Will Poulter talks leaving Amazon’s The Lord of the Rings show

Before he joined the MCU, Will Poulter had a lead role in Amazon’s mondo-expensive Lord of the Rings show. What happened?

Amazon’s upcoming The Lord of the Rings TV show won’t air until next year, but it’s already generated a ton of interest. Amazon paid $250 million for the rights alone, and has only spent more since then. The show is set during the Second Age of Middle-earth, long before Frodo and company walked the One Ring to Mordor, and it’s shaping to be an epic the likes of which we’ve never seen on TV.

The cast is huge too, with at least 35 actors by our last count. Original, actor Will Poulter (The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Black Mirror: Bandersnatch) was set to play one of the leads, but was eventually replaced for reasons unknown by Robert Aramayo, who played Young Ned Stark on Game of Thrones.

Poulter did just fine, landing the role of iconic Marvel hero Adam Warlock in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, but it surely smarted to lose a part in what was shaping up to be such a notable series. Speaking to GQ, the actor looked back on it:

"As an actor, you’re very used to things not going your way and having to adapt accordingly. I’m more used to things not going my way. So I just had to shake that one off, and I’m very grateful that on this occasion with Guardians I’m able to do it."

I wondered if Poulter left The Lord of the Rings on purpose to for his spot in the Marvel lineup, as parts like that don’t come along every day, but it appears that it was Amazon’s decision. Curiouser and curiouser…

The Lord of the Rings premieres on Amazon Prime Video in September of 2022. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 comes out on May 23, 2023. Game on.

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h/t Screen Rant