The stars of “The Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power,” including Rob Aramayo (Elrond), Trystan Gravelle (Pharazôn), Megan Richards (Poppy Proudfellow), Sara Zwangobani (Marigold Brandyfoot), and Owain Arthur (Prince Durin IV) discuss their new addition to the “LOTR” world in this interview with CinemaBlend. They discuss how the original films inspired their show, the epic set design, fandom, and more!
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00:00 So every person in that wheel then is very important,
00:04 they're a very important cog to it,
00:05 and it just wouldn't revolve
00:07 without any one of those characters.
00:09 I just repeated myself.
00:11 (laughing)
00:13 - But what about the characters though?
00:16 (laughing)
00:19 (upbeat music)
00:21 Rob, I'll start with you.
00:31 I just wanna know when you guys
00:32 are approaching your own production,
00:34 whether you touch the Peter Jackson films at all
00:36 just to set the tone or for preparation at all,
00:39 or do you really wanna separate yourselves
00:40 and do your own thing?
00:42 - Well, you know, the Peter Jackson films
00:44 were like a big part of my life.
00:45 - Sure.
00:46 - You know, I used to watch them as a kid,
00:48 and Lord of the Rings in general
00:49 was a huge part of my life.
00:51 And so when you go into it as an actor,
00:53 it's like a different sort of perspective, really.
00:55 And so I went to, you know,
00:57 discovered all of this material
00:59 that I didn't even know existed about the fair stage,
01:01 and so I just really dug into that,
01:03 and like a historian, you know.
01:05 - To that end, you can get swallowed up
01:09 researching the lore that comes with this.
01:13 And so how much of that did you rely on
01:15 just the script versus branching off of it
01:18 and sort of digging into further materials?
01:21 - I think everyone was different, really.
01:23 You know, I mean, he is a lore master, you know.
01:27 So part of the research for the character,
01:30 I felt like, was learning as much as I could.
01:33 And I think that was more necessary for some people
01:37 and less necessary for others.
01:38 - Yeah, very true.
01:39 Tristan, when a series has this many characters
01:42 and potential subplots,
01:44 it can be tough for an audience to keep it all straight.
01:46 And I'm just curious how this series is tackling that.
01:49 Are there different ways that the storylines are broken up,
01:52 whether it be visually
01:53 or just the way the characters are grouped?
01:55 - Well, I think every character is integral
01:59 to the telling of the story.
02:01 So it wouldn't be the same without any one character.
02:04 So it needs all those characters, you know.
02:06 There's so many worlds in it and stuff,
02:09 and a fantasy world anyway is a very heterogeneous place.
02:14 And this is just true to type.
02:16 So every person in that wheel then is very important.
02:20 They're a very important cog to it.
02:21 And it just wouldn't revolve
02:23 without any one of those characters.
02:25 I just repeated myself.
02:27 (all laughing)
02:29 - But what about the characters, though?
02:32 (all laughing)
02:34 Honestly, are they important for this?
02:38 Megan, what was the moment on set
02:40 when the enormity of what you guys were doing
02:42 finally hit you, when it finally felt real?
02:44 - I think one of the moments that was most poignant to me
02:48 was seeing one of our sets for the first time.
02:53 We worked on location a lot,
02:54 and we were on this farm that had this huge forest.
02:58 And the set designers were incredible.
03:01 They built all of the Halfords' homes,
03:02 which are these carts,
03:03 and they're decorated so beautifully.
03:05 And they are camouflaged to the environment.
03:08 But when I first walked in,
03:11 there's a scene that you'll see in the show,
03:13 which is really beautiful.
03:15 And it had all of our background artists
03:17 who had been working very closely with Lara,
03:19 who was our movement director.
03:20 And they were creating the sequence,
03:22 and they were rehearsing it for J.A.,
03:25 who was also there.
03:26 So they were doing a camera rehearsal
03:27 to see how it fit in the space.
03:28 And that's when I first walked in and saw the set.
03:31 So I got to see the set as a live,
03:34 literally a live art form.
03:36 And that was when I really was like,
03:39 "I'm in Middle Earth here."
03:40 And it was just, yeah, it was just gorgeous.
03:43 - And people talk about going to New Zealand,
03:44 you know, to take tours of the sets that exist,
03:47 and how immersive it is.
03:48 I can't imagine.
03:49 Is that what the experience is like
03:51 when you're on those sets there?
03:52 Is it that you just feel like you're part of another world?
03:54 - Absolutely.
03:55 It's really similar for me.
03:57 One of the first times I was on the set,
03:59 and there were all the background people,
04:01 and there was, but there was also just everyone around,
04:04 and all working so hard to create this
04:07 very real, moving, vibrant beast.
04:10 And I was standing there going, "This is incredible."
04:13 I've said before now that I felt like I was cosplaying.
04:16 I was just like entering the space
04:18 and just being completely overtaken.
04:20 It was just extraordinary, really extraordinary.
04:22 - New Zealand is beautiful.
04:24 - I love that you mentioned cosplaying,
04:25 'cause we're here.
04:26 Have you guys had a chance to see
04:27 any Rings cosplayers at all?
04:30 - I am desperate to.
04:31 I haven't yet.
04:32 Is anyone else?
04:33 - Oh, yeah.
04:33 Yeah, yeah.
04:34 Yeah, they're everywhere.
04:36 - We haven't got out.
04:37 We've been there.
04:38 (all laughing)
04:39 - He's making free.
04:40 - I might touch these.
04:41 - He's doing so much.
04:42 - You're doing your one.
04:43 (all laughing)
04:44 - He dressed up like someone.
