Amazon’s prequel to The Lord of the Rings will see Morfydd Clark portray Galadriel.
According to Variety, Morfydd Clark is the latest actress to join the cast of Amazon’s ambitious prequel to The Lord of the Rings, which is currently confirmed to run for at least two full seasons (with as many as five planned). Amazon has placed a massive investment in getting the project off the ground, and it appears as though it’s intended to be their killer app, much like Stranger Things is for Netflix and The Mandalorian is for Disney+.
Galadriel was portrayed by Cate Blanchett in the films, and Morfydd Clark will portray a much younger version of the character, befitting of a setting that takes place hundreds to thousands of years before the events of the three books comprising the story told in The Lord of the Rings. Most recently, Morfydd Clark has been seen in HBO and BBC’s adaptation of His Dark Materials, so making the jump from one fantasy franchise to another probably won’t be too difficult for her.
So far, Galadriel is the first character announced for the series who has a presence in J. R. R. Tolkien’s books. With the casting decision to bring Morfydd Clark aboard, it can be inferred that the few returning characters from the film adaptations present in the series will not be portrayed by their counterparts in the six Peter Jackson films based on The Lord of the Rings and its prequel, The Hobbit, in spite of the show being developed by New Line Cinema, who produced and distributed Peter Jackson’s movies.
Amazon’s The Lord of the Rings series is being developed by JD Payne and Patrick McKay, who will lead a writers room that includes Game of Thrones alum Bryan Cogman. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom director J. A. Bayona is set to direct multiple episodes of Amazon’s Lord of the Rings series. So far, the series has cast Markella Kavenagh, Maxim Baldry, Joseph Mawle, Ema Horvath, and Morfydd Clark in key roles.
Full details on Amazon’s Lord of the Rings series are currently unknown, though it is reported to be before the opening prologue of Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring during the Second Age of Middle-earth. The Lord of the Rings series is produced by Amazon Studios in cooperation with the Tolkien Estate and Trust, HarperCollins and New Line Cinema.
Amazon has not announced a released date for the Lord of the Rings series.
Source: Variety
