The world of Middle-earth will no doubt expand in the second season The Rings of Power, so it’s not surprising that Amazon is touting a host of new faces coming to the cast for round two of its Lord of the Rings prequel. Also unsurprising? The fact that just who they’re playing is also mostly being kept secret.
At least this time that secrecy is, at least hopefully, not to masquerade that one of them is actually playing the Dark Lord Sauron, like we got with Charlie Vickers’ Halbrand in season one. It’d be a bit rude to have two Saurons after all! But even then, we’ve got no details as to just who most of these new stars will play, but at least we have their names as new members of the season 2 roster:
- Ben Daniels (Rogue One, The Crown)
- Nicholas Woodeson (Rome, Skyfall)
- Nia Towle (Persuasion)
- Amelia Kenworthy (IRL, Messenger)
- Sam Hazeldine (The Hunstman: Winter’s War, Sandman)
- Yasen ‘Zates’ Atour (The Witcher, Young Wallander)
- Gabriel Akuwudike (Hanna, The War of the Worlds)
Only one character was identified, and in a twist, it’s actually a recast: Hazeldine will take over the role of the mysterious fallen Elf turned leader of the Orcs, Adar, played in season one by Game of Thrones’ Joseph Mawle. No reason for Mawle’s exit from the series was given.
The first season of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is now streaming on Amazon Prime Video. The second season is expected to debut some time in 2024.
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