"Eldest, that's what I am... Tom remembers the first raindrop and the first acorn... He knew the dark under the stars when it was fearless - before the Dark Lord came from Outside."
We recently got confirmation that a fan-favorite character from J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, Tom Bombadil, will make his live-action debut in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 2, and the actor who will bring the "Merry Fellow" to life, Rory Kinnear, has now confirmed that the Prime Video series will be doing something "different" with the character.
If you've read Tolkien's seminal trilogy, you should be very familiar with this mysterious character, who was introduced along with his wife Goldberry when Frodo and his company made their way through the Old Forest in The Fellowship of the Ring. Bombadil was clearly a very powerful individual, who was actually able to put the ring on without turning invisible or being influenced by its evil.
Tolkien never revealed much about old Tom, but he claimed to have existed before the Dark Lord came to Arda, leading to speculation that he may even have been alive even before the coming of the Valar.
"I guess with the other adaptations, I think Peter Jackson said it, it doesn't necessarily drive the story on, particularly in the narrative of it," Kinnear tells Games Radar. "But in the pages and in people's imaginations, he is this incredible character that has so much knowledge and so much sense of fun and so much life about him, as well as the whole of humanity and history and the earth. This is sort of representative of all that Earth is, and Middle-earth."
Though Tolkien purists may not be overjoyed to hear this, Kinnear feels the ambiguity surrounding Tom gives the series a bit of room to manoeuvre when it comes to how he's depicted on screen.
"Obviously over multi-season episodic TV, you’ve got more time to investigate those stories. In the way that [showrunners] J.D. [Payne] and Patrick [McKay] are telling the story, they're able to create a role for him that isn't necessarily the one that he has in the books. So whilst they're using that character, they are using him in a different way to how Tolkien did."
What do you make of Kinnear's comments? Check out some new promo stills and a clip at the link below.
"Sauron has returned. Cast out by Galadriel, without army or ally, the rising Dark Lord must now rely on his own cunning to rebuild his strength and oversee the creation of the Rings of Power, which will allow him to bind all the peoples of Middle-earth to his sinister will."
"Building on Season 1’s epic scope and ambition, Season 2 of Amazon’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power plunges even its most beloved and vulnerable characters into a rising tide of darkness, challenging each to find their place in a world that is increasingly on the brink of calamity."
"Elves and dwarves, orcs and men, wizards and Harfoots... as friendships are strained and kingdoms begin to fracture, the forces of good will struggle ever more valiantly to hold on to what matters to them most of all.. each other."
Returning cast members include Morfydd Clark, Benjamin Walker, Charles Edwards, Charlie Vickers, Markella Kavenagh, Nazanin Boniadi, Ismael Cruz Cordova, Tyroe Muhafidin, Maxim Baldry, Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Owain Arthur, Trystan Gravelle, Ema Horvath, Sophia Nomvete, Megan Richards, Dylan Smith, Leon Wadham, Daniel Weyman, and Sara Zwangobani.
Sam Hazeldine (Peaky Blinders) replaces Joseph Mawle as Adar, with Ciarán Hinds (Game of Thrones), Rory Kinnear (Penny Dreadful), and Tanya Moodie (The Man Who Fell to Earth) joining the ensemble in key roles.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 2 returns to Prime Video on August 29.