‘The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power’ — Meet Galadriel, Celebrimbor, and Sadoc Burrows in New ‘Empire’ Coverage
We’ve known for a few months the new The Lord of the Rings series, titled The Rings of Power, will be centered around a young Galadriel as she walks through the Second Age. Morfydd Clark is playing the character here, and the new issue of Empire pulls down the curtain a little bit more on her take on the character.
As this Galadriel is thousands of years younger than Cate Blanchett’s version, Clark basically is playing a different character:
“I had to find that balance between someone who has got an element of the eternal but hasn’t yet seen it all. Don’t expect the same character that you meet later on.”
However, she is still very respectful of Blanchett’s portrayal, and of the creator himself:
“Galadriel is legendary. Cate Blanchett as Galadriel was legendary. Tolkien himself is legendary!”
She also revealed that, while on set, she was constantly amazed at everything going on around her. “There’s wonders in this world beyond our wandering”, as the trailer said:
“[I] was not aware of how limited my imagination is until I stepped onto the set. It was like, ‘Oh my God, I have the imagination of a paper bag compared to this!”
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power will also introduce audiences to Celebrimbor, a key character in the creation of the Rings of Power. He is played in the show by Charles Edwards (see picture above), and as co-showrunner J.D. Payne tells Empire, he will be a central figure in the story:
“We’re dealing with one of the greatest villains that’s ever been created in Sauron. And one of the central figures in the story is the character of Celebrimbor. He’s an Elven smith who was manipulated into helping create the Rings Of Power. We’re excited to be bringing him to Middle-earth. He’s very mysterious.”
Darkness will be very much a part of The Rings of Power, much like it was a part of The Lord of the Rings, as Payne added:
“Lord Of The Rings doesn’t skirt over the darkness. It takes you to the steps of Cirith Ungol and the lair of Shelob, where friends are betraying each other and characters are being dragged into Mordor. It’s a harrowing experience you go through. But in the end, there’s always a star in the sky that says, ‘Keep going.’ We wanted to find that spirit in this series.”
The official Twitter account of the show has also identified his character poster, as part of a months-long reveal that has been going on since February:
— The Lord of the Rings on Prime (@LOTRonPrime) February 3, 2022
The third character we have been introduced so far by Empire Magazine is the Harfoot Sadoc Burrows, played by Lenny Henry. As explained by Vanity Fair in February, the Harfoots were the showrunner’s answer to the following problem: Tolkien established in his books that the Hobbits did not exist before the Third Age, which prohibited Amazon from using those characters in the Second Age. However, Hobbits are also the most famous species from Middle-earth, and should still have some part to play in any Lord of the Rings-related story, according to the showrunners.
While they share the same physical appearances as the Hobbits, they haven’t yet settled into The Shire, which also allows a lot of creative freedom to the writers. Henry explained the species as follows:
“We’re a nomadic tribe, moving with the weather and the fertility of the crops. We have big caravans on wooden wheels and we’re very good at hiding things, because humans are much bigger than us and bring trouble.
We’re the traditional Tolkien little guy. Traditionally, the little people in this world provide comedy but also get to be incredibly brave. You’re going to see us run the full gamut of emotions and actions in this adventure.”
As a person of color himself, it was especially important to Henry to have a Black Harfoot on screen in the show, as he said:
“If you can’t see it, you can’t be it. Finally, in this show, kids are going to see people of colour taking up space in the centre of a fantasy series. We’re very visible in this world and that’s very exciting.”
Much like they did with Celebrimbor, the show’s social media accounts also identified Sadoc Burrows’ character poster:
— The Lord of the Rings on Prime (@LOTRonPrime) February 3, 2022
As we speculated yesterday, a new trailer must be on the horizon. The show is less than three months away, and it’s been four months since the teaser trailer. Plus, new trailers have consistently been shown shortly after Empire shows off their latest cover stories — that was the case for Obi-Wan Kenobi and Thor: Love and Thunder in the past couple of months.
According to TheOneRing.net, Middle-earth will also have a major presence at San Diego Comic-Con, where a fully “immersive experience” will be available to attendees. No more details are known at this point, but Amazon is definitely sparing no expenses with the show.
Stay tuned for more news concerning The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power very soon.
Miguel Fernández is a Spanish student that has movies as his second passion in life. His favorite movie of all time is The Lord of the Rings, but he is also a huge Star Wars fan. However, fantasy movies are not his only cup of tea, as authors like Scorsese, Fincher, Kubrick or Hitchcock have been an obsession for him since he started to understand the language of filmmaking. He is that guy who will watch a black and white movie, just because it is in black and white.
