Exclusive: The Rings of Power star Cynthia Addai-Robinson (Míriel) teases the back half of season 2

The second season of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is currently airing on Prime Video. We had the pleasure of talking to Cynthia Addai-Robinson, who plays Míriel, the embattled queen regent of the island nation of Númenor. We last saw her in the third episode of the season, "The Eagle and the Sceptre," where her coronation as queen was interrupted by the revelation that she'd been using an elven artifact, a Palantír, to help make her decisions. A sizable number of Númenoreans are suspicious of all things elven, so that didn't go over well. Instead, they coronated Ar-Pharazôn, taking the arrival of a sacred eagle as a sign that he should be king, even though this was Míriel's coronation and it just as easily could have been an omen in her favor.

We talk about all of that and more with Addai-Robinson. What's Míriel's state of mind now that her rule is slipping away from her? What's in store for the second half of season 2? For season 3? Read our full interview, edited for lenghth and clarity, below:

WiC: So the second season of the Rings of Power is now airing. Congrats. I'll start with a pretty general question: now that you already have one season under your belt, how did filming this new season compare to the first? Was it easier? Harder, less, more stressful?

Cynthia Addai-Robinson: It's so hard to compare, because on the one hand, you get to come back in a second season, and you've had time to kind of fuse yourself with your character. But we did our first season under very different circumstances in New Zealand. I got to New Zealand at the end of 2020, so it was lockdown, height of the pandemic, working away in New Zealand in a sort of bubble and of heading into the unknown in a lot of ways.

And the second time around we filmed in the UK, we moved locations. It wasn't starting over by any means, but we had a lot of new additions to our fellowship, as it were. And just an opportunity to work in a different environment, different circumstances. So I don't think it's really about easier, harder, better, worse; you sort of take each scenario and find the things that are useful to you and adapt quickly when you need to.

And I think there was that benefit of not only knowing our own characters, but really having the bond with one another. I think there's that sort of shorthand and chemistry, and I feel like it's really noticeable. I think when you see us as a collective, you can really see that we are this crazy family. And we've been through a journey. I mean, this has been four years for me between the two seasons. That's high school. That's a long time to really bond with a group and work almost like a troupe, even with people that you don't necessarily share screentime with. So we've all sort of had this journey together, and it's allowed us to not only do this work and tell the story, but in the process see the world and meet fans the world over. And so it's great, I'm just appreciative really of the whole experience.

So you guys switched from filming in New Zealand to England. Does that mean that the Númenor sets were rebuilt in England after they were in New Zealand, or were you guys on location? How did the move affect the Númenor scenes specifically?

CAR: Well, there was definitely the shipment of sets, props, costumes, lots of things that were built out over there. And then obviously we've expanded the map of Middle-earth. So you're seeing new areas, new territories, even corners of the world, where maybe we've been in Númenor but now you're in sort of a different area, and [we] built out some of those sets. For Númenor specifically, we also filmed in the Canary Islands in Tenerife [in Spain]. So we did some location filming. So when you see proper coastline, as beautiful as England's beaches are, we sort of needed something a little bit more Mediterranean, a little bit more fitting for Númenorean shores. We did have a sort of a pivotal shoot that hasn't aired yet, so we haven't seen those sequences. But it gives [us] an opportunity to expand on the terrain and really tap into the talent pool here in the UK. So we kind of got the best of both in both locations, both countries.

I want to ask you a specific question. You've appeared in one episode of season 2 so far, "The Eagle and The Speptre." During that big climactic scene, where Miriel is being coronated and then an eagle shows up and then everyone starts to root 'Pharazôn, Pharazôn, Pharazôn'! [Was Miriel thinking], 'That eagle is here for me. Why is everybody acting like it's for you? It's my coronation. It's my bird. Eyes back on me.' Is that something that you were feeling or you think Miriel was feeling? Was anybody talking about this?

CAR: That is a fair point. And then it is like, where are my supporters in the crowd? How come nobody stood up for me, or even me standing up for myself?

I mean, I think what's interesting about that moment and even interesting about Míriel's position even before the coronation...I think even though she is the rightful heir to the throne, if you want to call it that, essentially been born and raised her entire life to eventually take this leadership position as it's her rightful place, there is that element of the reluctant leader and the person who wonders, 'Am I the person that should lead my people?' I think she has the love of country that Pharazôn also has. They have that overlap. They both believe that what they envision is the best way forward, and obviously have different ways of going about it. But I think there's so much sort of chaos going on...the crowd sort of takes over and chaos ensues, and it's essentially like a riot happening, and it's almost like there is no time to say, 'hey, well, you know, hold on, actually the eagle's for me, guys.'

