The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 3 continues its prequel story, recounting some highlighted events happening during the Second Age of Middle-earth. Various major shifts in power dynamics occur this season, as Sauron begins to form his Ringwraith squad of Nazgnagôl, and attempts to forge the One Ring. While the internet has mixed reactions to the overall show, I appreciate the show for its lore-building—especially for someone who does not want to read J.R.R. Tolkien’s thick novels that this show and the movies are based on.
CGMagazine had a quick opportunity to virtually speak with The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power showrunner J.D. Payne, and actors Charlie Vickers (Sauron), Jamie Campbell Bower (Celeborn), Cynthia Addai-Robinson (Queen Regent Míriel), and Daniel Weyman (Gandalf). First, we had some fun talking about what each person’s ring of power could do if they could get an Elven-smith to forge them one. Then, we discussed how everyone felt about knowing how and when this show ends, both in the show canon and with the expected fifth season being the final season for this Prime Video fantasy series.
If you knew Elven-smiths were real in our world, and you could customize your own ring for each of yourselves, what power(s) would you imbue within it?
J.D. Payne: Man, rings are dangerous. Gandalf says to Frodo, ‘Rings of power not to be trifled with.’ Also, you have to know what Elvin-smith you’re talking with. Is he really an Elf, and what else is he promising you? What does he want to get from you?
Charlie Vickers: I would like to be able to fly. I think there’s just no limits to what you could do if you could fly, right? I’ve always thought that if you were to fly, you wouldn’t just fly around. I would not tell anyone, and I would become a professional athlete—like using that to reinvent [myself]. I’d become a basketballer, and I’d just jump from one end, fly a bit and dunk, and no one could touch me. And then you get heaps of money, all this kind of stuff. [Or I’d] be an unbelievable hurdler, just jump over all these hurdles.
Jamie Campbell Bower: Immediate sleep, just immediate and continual sleep. That would be lovely.
Charlie Vickers: (Laughing) Like death.
Jamie Campbell Bower: No, not death. Like a solid night’s sleep, [where] you’re not waking up on the hour.
Daniel Weyman: You could just cut the whole hog and just say, ‘Look, I’ll just wear the One Ring’ and know that you’re doomed to start with. Or maybe they’d go the other way, which is like food. I’m a big ice cream fan. If it were as small as ice cream on tap whenever I needed it, and I could slip the ring on and there would be this bowl of wonderful ice cream, maybe that would be okay without any health consequences. I wouldn’t mind that; bring it on.
Cynthia Addai-Robinson: Yeah, I was going to reference another timely story. It’ll be like Obsession. Be careful what you wish for, because that ice cream might be the death of you.
J.D. Payne: If I’m going to play the game, one of the powers I would love to have would be to be able to absorb knowledge from any book. Just touch a book, and you can absorb all the knowledge from it. I would love to have that power.
Cynthia Addai-Robinson: I feel like I have to agree that sometimes you have to be careful what you wish for. Too much power corrupts, as we know. Even something that’s seemingly innocuous, like ice cream, can get you in the end.
No, that’s fair. And on a more serious note, we know the fourth season has already been renewed and that this whole series story will be wrapped up in five total seasons. Is it daunting thinking you know the end, or do you all find it exciting to embrace the journey as you go with filming each season?
J.D. Payne: Both. I think while you’re in the middle of it, it feels like it will go on forever. And that’s just life in general. The same thing goes with having kids. I often meet people who are a little older than me. I’ve got 3 young children.
People say, ‘Enjoy it while it lasts because before you know it, they’re going to be out the door. You’re going to be missing those days when you were running after them, changing their diapers, and all that stuff. But when you’re in the middle of it with the long nights and the sleeplessness, you say, ‘Oh my gosh, are we ever going to get to that phase?’
I think this is similar. It’s a crazy process, an amazing process. And while you’re in the middle of it, you feel like it’s going to last forever. But I’m certain that one day, when it’s over, you’ll be like, ‘Oh my gosh, that was a career-defining, life-changing, and amazing thing. I try to be present with it and yo say this is an amazing thing. It’s challenging, but I try to be with it, love it, and soak it up.
Charlie Vickers: It’s exciting for me. I know there are still stories to be told as part of this time period that deserve to be told and will be really amazing when they’re brought to life and brought to screen. We still have the downfall of Númenor and then the Battle of the Last Alliance, which takes us right up to the prologue of The Fellowship of the Ring.
But I’ve never been a part of a show running this long before. You almost have to, with any series, almost have to kind of shut out the end. You have to focus on the task at hand. That’s the best way to do it because if you worry or think too far, then you’re not being present. And presence is all that really matters.
Cynthia Addai-Robinson: Yeah, both of you (looks to J.D. Payne and Daniel Weyman) mentioned that sense of being present. To not get ahead of ourselves and just really focus on what we’re doing now, and it’s kind of crazy. So many years have passed, and here we are now presenting Season 3. We worked on it a while ago now. So, I think for us, there’s the difference between thinking about the making of it, and then finally sharing it.
Once you put it out into the world, there is really this exchange with the audience. It’s no longer just something that we’re holding on to, and there’s this beautiful sort of back and forth now. There gets to be that dialogue with an audience. But in general, not getting ahead of ourselves and just really bringing what we can to what we have in front of us is normally our goal at the end of the day.
J.D. Payne: Being able to be a steward of Middle-earth is a gift for any of us. As actors and a writer, it’s a gift.
And very briefly, did any of you have a fond memory of The Lord of the Rings growing up?
Charlie Vickers: Quite a few. The thing that I remember always is playing the PlayStation games with my brother. I don’t remember the first time I saw the films. I clearly saw the films before I played the game, but I don’t remember. They didn’t have that much of an impact on me, but the game clearly did.
Jamie Campbell Bower: I watched the films and fell in love with the world, but I don’t remember that first viewing. But we get asked this question a lot, and one of the things that I do remember very vividly is obviously falling in love with the world so much. I was in Hong Kong when The Hobbit came out, and I was there on my own. I dragged myself to a cinema in a place called Pacific Place and sat down to watch that first Hobbit movie by myself, which was terribly exciting.
Well, thank you all again so much for your time!
