Karl Urban recalls getting cast as Éomer in The Lord of the Rings

There was a time when Karl Urban was one of the most chronically underrated actors in Hollywood, but those days are long gone. Despite Urban being solid in just about every major film or show he’s appeared in, from Thor: Ragnarok to Xena: Warrior Princess to Star Trek and beyond, it wasn’t until The Boys that he became a household name. Urban is one of the breakout stars in Amazon’s subversive superhero show, where he plays a guerilla fighter pushing back against corrupt supes owned by corporate interests.

We can trace Urban’s steady rise back to Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Urban played Éomer, one of the leaders of the riders of Rohan. Speaking to The Guardian, Urban reflected on how getting hired for The Lord of the Rings changed the course of his life.

Karl Urban “just happened to be in Peter Jackson’s face” when he was casting Éomer

Urban recounted how in his early days as an actor, he relocated from his native New Zealand to Australia in hopes of getting bigger film roles. He almost immediately regretted it. “It was brutal,” he said. “I was very adamant that I wanted to work internationally, to work with the best calibre of film-maker that I could, but it was probably one of the toughest years of my life. I was actually questioning if I really wanted to do this.”

Fortunately, Urban got an offer on a project filming in New Zealand, which prompted him to change gears once again. And it was this decision that lead to him getting cast in The Lord of The Rings, something he credits with changing his life.

“I’m a firm believer in the philosophy ‘An opportunity neglected does not often return’,” the actor said. “So I went back to New Zealand and did a bunch of New Zealand films. One of them was a little film called The Price of Milk, which was directed by Harry Sinclair. Harry was a good friend of Peter Jackson, so he took a rough cut down to show Peter. And I just happened to be in Peter’s face when he was looking for someone to cast as Éomer in The Lord of the Rings.”

This sounds like one of those casting tales made in heaven. If not for Urban as Éomer, who would have been there when the Westfold fell? Who would have rallied the riders to Helm’s Deep? We don’t even want to guess.

You can see Karl Urban in season 3 of The Boys, airing now on Prime Video.

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