‘Lord of the Rings’ TV Show: Meet the Cast

Amazon Studios’ Lord of the Rings spinoff series has been in the works for years now, and details on the cast are still hard to pin down. There are a few dozen cast members confirmed so far, but only some have specific characters assigned to them. Keep reading to get up to speed on everything we know about the series’ cast so far.

Amazon bought the rights to The Lord of the Rings franchise in 2017 with plans to produce material set in J.R.R. Tolkien‘s Middle Earth without retelling the main story itself. That leaves short stories from Tolkien’s other writings as well as new plots based on the world-building and history laid out in The Silmarillion. Of course, even die-hard fans may not have extensive knowledge of those stories and characters off the tops of their heads, so the character names cropping up in reports or on the show’s IMDb page are understandably hard to recognize. So far, most cast members have not even been associated with a character name.

Amazon Prime’s series adaptation of The Lord of the Rings franchise is one of the most ambitious projects in the slew of fantasy adaptations coming our way. The streaming service paid a huge licensing fee to Tolkien‘s estate for the rights to his material, and it has paid for some fan-favorite actors in the world of genre fiction too. The streamer has also committed to five full seasons of its show.

“After undertaking an extensive global search, we are delighted finally to reveal the first group of brilliant performers who will take part in Amazon‘s The Lord of the Rings series,” said series showrunners J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay, in a statement published by Variety last year.

“These exceptionally talented women and men are more than just our actors: they are the newest members of an ever-expanding creative family that is now working tirelessly to bring Middle-earth to life anew for fans and audiences worldwide.”

McKay and Payne are joined by writer Bryan Cogman on the project, known as the lore expert for the first several years of HBO’s Game of Thrones. The untitled Lord of the Rings adaptation will not follow the main series, but instead dive deep into Tolkien’s extended fictional world. This means that deep-cut knowledge will be essential.

The show will be set in the Second Age of Middle Earth — thousands of years before the Fellowship of the Ring or even The Hobbit. This is a time of war, around which the Rings of Power came into existence. Most of its main characters will be brand new to fans unless they have read Tolkien’s book The Silmarillion, and other related works.

Here is a look at who will be starring in this new Lord of the Rings adaptation.

Morfydd Clark as Galadriel

Morfydd Clark is one of the most established actors on this fledgling cast, and is playing one of the few recognizable characters. According to a report by Variety last year, Clark has been confirmed to be playing Galadriel, the elf woman played by Cate Blanchett in Peter Jackson’s previous Middle Earth movies.

A Swedish woman raised in Wales, Clark is already known to fantasy fans from HBO’s His Dark Materials and Netflix’s Dracula. She also has a strong background in stage acting, which will play well into her portrayal of one of Tolkien’s proud, distinguished elves.

Robert Aramayo as Beldor

Aramayo is another familiar fantasy face, known for playing the younger version of Ned Stark in flashbacks on Game of Thrones. According to a report by Deadline, he will be playing “the young hero role, referred to as Beldor.”

So far fans have not pinned down a character named Beldor in Tolkien’s sprawling histories whom this character might be an analog for. Fans have speculated that this and other rumored characters might be fake names, meant to throw them off the scent of whatever storyline is being adapted. On the other hand, book-readers did not spoil the big “Red Wedding” twist in Game of Thrones, so studios might be better off revealing these details to generate excitement from die-hard fans.

Markella Kavenagh as Tyra

Finally, the last actor with a rumored character name is Markella Kavenagh, who has reportedly gotten the role of Tyra, according to Variety. Kavenagh is an Australian actress, known for the 2019 Western True History of the Kelly Gang.

Tyra is the character name fans have been most suspicious of while tracking reports and rumors about this Lord of the Rings series. On Reddit, fans note that it sounds a lot like Arya, and other generic fantasy names. Then again, that might make it right at home in Tolkien’s world, which is considered the progenitor of modern fantasy as we know it.

Owain Arthur

Owain Aurthur is another Welsh star confirmed for the new Lord of the Rings series. He brings more experience to the production than his co-stars mentioned above, with several popular series already under his belt.

To fans in the U.S., Arthur may not be particularly recognizable, but in the U.K. he is beloved for roles in The Palace, The Patrol and Babylon. He also lent his voice to the video game Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom.

