Amazon has quietly revealed the full cast for its upcoming Lord Of The Rings television series based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s backstories to the novels Lord Of The Rings and The Hobbit.

Set during the 3,441-year period known as the Age of Númenor, or the Second Age, Amazon’s Lord Of The Rings will likely pull from more esoteric Tolkien tomes such as The Silmarillion and The Book Of Lost Tales.

Some of you may recall that the end of the Second Age of Middle Earth was captured on film as the prologue to Peter Jackson’s The Fellowship Of The Ring.

Personally, I don’t understand how they are going to call the TV series The Lord Of The Rings when it’s not going to be an adaptation of Tolkien’s trilogy. 

I guess if Sauron The Ringmaker is the primary enemy then it is still technically about “The Lord Of The Rings.”

What else are they going to call it? J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle Earth?

The Cast

In no particular order that is: Robert Aramayo, Owain Arthur, Nazanin Boniadi, Tom Budge, Morfydd Clark, Ismael Cruz Córdova, Ema Horvath, Markella Kavenagh, Joseph Mawle, Tyroe Muhafidin, Sophia Nomvete, Megan Richards, Dylan Smith, Charlie Vickers, and Daniel Weyman.

So far the only character that I can identify from Tolkien’s work is Baldor, who is being reported as Beldor by garbage-chute tier media and will be played by Aramayo.

Baldor, also known as Baldor the Hapless, was the oldest son of Brego, 2nd Lord of the Mark, and brother of Aldor, 3rd Lord of the Mark.

You remember the Mark, don’t you? Helm’s Deep? Ride of the Rohirrim? Hello? 

This guy was the 17th Lord of the Mark if that helps put things in perspective.

Editor’s Note: Since Rohan — founded 2510 of Third Age — wasn’t even a pile of horse dung in the Second Age it’s impossible for this Baldor to be the Lord of any Mark.

Not The Witcher?

There’s not really much to criticize with the casting here. There was a lot of concern that Amazon would brownwash the series but it looks to be holding pretty true to Tolkien’s traditionally Western European vision.

There were groups of non-European people in Middle Earth, such as the Easterlings and Harradirin. While it’s true that they were usually on The Enemy’s side, it’s also pretty clear from the books that a lot of them were threatened and bribed into fighting. 

The Easterlings’ most apt comparison would probably be The Persians

We Must Be Cautious

Here are a few things to keep in mind when preparing yourself for Amazon taking The Lord Of The Rings into woke, soapboxing territory:

  1. It’s just the first season. They can take it in any direction they want once they have hooked you.
  2. There are an awful lot of women here. Women do not play a huge role in Tolkien’s writing, especially not in Lord Of The Rings. This might be different in the Second Age when magic and intrigue was more at play. I haven’t read those books.
  3. Sophia Nomvete. This is the Rose Ticofication of the female screen presence. Since we had a fat, ugly man play an important character in Game Of Thrones there is some precedent here. But he was presented as a bumbling fool and a coward. Do you think Miss Nomvete’s character will be shown in such a light?

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