With season two of The Lord of the Rings: The Kings of Power set to arrive this August, Prime Video has released an interesting update. The streamer has revealed that Laurence Olivier Award-winning actor Rory Kinnear will portray fan-favourite J.R.R. Tolkien character Tom Bombadil in the second season.

The actor, famous for his roles in the James Bond films and The Imitation Game, was previously announced as one of the new cast members of cast of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2.

Making It Official

This announcement comes after much online speculation, as the timeless, mysterious, and jovial Tom Bombadil has been beloved by Tolkien fans for decades. Given his hand in so many key moments of the larger story, the character’s absence from other on-screen depictions of Middle-earth has often been the topic of robust conversation. The news was revealed through brand-new images from the series.

Bringing Bombadil To Life

The series’ showrunners J. D. Payne and Patrick McKay are excited to bring this new element to the story, and are thrilled that the gifted Kinnear is bringing this iconic character to life.

“He’s whimsical and magical, and almost verging on silly. But also has the wisdom of the ages and the music of the spheres and deep emotional wells of ancient history and myth, and his conception and function are tied to Norse myths and have deep roots in European fairy tale,” McKay says.

“So weirdly, he’s kind of the most Lord of the Rings thing in Lord of the Rings.” Payne adds, “Tom is sort of a curiosity within that structure because while it is darker, Tom Bombadil is singing and saying lines that could be nursery rhymes from children’s poems. So, he sort of defies the tonal shift of the rest of the season and is a real point of light amidst an otherwise sea of darkness.”

Taking On The Character

Rory Kinnear embraced the opportunity to jump into the famed yellow boots, elaborating that while the description of Tom Bombadil was well-known to readers, he relished the opportunity to portray the voice and mannerisms of the enigmatic being for the first time in a filmed iteration of Tolkien’s work.

“There’s this sense of huge experience, huge openness, huge empathy, and having gone through so much that he [Bombadil] knows it’s the small things that are important. That felt actually quite domestic, felt quite reachable in terms of my understanding of who he was.”

The second season of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power will premiere exclusively on Prime Video on August 29, 2024.

(Images: Prime Video)