04:46 And we're now exploring.
04:47 - Yeah, I've seen quite a lot of elves.
04:50 But I've not actually, I've not seen a dwarf.
04:53 - No. - Okay.
04:54 - You'll have to fix that by tomorrow.
04:55 - Yeah, yeah, yeah.
04:56 (all laughing)
04:58 - Wayne, when Tolkien's works came out,
05:01 it had a lot of parallels to World War II.
05:03 And so I'm curious how you think this show, this series,
05:06 if it does at all, reflects and comments
05:08 on our modern culture.
05:09 - I think we can relate to the world that we live in now,
05:16 certainly with Middle Earth.
05:19 - Sure.
05:20 - Being out in New Zealand felt like Middle Earth
05:23 'cause it's an island in the middle of the ocean, you know?
05:26 And certainly with Khazad-Dum,
05:28 I related Khazad-Dum to Wales, to where I'm from.
05:35 I grew up on the side of a mountain
05:37 and slate quarries and coal mines as well.
05:42 So it's a big part of it.
05:45 I'm looking at Tristan here 'cause we're both from Wales.
05:49 (all laughing)
05:50 So yeah, so I can relate to Khazad-Dum
05:54 quite fondly because of Wales.
06:01 And yeah.
06:03 - Gotcha.
06:03 - That makes sense.
06:05 This is for anyone.
06:06 The show comes with so much anticipation
06:09 that the internet is flooded with theories.
06:11 So how much have you guys allowed yourself
06:13 to maybe dip some toes into what people are speculating
06:17 before the show even drops?
06:18 - Do you know what's wonderful about it
06:20 is that no two imaginations are the same,
06:23 like fingerprints.
06:24 So you've got to allow people to have
06:27 their imaginations run wild and stuff.
06:30 And then when they come and see the show,
06:32 it'll be similar in some respects
06:35 and then different in others.
06:36 But then it's consigned to memory.
06:38 So all they've got then is the memory,
06:40 unless they can watch it again, of course.
06:41 (all laughing)
06:42 They can if they can do.
06:43 But then they go back and it'll be all in memory
06:45 and there'll be like a sort of a mesh, I guess,
06:47 like a marriage of these two imaginings of this world.
06:52 And that's a lovely thing just to sit down and mull over.
06:54 - Yeah. - That'll be wonderful.
06:55 - That's very true.
06:56 I heard recently that you guys all got together as a cast
07:00 and watched the first three episodes.
07:02 Was that, were you guys able to participate in that?
07:05 What was it like?
07:05 What was it like seeing it come to life?
07:07 - It was gorgeous. - There was a lot of shouting.
07:09 - There was a lot of shouting.
07:10 - A lot of emotions. - Yeah, often when someone--
07:12 - Cheering. - Cheering.
07:12 - Oh, cheering. - Because also we would see,
07:14 because we were obviously so immersed in our own worlds,
07:17 occasionally we would get to see other worlds,
07:19 but not often 'cause we were working very hard.
07:22 And so, and we spent so long together
07:24 and know each other really, really well.
07:26 And to then see all the hard work
07:28 that we've been doing up on the screen was just,
07:31 I mean, we would see people and we'd be like,
07:32 "Oh my God," you know, like all that stuff.
07:34 But then, equally a minute later,
07:35 we'd be in absolute tears as a character,
07:37 something happened to a character.
07:39 So it was an odd experience of being,
07:41 "Oh, there's Matt, oh my God, is that, oh my God."
07:44 (laughing)
07:46 We were so excited.
07:48 - Yeah, I very quickly, sorry, oh, right.
07:50 - I was just gonna say, it's a rollercoaster.
07:52 - Yeah. - Yeah.
07:53 - I very quickly forgot that I was watching my friends.
07:56 - Yes, yes. - You know?
07:57 Which I think was, you know, I'm obviously,
08:01 you, very, very quickly, I was just invested
08:05 in the other world that I was watching.
08:07 - Yes. - Best compliment.
08:09 - Yes. - Yeah, it was a compliment.
08:11 I'll get to Eddie on this.
08:12 How do you all feel about the binge model
08:16 versus, you know, being everybody on the same page
08:18 with each episode dropping?
08:20 I personally prefer when everybody's
08:22 in the same point in the conversation
08:25 because it's so hard when you get to a full season drops
08:28 and the first question you have to ask is like,
08:29 "Where are you in the show?
08:30 "What have you watched?"
08:31 - I agree.
08:32 - You guys feel that way as well?
08:33 - Absolutely. - Yeah.
08:34 - I think it's brilliant how they're doing it.
08:36 - I think it needs a week to kind of absorb it.
08:38 - To absorb it, yeah. - Yes.
08:39 - And maybe go back on it.
08:40 - There's so much information within each episode
08:43 that, yeah, you do need to absorb.
08:45 - And so much richness and, yes.
08:47 - And it offers people an opportunity to then,
08:49 you know, halfway through a week go,
08:50 "Oh, I actually need to maybe rewatch that again
08:52 "and absorb it and then be ready for the next episode."
08:55 And also to sort of maintain that, hopefully, excitement.
08:58 - And anticipation, like how wonderful to see something
09:00 and go, "Oh my gosh," and have theories with your friends
09:02 and chatting and all that.
09:04 And then you all get to sit down and watch it the next week.
09:06 And I think it's great, this model.
09:08 - I'm so happy to have you guys come through.
09:09 Thank you very much.
09:10 We're excited to see you. - Thank you.
09:11 - Thank you. - Yes, appreciate it.
09:12 - Lovely to be here. - Thank you so much.
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