The Lord of the Rings: Amazon Prime Video Reveals 20 New Cast Members for Prequel Series

Sir Lenny Henry, Peter Mullan, and Cynthia Addai-Robinson are in the mix.

By Akhil Arora | Updated: 4 December 2020 12:24 IST

The Lord of the Rings: Amazon Prime Video Reveals 20 New Cast Members for Prequel Series

Photo Credit: Amazon

(L-R): Alex Tarrant, Cynthia Addai-Robinson, and Maxim Baldry

Highlights

Amazon hopes to air Lord of the Rings prequel series in 2021
Many actors from New Zealand, where it’s being filmed
Others from Australia, Sri Lanka, the UK, and the US

The Lord of the Rings cast is filling up. Amazon Prime Video has announced 20 new additions to its Lord of the Rings prequel series, including Cynthia Addai-Robinson (Power), Maxim Baldry (Years and Years), newcomer Ian Blackburn, Kip Chapman (Top of the Lake), Anthony Crum (The Wilds), Maxine Cunliffe (Power Rangers Megaforce), Trystan Gravelle (The Terror), Sir Lenny Henry (Tiswas), Thusitha Jayasundera (Doctor Foster), Fabian McCallum (You, Me & The Apocalypse), Simon Merrells (Spartacus), Geoff Morrell (Grassroots), Peter Mullan (My Name Is Joe), Lloyd Owen (Apollo 18), Augustus Prew (The Morning Show), Peter Tait (LOTR: Return of the King), Alex Tarrant (800 Words), Leon Wadham (Go Girls), Benjamin Walker (Jessica Jones), and Sara Zwangobani (Disgrace).

“The world that J.R.R. Tolkien created is epic, diverse, and filled with heart,” Amazon's The Lord of the Rings showrunners and executive producers J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay said in a prepared statement. “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 20 new cast members join the 15 previously announced: Robert Aramayo, Owain Arthur, Nazanin Boniadi, Tom Budge, Morfydd Clark, Ismael Cruz Córdova, Ema Horvath, Markella Kavenagh, Joseph Mawle, Tyroe Muhafidin, Sophia Nomvete, Megan Richards, Dylan Smith, Charlie Vickers, and Daniel Weyman.

Behind the scenes, Payne and McKay are also serving as executive producers alongside J.A. Bayona (Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom) who directed the first two episodes of The Lord of the Rings' 20-episode first season, Bayona's creative partner Belén Atienza, Lindsey Weber (10 Cloverfield Lane), Bruce Richmond (Game of Thrones), Callum Greene (Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker), Sharon Tal Yguado, Gennifer Hutchison (Breaking Bad), Jason Cahill (The Sopranos), and Justin Doble (Stranger Things).

Set in the Second Age of Middle-earth (the fictional fantasy world created by author J.R.R. Tolkien), Amazon's The Lord of the Rings takes place hundreds of thousands of years before the events of the first The Lord of the Rings movie.

The Amazon series had paused production in March due to COVID-19, as did everyone globally, and it resumed filming back in September. COVID-19 didn't actually affect The Lord of the Rings because it had planned to take a break of four to five months after the first two episodes anyway. The pandemic essentially brought that forward, with Payne and McKay using the forced time off set to work on scripts for season 2, as they had planned to do.

Amazon hopes to have The Lord of the Rings prequel series on the air in 2021.

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