Why Will Poulter left Amazon’s Lord of the Rings show after landing a lead role

Amazon is hard at work making a show based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings…or at least, it’s set in Middle-earth. To get specific, it takes place during the Second Age of Middle-earth, long before folks like Frodo, Bilbo and Aragorn were born.

We don’t know exactly what Amazon is planning, but we do know that they’ve assembled a fine-looking cast and have been shooting in New Zealand, the same place where Peter Jackson shot his Lord of the Rings movie trilogy.

But one actor won’t be among them: Black Mirror veteran Will Poulter was originally cast in “one of the show’s lead roles.” But for one reason or another, he eventually left the show altogether. What horrifying scandal precipitated this early exit? Finally, Poulter is ready to spill!

“Unfortunately, there’s no particularly interesting story, other than the fact that there was a last-minute change to the schedule, which meant that there was a clash for me and I was unable to do it,” Poulter told NME. “I have utmost respect for everyone involved in that project. And I have no doubt it’s going to be incredible.”

Wow, how…completely ordinary.

Scheduling conflicts are a reality of the filing industry, so it’s not hard to believe that Poulter simply couldn’t make the dates for one reason or another; happens all the time.

And in any case, we didn’t even know who he was going to play, although smart money is on a character named “Beldor.” Is he an elf? Is he a man, and if so, is he a Númenórean man? By our best estimate, Poulter has been replaced in the role by Robert Aramayo, who Game of Thrones fans may remember as the guy who played Young Ned Stark at the Tower of Joy.

Beyond that, we’ll have to wait until the show debuts to learn the particulars. Expect that to happen in…man, I dunno, when it’s safe to shoot big elaborate fantasy series again.

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