

I guess you did not see the movies then or read the books? Lord of the rings is primarly a tale about the northern hemispehere of middleearth, but there is men of color if you look to the "men of the south" that has aliianced with mordor, take a look at the guys riding the war elephants.

It's quite depressing that some people think that racial diversity is something that needs to be included in a fictional world created in another time., im all in for diversity an all men & women are created equal but bitching about something like this just polutes the message in the same way that looting/destructive hordes of morons should not represent black lives matters.

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PrpleTrtleBuBum

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@The_Darkwalker: diverse as in knights, mages, dwarfs, elves, kings, farmers, trees, spiders and all sorts of evil creatures? men and women? when cate blanchett and hugo weaving are side names you have a studded cast

its sad that in an era where characters black etc cant be played by anyone except black, so in a way promoting diversity, the times are also trying to block all-something cast even if makes sense from historical standpoint

*cue "tolkien was a raving racist whose heritance should be burnt, except if we can take his work and turn them into our liking"*

i dont mind if aragorn goes to a new place that is all blacks and asians and whatever, but changing established characters is a big "why?"

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jenovaschilld

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@PrpleTrtleBuBum: That comment lacks any knowledge of the subject matter it which it was written.

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Daidochus

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Edited By Daidochus

@The_Darkwalker: Back then there was no forced wokeness. The good times back then.

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DarkDiamond335

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It seems fantasy Europe was a much more diverse place during the second age judging by this cast.

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CrouchingWeasel

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Edited By CrouchingWeasel

There is no “younger” version of Galadriel in the Second Age. She was born in Valinor long before the Second Age even began and saw the light of the Two Trees before the first rising of the Sun after the trees were destroyed by Ungoliant and Morgoth (their light only lived on in the Silmarils, jewels made by Feanor and stolen by Morgoth & she left with the second group of exiles who reached Beleriand by crossing the Northern ice. By the time of the events they’re covering in this show she’s already thousands of years old so they should have just recast the role of Cate Blanchett if she didn’t want to return instead of trying to pull this idiocy. These clowns need to brush up on their Middle Earth lore if they want to create a LOTR TV show.

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jenovaschilld

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@CrouchingWeasel: They are loosely, very loosely basing this on The Silmarillion with some Flash Gordon thrown in for good measure. Bringing back some of the franchise characters to help the series get off the ground. I get why they are doing it, but it is not needed.

The best thing Peter Jackson and his wife did, was try there best to get out of the way of the story, and keep New Line Cinema from messing with the project as well, like they did Hobbit. Oh and also Harvey Weinstein from molesting the elves.

Nothing wrong with a LOTR tv show, nothing wrong with a little messing with the time line, but I agree with you that they should just TRUST the material. It is amazing on its own and will find an audience. We do not need a baby Legolas, we do not need teen angst Gandolph. Create a good story and please not so many dicks the first few seasons to show we are edgy like GoT.

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