Release date, times and viewing locations for the fifth episode of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power

Premise

The series is based on the history of Middle-earth written by author JRR Tolkien, and it takes place thousands of years before the events of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. It begins in a time of relative peace and continues to cover all the major events that occurred during the Second Age of Middle-earth, including the creation of the Rings of Power, the rise of the Dark Lord Sauron, the destruction of the island kingdom of Nmenor, and the end of the last alliance between Elves and Men. In Tolkien’s original stories, these events take place over thousands of years; but, in the series, they are streamlined.

Cast and characters

• Morfydd Clark as Galadriel: an Elven warrior who believes evil will return to Middle-earth. ^{The series shows the character’s journey from a warrior to the “elder stateswoman” she is described as in Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. The showrunners based her first portrayal in the series on a letter in which Tolkien described a young Galadriel as having an “Amazon disposition”. Clark says that his fluency in Welsh made it easier to learn Galadriel’s Elvish lines. Amelie Child-Villiers plays a young Galadriel.}
• Will Fletcher as Finrod: Galadriel’s brother who died hunting the Dark Lord Sauron
• Fabian McCallum as Thondir: an Elf who hunts for Sauron with Galadriel
• Kip Chapman as Rían: an Elf who hunts for Sauron with Galadriel
• Lenny Henry as Sadoc Burrows: a Harfoot elder. Henry described the Harfoots as “the traditional Tolkien child … the little people of this world provide comedy but also get incredibly brave”.
• Sara Zwangobani as Marigold Brandyfoot: a Harfoot and Nori’s mother
• Thusitha Jayasundera as Malva: a Harfoot
• Maxine Cunliffe as Vilma: a Harfoot
• Dylan Smith as Largo Brandyfoot: a Harfoot and Nori’s father
• Markella Kavenagh as Elanor “Nori” Brandyfoot: a Harfoot with a “lust for adventure”.
• Beau Cassidy as Dilly Brandyfoot: a Harfoot and Nori’s sister
• Megan Richards as Poppy Proudfellow: a curious Harfoot
• Robert Aramayo as Elrond: a half-Elven architect and politician. ^{Aramayo is interested in exploring the pressures Elrond faces according to the legacy of his father, Eärendil, as well as the fact that Elrond chose to become immortal unlike his brother Elros, who had to watch Elrond grow old and die.[4] Elrond goes from being optimistic and eager, to being world-weary and withdrawn throughout the series.}
• Benjamin Walker as Gil-galad: the High King of the Elves who rules from the realm of Lindon. ^{The character is mentioned in Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings in a poem called “The Fall of Gil-galad”, and Walker says the series will expand on that. He emphasized the character’s “strange gift of foresight. He is prescient, and he is ahead of the curve. He feels the rising pulse of evil.”[4]}
• Ismael Cruz Córdova as Arondir: a Silvan Elf with a forbidden love for the human healer Bronwyn, ^{like Tolkien’s love stories of Beren and Lúthien and Aragorn and Arwen}
• Geoff Morrell as Waldreg: a Man in Bronwyn’s village
• Peter Tait as Tredwill: a Man in Bronwyn’s village
• Ian Blackburn as Rowan: a Man in Bronwyn’s village
• Nazanin Boniadi as Bronwyn: a human mother and healer who owns an apothecary in the Southlands
• Augustus Prew as Médhor: an Elf who serves with Arondir
• Simon Merrells as Revion: the Elven Watchwarden of the Southlands
• Tyroe Muhafidin as Theo: Bronwyn’s son.
• Charles Edwards as Celebrimbor: the Elven smith who forges the Rings of Power, ^{he is a “brilliant artisan” known throughout Middle-earth who is a friend of the Dwarves of Khazad-dûm.}
• Daniel Weyman as a stranger who falls from the sky in a fiery meteor
• Owain Arthur as Durin IV: the prince of the Dwarven city of Khazad-dûm. ^{It took three hours to apply Arthur’s Dwarven prosthetics each day.}
• Charlie Vickers as Halbrand: a man running from his past whose fate is intertwined with Galadriel’s.
• Sophia Nomvete as Disa: Wife and princess of Durin IV of the Dwarven city of Khazad-dûm. ^{Disa and the other female Dwarfs have facial hair, but they don’t have large beards like the male Dwarfs in the series.}
• Peter Mullan as Durin III: the king of the Dwarven city of Khazad-dûm.
• Lloyd Owen as Elendil: a Númenórean sailor and father of Isildur who would later become a leader in the final alliance between Elves and Men
• Cynthia Addai-Robinson as Míriel: the queen regent of Númenor, ^{an island kingdom ruled by Men descended from Elrond’s half-Elven brother Elros}
• Trystan Gravelle as Pharazôn: a Númenórean advisor to the queen regent Míriel.
• Maxim Baldry as Isildur: a Númenórean sailor who eventually becomes a warrior and king. ^{The writers wanted to explore Isildur’s story beyond the source material so that the audience felt it ended in tragedy rather than silliness. Co-showrunner Patrick McKay compared the character to Al Pacino’s Michael Corleone from godfather (1972).}
• Anthony Crum as Ontamo: a Númenórean sailing cadet
• Alex Tarrant as Valandil: a Númenórean sailing cadet
• Ema Horvath as Eärien: Isildur’s sister, created for the series. Horvath and Baldry bonded in New Zealand by bungee jumping and zip-lining together.
• Joseph Mawle as Adar: the leader of the Orcs who hire people to dig their tunnels
• Leon Wadham as Kemen: son of Pharazôn.