Meet the cast of Amazon’s Lord of the Rings show

Ever since we learned that Amazon was making a lavishly expensive show based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, we’ve wanted details. But alas, they’ve been few and far between, with specifics leaking out in a trickle over the past year or so.

But that all changed on the Television Critics Association press tour, where Amazon pulled back the curtain on many of the faces we’ll come to know during this return trip to Middle-earth, according to Deadline. “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 showrunners and executive producers J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay. “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.”

Amazon didn’t reveal what roles the actors are playing, but we’ve got to start somewhere. Let’s meet them all!

First up: Robert Aramayo, a young British actor and Juilliard graduate best known to Game of Thrones fans for playing Young Ned Stark in Bran’s visions visions of the past from season 6.

Although we’re not sure, it’s likely that Aramayo is playing a character named Beldor, the role held by actor Will Poulter before he had to withdraw from the project.

Next, we have television and stage actor Owain Arthur:

Who else is getting Samwise Gamgee vibes?

Nazanin Boniadi is a British-Iranian actor who recently played Fox News reporter Rudi Bakhtiar in the movie Bombshell:

Tom Budge is an Australian actor, musician and writer:

Morfydd Clark is an excellent actor with roles in Netflix’s new Dracula series as well as HBO’s His Dark Materials. We already know that she’s playing the elf Galadriel, the role played by Cate Blanchett in Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings movies.

To be specific, Clark is playing a “younger” version of Galadriel, as the show is set during the Second Age of Middle-earth, back when the elves had more of a presence and Sauron was still forging the Rings of Power. It sounds a little weird talking about Galadriel like this, since she — like all elves — is basically ageless, but there you have it.

Next up is Ismael Cruz Cordova, who just finished filming a part in David E. Kelley’s HBO miniseries The Undoing opposite Nicole Kidman and Hugh Grant:

Ema Horvath, who we’d heard was in the show before now, is a Slovak American actor who was working as a script coverage intern for Blumhouse Productions when she offered the chance to audition for The Lord of the Rings:

We’d also heard of Australian actor Markella Kavenagh before now. She’ll be playing a character named Tyra.

Joseph Mawle, best known to Game of Thrones fans as Night’s Watchmen Benjen Stark, will be playing a villain on the series:

Australian actor Tyroe Muhafidin has appeared in short films and web series, but this will easily be his biggest job yet:

The UK-born Sophia Nomvete is a veteran of both stage and screen:

In addition to acting, 20-year-old Megan Richards also sings and plays piano, saxophone and guitar:

Dylan Smith has worked in theatre, film and TV, most recently appearing opposite Chris Pine in Patty Jenkins’ I Am The Night:

Young actor Charlie Vickers has appeared in a number of notable projects since graduating drama school in 2017, including starring in Netflix’s Medici: Masters of Florence alongside Sean Bean.

Finally, Daniel Weyman is an experienced English actor who’s appeared onscreen alongside the likes of Colin Firth, Emily Watson, Ralph Fiennes and Helena Bonham Carter:

And here they all are!

Amazon’s co-head of TV, Vernon Sanders, was quick to caution that this isn’t the whole cast, but it’s certainly a start. “We still have a few key roles to cast,” he said. They’ll have to cast the parts pretty quickly, since table reads are already happening and cameras start to roll next month!

The show will film at least partly in New Zealand, the same place that Jackson shot his movies.

Ready or not, here comes Middle-earth.

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