The Lord of the Rings movie trilogy is one of the most critically-acclaimed franchises of all time, and is still beloved to this day. Many fans do annual re-watches, even of the extended editions, which can take a whole weekend. Therefore the pressure on the cast of Prime Video’s upcoming big-budget TV series The Rings of Power is immense.
Much has been written about how much the actors who formed the fellowship bonded while making the three Lord of the Rings films in New Zealand back-to-back. So much so, they even got matching tattoos. And a core group-within-the-group was the four hobbits – played by Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Billy Boyd, and Dominic Monaghan.
It must be strange for them now, seeing all of the publicity starting to gear up for a Lord of the Rings project that doesn’t include them. Speaking to ScreenRant at SDCC, Monaghan (who played mischievous Meriadoc Brandybuck) confirmed that’s been odd; “It’s a little peculiar. We were taken out for dinner last night…and directly opposite was a massive, 100-foot Rings of Power thing. I sat just looking at these characters for the rest of the evening, and I kind of said to the guys, ‘That’s kind of weird.’ It’s strange to see it.”
However, Monaghan wishes nothing but the best for the cast; “I wish it a lot of luck. I hope that it goes well, and especially for the actors – because I’m inclined to actors. I hope they’re having fun. I hope they don’t feel the pressure of expectation or from what had occurred with the Peter Jackson trilogy.”
“I hope they just think, ‘This is a great job, made some great friends, hope that it continues,’ and they embrace it, because these types of jobs – the jobs that end up being the best jobs that you ever do – can disappear in the blink of an eye. You can be like, ‘Oh, I’m going to do this for years,’ and then suddenly, three years go by and you’re like, ‘What, where’s that gone?’ And it’s done. I hope that they enjoy it, I hope they’re having a nice time, I hope that it’s a huge success.”
The Rings of Power comes to Prime Video on September 2, 2022. While we wait, check out our guide to the best Lord of the Rings characters, ranked.