Amazon Studios The Rings of Power is here. The Second season will debut on Amazon Prime August 29th of this year. We want all Spoilerites to have the best viewing experience possible and have the widest knowledge base about the Second Age of Middle-Earth. This is a weekly Let’s Get Nerdy article series highlighting a different piece of Tolkien I think you need to know about!
This post contains potential spoilers for The Rings of Power’s second season. At the time of writing these are based on what we’ve seen in trailers and early looks, but if you may want to avoid spoilers come back later and see if I was right!
Remember half an Age ago when I dared to ask Will Tom Bombadil Appear in Rings of Power Season 2? as a part of this feature very series, Spoilerites? Remember some of spoilers and rumours we have explored over the past few months which have heavily included the use of the character names “Tom Bombadil” and “Goldberry”?
Last week we receive confirmation that the Tom Bombadil part of the equation is true! Actor and noted geek, Rory Kinnear (Men, No Time to Die, Black Mirror), has been confirmed to be playing the role with some amazing photos of the second season of The Rings of Power below from Amazon Prime:
Vanity Fair was the first to break this news.
Showrunner J.D. Payne told Vanity fair:
“In our story, he has gone out to the lands of Rhûn, which we learn used to be sort of Edenic and green and beautiful, but now is sort of a dead wasteland. Tom has gone out there to see what’s happened as he goes on his various wanderings.”
… going on to add:
“when he finally crosses paths with the Stranger, you could say he has a desire to try to keep the destruction that has happened there from spreading to his beloved lands in the West. He nudges the Stranger along his journey, which he knows will eventually protect the larger natural world that he cares about. So I’d say our Tom Bombadil is slightly more interventionist than you see in the books, but only by 5 or 10 percent.”
Showrunner Patrick McKay stated separately:
“He’s whimsical and magical, and almost verging on silly. But also has the wisdom of the ages and the music of the spheres and deep emotional wells of ancient history and myth, and his conception and function are tied to Norse myths and have deep roots in European fairy tale. So weirdly, he’s kind of the most Lord of the Rings thing in Lord of the Rings.”
… with Payne adding:
“Tom is sort of a curiosity within that structure because while it is darker, Tom Bombadil is singing and saying lines that could be nursery rhymes from children’s poems. So, he sort of defies the tonal shift of the rest of the season and is a real point of light amidst an otherwise sea of darkness.”
When Kinnear was originally announced to be joining the cast the character he would be playing was not specified. I’m pleased Amazon Studios and The Rings of Power managed to get one over on us because I didn’t see any theories online connecting Kinnear to Tom Bombadil.
Deadline compares the character’s history with his trajectory in The Rings of Power as follows:
In the J.R.R. Tolkien tome, Bombadil saves Frodo and the other hobbits from myriad perils. In season 2, Bombadil encounters the Stranger (Daniel Weyman) and his Harfoot friends Nori (Markella Kavenagh) and Poppy (Megan Richards) on their journey to eastern Middle-earth.
Deadline also revealed this detail about Kinnear’s performance:
Kinnear mentions that he’ll portray Bombadil with a Cornish accent because he wanted a character that “felt like the oldest part of Britain.”
Please, please, please share your thoughts and reactions to this exciting news with me in the comments section!
In past articles I have answered the question:
- Remembering Théoden Actor, Bernard Hill
- The Rings of Power Season 2 Trailer Easter Eggs
- What is the Battle of Bywater?
