‘The Lord of the Rings’: Hugo Weaving Has No Interest in Playing Elrond Again in Upcoming Amazon Series
Hugo Weaving is definitely done with Middle Earth. The actor who portrayed Elrond in The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit movies says he won’t return to play the character in Amazon’s upcoming TV series based on the works of author J.R.R. Tolkien.
Hugo Weaving says ‘absolutely no’ to ‘The Lord of the Rings’
Weaving recently chatted with Variety via phone about his new movie Measure for Measure. When asked if he’d ever be interested in playing the elf Elrond again, he made his position very clear.
“No way. Absolutely no,” he said. While the actor said that he would have been up for reprising the role of Agent Smith in the upcoming fourth Matrix film, the new Lord of the Rings has no appeal to him
“Matrix might have happened,” Weaving said. “But Lord of the Rings, no, I would never — I’m not interested in that at all. Look, I loved being in New Zealand with all those great people, and it was like going back to a family but actually, to be honest, I think everyone had more than enough of it.”
Amazon’s ‘Lord of the Rings’ takes place before the movies
Amazon has kept many details of the new Lord of the Rings series under wraps. But we do know the first season will consist of 20 episodes, according to SlashFilm, and will take place long before The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.
The show will explore events that happened in the Second Age of Tolkien’s fictional land of Middle Earth. (The films were set in the Third Age.) But the Second Age spans thousands of years, meaning there is a lot of ground the show could potentially cover.
There are some limitations on what stories the show can tell, though. Amazon’s rights to Tolkien’s work apparently only include The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, not the author’s other books relating to Middle Earth’s earlier history, including The Silmarillion, Empire explained. However, the appendices to The Lord of the Rings contain many details about events not explored in the movies. It seems like those are likely the source material for the show.
Tolkien scholar Tom Shippey, who is working with Amazon on the show, says the series could, in theory, address Sauron’s conflict with the Atlantis-like civilization of Númenor, according to Empire.
‘The Lord of the Rings’ cast
While plot details are scarce, Amazon has revealed some of the actors who have been cast in the show. The list includes two Game of Thrones alums: Joseph Mawle, who played Benjen Stark, and Rober Aramayo, who played a young Ned Stark.
Owain Arthur, Nazanin Boniadi, Tom Budge, Morfydd Clark, Ismael Cruz Códova, Ema Horvath, Markella Kavenagh, Tyroe Muhafidin, Sophia Nomvete, Megan Richards, Dylan Smith, Charlie Vickers, and Daniel Weyman have also joined the cast. Production on the show began earlier this year and was paused due to the coronavirus, but resumed this summer. Amazon has not yet announced a premiere date for The Lord of the Rings.
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