Having sat out not only Peter Jackson’s beloved adaptation but also Ralph Bakshi’s earlier animated take on The Lord of the Rings, one of J.R.R. Tolkien’s most enigmatic characters is finally heading to the screen in the second season of Prime Video’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, and thanks to Vanity Fair we now have our first look at Old Tom Bombadil, as played by Rory Kinnear (No Time to Die, Men).
For those unfamiliar with Tolkien’s books, Old Tom pops up briefly in The Fellowship of the Ring as the Hobbits seek refuge in his home, although the character actually predates both The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, having first featured in Tolkien’s 1934 poem The Adventures of Tom Bombadil. An ancient being (and potentially the first to have arrived in Middle-earth), his exact nature is unclear, with Tolkien having described him as an intentional enigma.
“He has no clear dramatic function that would justify his inclusion in a really great movie adaptation,” states The Rings of Power co-showrunner J.D. McKay. “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. So weirdly, he’s kind of the most Lord of the Rings thing in Lord of the Rings, and also the first thing you would cut if you were adapting it as a film. But we have the advantage of a television show, and hence we are going to find a way to tap into that.”
While we wait to see what kind of role he’ll play in the show, the images shared by Vanity Fair show Kinnear’s Old Tom at his second home in the lands of Rhûn, where he’s joined by another of the show’s mysterious characters, Daniel Weyman’s The Stranger; check them out here…
In Season Two of The Rings of Power, Sauron has returned. Cast out by Galadriel, without army or ally, the rising Dark Lord must now rely on his own cunning to rebuild his strength and oversee the creation of the Rings of Power, which will allow him to bind all the peoples of Middle-earth to his sinister will. Building on Season One’s epic scope and ambition, the new season plunges even its most beloved and vulnerable characters into a rising tide of darkness, challenging each to find their place in a world that is increasingly on the brink of calamity. Elves and dwarves, orcs and men, wizards and Harfoots… as friendships are strained and kingdoms begin to fracture, the forces of good will struggle ever more valiantly to hold on to what matters to them most of all… each other.
Featuring in the cast of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 2 are Morfydd Clark, Markella Kavenagh, Robert Aramayo, Benjamin Walker, Charles Edwards, Daniel Weyman, Owain Arthur, Charlie Vickers, Sophia Nomvete, Ismael Cruz Córdova, Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Lloyd Owen, Maxim Baldry, Trystan Gravelle, Peter Mullan, Sam Hazeldine, Rory Kinnear, Ciaran Hinds, Tanya Moodie and Calum Lynch.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2 streams on Prime Video from August 29th, 2024.
Originally published May 30, 2024. Updated June 2, 2024.