You know, I don't know that she has it in her mind and maybe there isn't certainty there, you know, maybe the eagle is not necessarily there for her. I feel like that's kind of, you know, the conversation that they have earlier in the episode about an eagle appearing as it did for her father, the king. But I think it also speaks to the division that you already start to see rumblings of in season 1, that the split is already forming and this is sort of the kickoff. So you know, perhaps in a do-over or in a fan-fiction parallel universe, somebody can write the version where a lone voice calls out for me.

Can I ask you about the languages and pronunciation? Names like Miriel and Númenor...How did you get kind of your mouth around those pronunciations? Do you guys have coaches? And is it is something that comes naturally to you now? Or do you have to think about it when you say these made-up words and this made-up accent?

CAR: Oh, many of us have spoken about our sort of amazing dialect and linguist coach, Leith McPherson, who is the person that really oversees and helps all of us with dialects, with Quenya, Sindarin, any sort of language that comes up. If you're sort of deep into Tolkien, you know he's a linguist himself. And a lot of this story is born of language, and sort of creating a world for these languages to kind of exist and I guess have their raison d'être, if you wanna throw some French in there. So it's interesting to consider a world and a peoples really justifying a language's evolution in existence.

For us, yes, we work alongside Leigh. Some people I think just have an affinity for language, for accents, for rolling Rs and and certain things. And what I think is fun for audiences is a lot of us have a dialect on for our characters, and then you kind of hear people as they are, and it's like, 'oh, I didn't realize they were Australian or Welsh or Kiwi or American.' And to me it's very much a part of the character is how they sound. It's one of the things I think that allows you to sort of go on the journey with the character and really think they're of a place. I think if I was Míriel, if I was her like this, I don't think you'd be on that same journey. You would just hear Cynthia, you would just hear me as I am, which is just perfectly fine for certain things.

As for Míriel, so far we've seen her at a bit of a low ebb. Is there anything that you can tease about the second half that's coming up?

CAR: Well, I don't know how much I can tease, but obviously we know that...Pharazôn has essentially claimed this position of power. It now does become a question of, well, what becomes of a former queen regent? What happens to her? What's her position, what's her place? It's this revelation of dabbling in the equivalent of the dark arts, in witchcraft. You know, this Palantír reveal is kind of a bit like, 'oh my God. Like, that's how she's making decisions?' So...not only has she failed the Númenoreans but she's sort of using something that is controversial, essentially. And so what becomes of her? She's not just going to head into the Númenorean night...Does she suffer the fate of her father Tar-Palantir, who was kind of like a mad king locked in a tower, babbling about things he's seen in the seeing stone? Is that sort of the perception at this point, that she is kind of doomed to sort of repeat that fate?

So there's a lot of interesting questions. What do you do? How do you solve a problem like Míriel? What do you do with her? And I think I can tease that her ally and the person who shares the worldview alongside her is Elendil. They have sort of been through the fire together, the literal and proverbial fire. And they share the belief of the way forward. And me personally, in terms of the thematic element of what I think we're really exploring with the Númenor storyline specifically is the idea of faith and having faith and having belief in something, not religious faith per se but in a cause or in a course. And so I think you're gonna really see how they sort of apply that and navigate the challenge ahead. So I think that's really what you're seeing is like a test of this belief system of theirs. And if what is meant to be is meant to be, can they sort of trust that that is the right set of events?

Do you think she doubts herself, Míriel? Because at this point because we have seen that she went to Middle-earth in the first season, it was a bit of a botch. And you were saying earlier that maybe during the coronation there's a part of her that doesn't think she's the right person for the job. What's her state of mind now that she's facing this new challenge to her rule?

CAR: In the real world and throughout history, people in leadership positions have doubt. Even if it is preordained that you are the leader, you are the chosen one. At some point along the way, not only will you experience self doubt but you will be tested. And so each test is sort of an opportunity to reaffirm whether you are meant to be in that position or not. I like the idea that you can be both strong and have a conviction in your beliefs, and accept that at the same time. It's what makes us human. It's not about fear so much as a question.

