Maxim Baldry has officially signed on for Amazon Prime Video’s ‘Lord of the Rings’ series. He was first reported as having joined the series in October, but he had not officially signed on at that time, or even as recently as January, when Amazon released the official cast list, on which his name did not appear. At that time, Amazon Co-head of TV Vernon Sanders stated:
“We still have a few key roles to cast.”
Obviously, Baldry is playing one of these “key roles,” but the identity of his character was not disclosed.
Baldry recently appeared on HBO’s acclaimed ‘Years and Years’, as well as on ‘Strike Back’ and ‘Doctor Who’. On the big scene, he appeared in last fall’s ‘Last Christmas’.
The ‘Lord of the Rings’ series is set during Middle Earth’s Second Age, many years before the events of ‘The Hobbit’ and ‘The Lord of the Rings’ books and movies. (In fact, even though this show has only been referred to as ‘Lord of the Rings’, that will almost surely not be its real name.) This was the period when the Rings of Power were created, which will likely be a plot point.
Amazon has already ordered a second season (although the scuttlebutt is that Amazon had to agree to make FIVE seasons in order to obtain the rights from the Tolkien estate, but you didn’t hear that from me). The show is now in production in New Zealand, where the movies were filmed.
Baldry joins a cast that is headed up by Robert Aramayo who stars in the lead role as Beldor, a part that had originally been given to Will Poulter who departed due to scheduling conflicts. Beldor, like most of the characters on this series, is an original creation. So far, only one character from the books has been announced as part of the Amazon show, Galadriel, who will be played by Morfydd Clark.
The cast also includes Owain Arthur, Nazanin Boniadi, Tom Budge, Ismael Cruz Córdova, Ema Horvath, Markella Kavenagh, Joseph Mawle, Tyroe Muhafidin, Sophia Nomvete, Megan Richards, Dylan Smith, Charlie Vickers, and Daniel Weyman.
J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay act as showrunners and co-executive producers on ‘Lord of the Rings’. J.A. Bayona will direct the first two episodes and also act as executive producer along with his partner Belén Atienza. Additional EPs include Lindsey Weber, Bruce Richmond, Gene Kelly, Sharon Tal Yguado, Gennifer Hutchison, Jason Cahill and Justin Doble.
Check back for more news on Amazon’s ‘Lord of the Rings’ as it emerges.
Source: Deadline
