The Rings of Power stars reveal cut Elrond-Durin scene

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power was one of the biggest shows of the year; Amazon poured a dragon’s horde worth of money into this return to Middle-earth and it wanted you to know it.

Even so, some scenes got left on the cutting room floor. For instance, near the end of the first season, Elrond (Robert Aramayo) returns to his homeland with a small hunk of mithril, a valuable material the elves need if they don’t want to fade from Middle-earth. King Durin III (Peter Mullan) refused to let the elves mine for mithril in Khazad-dûm, but the king’s son Durin (Owain Arthur) discreetly slipped his buddy Elrond a bit of the stuff, although we don’t see the hand-off happen in the show.

“We actually did shoot the scene where I hand it to him quickly without my father knowing, so that there is a glimmer of hope for Middle-earth,” Arthur told TV Line. “I like that Durin still went against his father for his friend. He followed his heart [and] did what he thought he needed to do.”

"We had a little bit of a tiff at the beginning, but that made us even stronger…. and we’ve recovered from that. The fact that Elrond is now banished from Khazad-dûm doesn’t mean that I’m held captive in Khazad-dûm, so I think he will be able to go and see him at some point."

Why didn’t Poppy join Nori when Nori left with the Stranger?

That’s one of the many plotlines that we’ll pick up with in season 2. We’ll also join Nori (Markella Kavenagh) as she travels into the east of Middle-earth with the Stranger (Daniel Weyman), who may or may not be Gandalf but is almost definitely Gandalf.

One surprise we already got: Nori’s friend Poppy (Megan Richards) didn’t go with her, even though a lot of people thought of Poppy as the Sam to Nori’s Frodo. “I was also surprised as a person reading it in the script,” Kavenagh said. She thought of Nori and Poppy’s friendship as “having a bungee rope attached between us, and every time one of us would step outside of our comfort, it would stretch and stretch and stretch.”

"They’ve been such an integral part of each other’s lives for so long that maybe they need to do their own thing for a bit. It’s important for growth and to know that they’ll always be there, and they’ll always have each other’s back. But they also need to really own who they are as individuals and have their own sense of autonomy for a bit. It’s sad, but it’s also life."

How will Arondir adjust to living with his human girlfriend?

And then there’s the elf Arondir (Ismael Cruz Córdova), who has started up a romance with the human woman Bronwyn (Nazanin Boniadi). In season 2, Arondir will get more serious about his relationship with Bronwyn and her son Theo (Tyroe Muhafidin), which will require some adjustment.

“We’re always talking about elves and human relationships and humans as babies in the eyes of elves, but I think it’s reversed with him entering a more human dynamic,” Córdova said. “He is a baby in terms of knowing how to be domestic and how to be a dad or a boyfriend.”

"At the end of the day, he’s an eternal being. He’s going to outlive humans in one way or another. He’s chosen to go with the humans right now, but if he gets called upon, will he choose his family or his people?"

The Rings of Power will return sometime in 2024.

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