Exclusive: Ema Horvath on Eärien's Rings of Power season 3 journey, the Númenor set, and her real-life time jump

This interview contains SPOILERS for The Rings of Power season 3.

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power has returned on Prime Video, beginning a new era for Middle-earth. Sauron is on the rise, intent on forging his One Ring to rule them all. Yet for the people of Númenor, the threat posed by this upstart "blacksmith" could not feel farther away. They have their own troubles to deal with; namely, a burgeoning civil war between King Ar-Pharazôn's King's Men and the rebel fighters of the Faithful, led by Queen Míriel and Lord Elendil.

Caught in the crossfire between these two factions is Eärien, Elendil's daughter who is acting as a spy embedded deep in Pharazôn's court. Played by Ema Horvath, few characters in The Rings of Power have undergone such a tremendous transformation during the five-year time skip from seasons 2 to 3. When last we saw Eärien, she was a devoted follower of Pharazôn who played a major part in ousting Queen Míriel (Cynthia Addai-Robinson) from power. Sometime during the intervening years she had a change of heart, and became one of the Faithful's most crucial advantages in the ongoing fight against Pharazôn (Trystan Gravelle).

Eärien's conflicted journey sits at the heart of the season's second episode, which sees her try to survive this dangerous game of cat-and-mouse, only to end up backed into a corner by Pharazôn in the episode's final moments once her cover is blown. Rather than submit to capture and risk spilling any of the Faithful's secrets, Eärien makes the fateful decision to leap from a nearby balcony, plunging to her death. It's one of the first truly shocking moments of The Rings of Power season 3, and a harbinger of the dark times ahead.

We had the opportunity to speak to Horvath over Zoom just ahead of the season premiere about this standout storyline for Eärien, what it was like filming her riveting final scene, her journey with the series from its first season, and some of the secrets of the jaw-dropping set for Númenor. Read our full interview below, edited for clarity.

DANIEL ROMAN for Winter Is Coming: Eärien underwent a pretty massive change this season during the five year time jump, essentially becoming a double agent in Pharazôn's court. Which did you have more fun playing, the tortured good side of Eärien or the evil schemer?

EMA HORVATH: Oh, that's hard. I liked both. My favorite was the scene where the death happens, obviously, because I got to do both.

WIC: Can you talk a little bit about filming that scene? What was that like on the day?

EH: It was great... It was my favorite day on this job. There's a lot that I got to do that day that I had been looking forward to for years, mainly to act opposite Trystan. He's always been the most important person in the room for her, but we've never delivered lines to each other. I don't believe we have...we've been in scenes together, but not [acting directly opposite one another]. So that was exciting.

We had the whole day for that scene, which was great. There's some takes where like, spit was flying [laughs]. It's always fun when you're in one room with an actor that you've been dying to work with and you guys get to like, just play. So yeah, that was a great day.

WIC: It comes through on screen, the chemistry in that scene was incredible. You said that was a scene you'd been looking forward to for years. When and how did you learn that season 3 was going to be the curtain call for your character?

EH: I had a Zoom call with [showrunners J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay] a couple months before I showed up in the UK for pre-production. And I had not seen a script. They called to sort of like pitch the arc, my arc, to me. And they're very animated storytellers, so... I got to the point where they're like, "And then she jumps!", and I was like "Wow!" [Laughs] And I got off the Zoom and my husband was like, did you hear what just happened, because this reaction is not [matching].

I knew that I was going to die on the island. I always knew that. But I didn't know when and I didn't know how. So yeah, it was a bit of a shock, and it took me a little while to also realize the sadness of it, because I was pretty excited to have that storyline. The reality of not coming back next season, that took a while to settle in, I think.

WIC: The Númenor set is pretty incredible. Did you have any parts of it that you particularly loved working on during your time on the show?

EH: I've been waiting for someone to ask me this question! So, I did not talk to the production designer at all this season, but I have one scene, it's when you first meet her and she's getting her hair done. And it's her room, it's her big massive room that she has in the castle now that she has like, a fair amount of power. And they had made her bed... you can see it in the background, but the size of it is not [clear]. You can't tell from the shot, but when I walked in, the room was so massive and the bed is so tiny... I think it was smaller than a twin. And I was like, 'Wait, what? Like, she's kind of a big deal, why isn't her bed like, massive?' I literally laughed when I saw it, and then two minutes later I was like, oh, you dummy, this tracks with all the work you've done, too. She's literally marooned herself on this tiny uncomfortable island away from her family because of her very anti-social political views.

So that was amazing. I never got to talk to the production designer and be like, "You did something so perfect that it took me a second to realize how perfect it was." [It's] the literal thing of like, how do you sleep at night?

WIC: This season starts with the five-year time jump. How do you think Eärien managed to avoid detection for that long?

EH: I think part of it is that she's been a member of Pharazôn's political party for a while, and so, I'm sure she's well-versed in the talking points, the culture. She's been struggling, though. I think after we leave her after season 2, she very quickly has a pretty big 180. And she's been living with a lot of shame for the past four, five years. I think that she has made friends with someone in the kitchen, who has been making her concoctions to self-medicate, and I think that's also been part of her downfall is like...someone found out about that. But yeah, a lot of self-medication, I think got her through this.

It's actually funny too because in the season 1, the character does have a lot of references to alcohol, like a few. There's an exchange I have with Leon [Wadham, who plays Kemen], where it's like, yeah, I'm sober, basically... I'm paraphrasing, obviously. And so to watch her go from that to someone who really needs some sort of numbing this season... those seeds were set in season 1.

Editor's note: The scene in question happens in season 1, episode 4, where Kemen first meets Eärien and offers her a glass of wine to help her forget her troubles. She flatly refuses by replying that her "troubles have been too hard won."

WIC: Were you surprised when you found out about the 180? Looking back now, you can kind of see how season 2 foreshadows it near the very end, but I don't think it was quite so obvious when it aired.

EH: No. No, because, you know, she saves her father at the very end of season 2. But that is also her father, so it's not necessarily a harbinger of like, a change of heart. I think the extent to how much of a double agent she was was kind of exciting and interesting, and we hadn't really talked about that. But I knew that whatever was going to happen, it was going to be too late. So I didn't know how far we were going to really go until the change of heart happened, I guess.

WIC: When you look back on your time on The Rings of Power, aside from that final day, what is one of your fondest memories working on this show?

EH: I mean, this whole season. My child was nine months old when I was shooting this season, and my partner was on set and I was breastfeeding, like in between [takes], every couple of hours. And production handled it beautifully. It was very special in that way, because I remember being just like a scared kid that showed up in New Zealand at like 26 [for season 1], and then shooting this five year time jump... you know, I've had a six year time jump since I started the show. And so like, being able to perform someone who I think is fully a woman now, and then also to be experiencing motherhood at the same time at my job. There was something really magical about that aspect. So there's not a single day, but I would say this season as a whole.

You can see Horvath's work as Eärien in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, streaming now on Prime Video.

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