‘The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power’ Adds Three to Cast

Prime Video has yet to specify what roles the new additions will take, but we do know they’ll be recurring on the ambitious fantasy epic.

Morfydd Clark (Galadriel) in Prime Video's 'The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.' Photo: Courtesy of Prime Video. Copyright: Amazon Studios.

Just when you thought the already sprawling ensemble of ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power’ couldn’t get any bigger, Prime Video goes and surprises us all by adding three new cast members in recurring roles for Season 2.

Ciaran Hinds, Rory Kinnear and Tanya Moodie are all joining the cast for the show, which has been in production on its second season for a while now in the UK.

Ciarán Hinds at the premiere of USA Network's 'Political Animals.'

What’s the story so far of ‘Rings of Power’?

Set thousands of years before the events of J.R.R. Tolkien’s ‘The Hobbit’ and ‘The Lord of the Rings’ books, the series takes viewers back to The Second Age, an era in which great powers were forged, kingdoms rose to glory and fell to ruin, unlikely heroes were tested, hope hung by the finest of threads, and a powerful villain threatened to cover all the world in darkness.

Beginning in a time of relative peace, the show follows an ensemble cast of characters, both familiar and new, as they confront the long-feared reemergence of evil to Middle-earth. From the darkest depths of the Misty Mountains to the majestic forests of the elf capital of Lindon, to the breathtaking island kingdom of Númenor, to the farthest reaches of the map, these kingdoms and characters will carve out legacies that live on long after they are gone.

(L to R) Charlie Vickers (Halbrand), and Morfydd Clark (Galadriel) in Prime Video's 'The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.' Photo: Courtesy of Prime Video. Copyright: Amazon Studios.

What can we expect from Season 2?

We’ll leave a Spoiler Warning here for anyone who has yet to check out the show… But given that the climactic end of Season 1 saw Charlie Vickers human warrior Halbrand unmasked as cunning, charismatic evil wizard Sauron and the effective birth of the lava-scarred land of Mordor from under a human village, expect both of those to be followed. We’ll also be going on more adventures with the Harfoots and can expect Morfydd Clark’s Elf warrior Galadriel to keep on fighting, especially since she’s now been proved right about the Sauron situation.

As for the new cast, Prime Video isn’t saying who they’ll play yet.

Rory Kinnear in 'Southcliffe,'

Where do I know Ciaran Hinds, Rory Kinnear and Tanya Moodie from?

Hinds is probably the best known of the three, an actor with a long legacy of impressive work on stage and on screens big and small. He was Oscar nominated for playing Pop in Kenneth Branagh’s ‘Belfast’ and has been seen in movies such as ‘Munich’, ‘In Bruges’, ‘Road to Perdition’, ‘Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy’ and the ‘Harry Potter’ franchise. Perhaps most relevant to both TV audiences and this new fantasy job is his run as Mance Rayder in ‘Game of Thrones’.

Kinnear is most recognizable from his performances as Bill Tanner in the Daniel Craig Bond movies starting with ‘Quantum of Solace’. Last year, he played various creepy roles in Alex Garland’s horror movie ‘Men’. On TV, he’s currently part of the cast of pirate comedy ‘Our Flag Means Death’.

Moodie has been seen in ‘Motherland’, ‘Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere’, and ‘Sherlock’ on TV. Movie-wise, she’s appeared in ‘Star Wars: Episode IX ––The Rise of Skywalker’ as a General and in Sam Mendes’ ‘Empire of Light.’

All eight episodes of ‘The Rings of Power’ are available now on Prime Video, with the second season to follow at an unspecified date.