Daniel Weyman

Daniel Weyman is a British theater actor with TV appearances going back to 2005 and film appearances going back to 2010. Book fans may also know him for his work narrating audiobooks and radio dramas, for which he has won several prestigious awards. 

Ismael Cruz Córdova

Puerto Rican-born actor Ismael Cruz Córdova got his start in commercials, and worked his way up to prestige series and feature films.

Córdova appeared in an episode of The Mandalorian on Disney+ last month and has four other shows in post-production besides The Lord of the Rings. This series may be the thing to push him over the edge into A-list territory.

Nazanin Boniadi

 

Nazanin Boniadi has had an eclectic career, working on everything from political action thrillers like Homeland to quirky sitcoms like How I Met Your Mother. She appeared in the movie Bombshell, where she played Rudi Bakhtiar. There is little doubt that Boniadi is fierce enough to flesh out the world of Middle Earth.

Ema Horvath

Ema Horvath is relatively new to Hollywood, with her first professional credit coming in 2017. She will likely find herself catapulted into super-stardom when Lord of the Rings premieres, where fans speculate that her classical features will earn her a spot as an elf.

Joseph Mawle

Another Game of Thrones fan is now tied to Lord of the Rings — Joseph Mawle, known to viewers for playing Benjen Stark, a.k.a. Cold Hands. Mawle’s character became a half-undead renegade in the series, showing up periodically to save Jon Snow or Bran Stark from White Walkers.

While he looked good as a gruff, dark-haired Stark, Mawle could just as easily go blond and play an elf in Lord of the Rings. His stature makes him an unlikely candidate for a dwarf or a halfling, though there is no telling what the series could accomplish with its prodigious budget.

Tyroe Muhafidin

Tyroe Muhafidin is brand new to Hollywood — or at least to IMDb. The actor has no previous credits, nor even a profile photo on the service. However, fans did dig up an audition tape for the young actor on YouTube after his casting. Presumably, this young man will be tugging at our heartstrings before the war in Middle Earth is over.

Sophia Nomvete

Sophia Nomvete is known to many as a British stage actor, having worked at Shakespeare’s Globe Theater in London. When she was announced for Lord of the Rings, her fans cheered wildly on social media, and she herself made an awed post on Instagram.

Megan Richards

Another young person cutting their teeth on Lord of the Rings is Megan Richards, known for appearing in Netflix’s Wanderlust in 2018 and the BBC’s Doctors last year.

Dylan Smith

Fans seem confident that the thick-bearded Dylan Smith will be playing a dwarf on the new Lord of the Rings series, but so far his role has not been confirmed. Smith is known for roles in I am the Night on TNT, Into the Badlands on AMC and the Maze Runner franchise, among others. He had a prominent role in TNT’s Jason Bourne spinoff series Treadstone last year.

Charlie Vickers

So far, Charlie Vickers is best-known for playing Guglielmo Pazzi in the Netflix series Medici, but that will likely change when fans see him set foot on Middle Earth. Like many of his co-stars, Vickers seems to be relatively new to the entertainment industry, but poised to take a huge leap into super stardom.

Cynthia Addai-Robinson

Cynthia Addai-Robinson was born in the U.K. but grew up in the U.S., and made her mark on American TV shows including Spartacus on Starz and Arrow on The CW. She played Amanda Waller on the later — a character who has gone on to be central in the DC Comics movie universe.

New Announcements

The following actors have been confirmed to have joined the Lord of the Rings cast since these initial announcements were made:

Maxim Baldry

Ian Blackburn

Kip Chapman

Anthony Crum

Maxine Cunliffe

Trystan Gravelle

Lenny Henry

Thusitha Jayasundera

Fabian McCallum

Simon Merrells

Geoff Morrell

Peter Mullan

Lloyd Owens

Augustus Prew

Peter Tait

Alex Tarrant

Leon Wadham

Benjamin Walker

Sara Zwangobani

Charles Edwards

Will Fletcher

Amelie Child-Villiers

Beau Cassidy

So far, no premiere date for The Lord of the Rings spinoff has been set, and the production is still mired in secrecy. Stay tuned for updates as they become available.