And at the end of the day, I suppose, if Pharazôn was the rightful leader and that was gonna set Númenor on a path, should that just be? If that were the fated choice, is that ok? Even if again, throughout her whole life, she's been told you're gonna be queen one day. So I think there's something quite interesting there to explore that idea of having doubt, but also being determined that your moral compass tells you that you are the force for good. You don't know about the other person, even though Pharazôn on is her cousin, was her consiglieri. They are aligned on many things but this is where they start to split.

I think of course she has doubt, but I don't think it is a doubt that then paralyzes her. You know, I think it's now about a pivot or a question of, well, what comes next? And will there be a sign that I will know what to do? I mean, you know, she wanted to consult the Palantír because it is a bit like, 'well, maybe I need to see the next thing I'm meant to see.' Because don't forget that in season 1, the thing she does see is a giant wave hurtling toward Númenor and wiping it out. So that's very much still in her mind; am I changing the course of the vision I saw? If I go back to the Palantír, am I gonna see the same thing? Am I gonna see that I somehow averted it by taking the steps I took? All very interesting things to consider.

Going beyond The Rings of Power, I know you have The Accountant 2 coming out next year. Do you have any career goals for the future? Any dream projects?

CAR: Self-produced. I am very excited in moving forward. First of all, I'm super stoked about The Accountant 2. You know, I just wrapped that in June. So I spent sort of the beginning of the year in a very different environment. It was interesting to go from Middle-earth and being fully immersed in that to returning to something that, you know, I did the first movie eight years ago, which is wild to think it's been that long. There's still a lot of love and goodwill for that movie. It's something that I'm very proud of to this day and I love that it's had this very long life on Netflix and on cable and on planes; every time I sort of turn and look someone's watching it, which is amazing. So it was not only great to sort of revisit but to get to work with a lot of the same people that were involved in the first one. Gavin O'Connor, our director; Bill Dubuque, our writer; obviously Ben Affleck, Jon Bernthal, J. K. Simmons, and getting to work with Ben and Jon because I did not get to work with them in the first movie. I didn't share any screen time with them. So it was an exciting opportunity to sort of like go toe to toe with those guys and feel like I had an opportunity to really learn something from them.

And I think that moving forward, what I'm excited about is not feeling like I'm waiting for the opportunities, and having a chance to just tell the stories that I'm passionate about personally. And my husband and I are very much developing our own projects, our own ideas. And just, I think sometimes, you know, people have a perception of you. And I love the idea of subverting people's perceptions or surprising them or challenging yourself, doing something that you're like, 'I'm not really sure if anybody would see me this way, but I know I'm capable of more things, so I want to try.' When you're in front of the camera, you kind of get into a rhythm and sort of know what that is. But I think being part of getting a story made from the ground up in the development process, championing people's stories...I long to do that.

And I think sort of like the next step forward for me, for sure, because I'm working with the best and I hopefully feel like I'm absorbing and learning alongside them too. Both with directors like Gavin, who's an incredible director. Obviously Charlotte Brandstrom on Rings, she did four of our episodes, she's an amazing director. So there are a lot of great mentors, whether they know they're mentoring me or not, that I'm sort of really admiring and picking up things from. So that's sort of my goal for the rest of the year and beyond.

I don't expect an answer, but any news on The Rings of Power season 3? You're in London right now, any chance you're gonna walk through that door and onto the Númenor set?

CAR: Well, I definitely don't have an answer for you. If you somehow interview any of our powers that be and they are at liberty to tell you, then hopefully they've got an answer for you. But I certainly would say that, you know, it goes without saying that the story continues. Obviously, even beyond the scope of our series, it's the density of book storytelling, and this is just looking at the Second Age. So I know that all of us are primed and ready. See what I did there? I wasn't even trying to make the pun.

We are definitely looking ahead to hope that we can continue to tell this story. And I'm excited as we keep rolling the season out, because obviously we've got half the season out now. And I hope that as people continue watching week after week, they too are excited by the end to see more, and are ready for more. So I think that by the time season 2 ends airing and everybody's seen what we've accomplished, I hope that the vibe is, 'Let's do more, let's tell more.'

Thanks so much to Cynthia Addai-Robinson for chatting with us! New episodes of The Rings of Power air on Thursday on Prime Video.

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