Lloyd Own plays Elendil in The Rings of Power. (Photo: Llyod/Instagram)The Lord of the Rings is all set to get its spin-off in a web series. Titled The Rings of Power, the much-anticipated series is set to stream from September 2 on Amazon Prime Video. Recently, the cast along with showrunner JD Payne was in India to promote their project. During the interviews, Lloyd Owen shared with indianexpress.com how he feels working in the Bollywood film Thugs of Hindostan (2018) had prepared him to work on this international magnum opus drama.
As readers may know, Lloyd Owen played the negative lead John Clive in the Aamir Khan-Amitabh Bachchan starrer. Sharing that given the massive scale of the YRF film, he felt a strong similarity on the set of The Rings of Power. “Not just in terms of size and palette but also how we filmed in different places. So yes, there was a strong sense of resemblance. In Thugs, there was a strong mythological aspect and that is reflected in the set. And hence, I felt I was well trained for the Rings of Power working on the film,” he told us.
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The 56-year-old also drew comparisons in terms of learning a new language in both projects. He shared, “Victor Acharya, who was the director of Thugs, wrote 36 pages of lines in Urdu for me. I had to try and learn and then add meaning, weight and emotions to it. It was the hardest and yet the most rewarding thing for me as an actor. Similarly, in this show, I have to speak Elvish. When the new words came, I was like, I am here again. How to decipher and make the language my own emotions was another big similarity.”
When we further quizzed him whether he plans to show his new project to his Thugs of Hindostan co-stars Aamir Khan and Amitabh Bachchan, he chuckled to say, “I will force everyone in the team to watch it.”
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Talking further about his character Elendil, Owen mentioned that fans of the books and films would know that he is an architect hero. Towards the end, he self sacrifices himself against Sauron. He reasons for the strong attachment fans have towards the character. Calling Elendil an ‘unlikely hero’, the actor said, “I think in the essence, the hero idea… I don’t think they are born but made. In that sense, he is reluctant to be called for this great responsibility. But the thing with Tolkien is obviously in the story that there are forces outside all of the characters. There’s the weight of their fate and destiny. I think he slowly realises what his fate is going to be, and that is a painful and frightening idea. Also, what JD, Pattrick and the writers have set out for this family right from the beginning is what he goes on to do trying to keep them safe and precious. He looks after his grieving adult children in life, and that’s quite difficult.”
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Apart from Lloyd Owen, actors Robert Aramayo, Maxim Baldry, Markella Kavenagh, Charles Edwards, Megan Richards, Nazanin Boniadi, Ema Horvath, Tyroe Muhafidin and Sara Zwangobani were also part of the India tour.