Performer from The Lord of the Rings movies joins Amazon’s LOTR show

Even before the coronavirus basically shut down the entertainment industry, we didn’t know a whole lot about Amazon’s upcoming The Lord of the Rings show. We knew the company paid a whole lotta money to get the rights, and we knew that it was going to be set during the Second Age of Middle-earth, back when Sauron was still busy forging the Rings of Power. We even know a lot of the actors who will be appearing in the show. But who will they be playing? What will they be doing? Those questions remain.

There’s also the matter of how closely the new show will hew to the Lord of the Rings movies made by Peter Jackson back in the early ’00s, and his later Hobbit movies. Obviously, the show is set before either of those trilogies, so it won’t be telling the same story, but it’s possible we could see some of the same characters. Sauron, for instance, was just as a big a jackass in the Second Age as he was in the Third, and there lots of elven characters who are basically immortal, from Elrond to Galadriel. (Legolas was born very early in the Third Age, so don’t expect him to show up.)

So will we see any actors from the movies pop up in the show? Kind of. Redanian Intelligence reports that Ben Fransham, who played a bunch of bit parts in both The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit movies, will be in the new show. Fransham played a goblin, a elf of Lothlorian and a member of the Uruk-hai in Fellowship of the Ring, and came back to play a goblin and work as a stunt performer years later in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. We’d guess that he’ll have a similar role in Amazon’s show, but any connection back to the older movies is a good thing.

Redanian Intelligence has also learned that English actor Anson Boon is joining the cast:

And finally, the site can put names to a couple of actors we already know are a part of the show, although we should caution that they may be code names; Amazon doesn’t want to give away information about this show if it can help it.

First, Spartacus veteran Simon Merrells is signed up to play a character named Trevyn…

LONDON, ENGLAND – JANUARY 10: Simon Merrells attends The Gold Movie Awards at the Regent Street Cinema on January 10, 2019 in London, England. (Photo by David M. Benett/Dave Benett/Getty Images)

…and actor Megan Richards will play May:

I know, this tells us so much about them.

Another connection to the older movies is that Amazon’s show will film in New Zealand, where Peter Jackson shot his films. And with that country opening back up to filmmakers again, Amazon may resume production very soon. We hope everyone stays safe.

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