RINGS OF POWER Star Rory Kinnear On Tom Bombadil: "They Are Using Him In A Different Way To How Tolkien Did"

RINGS OF POWER Star Rory Kinnear On Tom Bombadil: "They Are Using Him In A Different Way To How Tolkien Did"

Tom Bombadil will make his live-action debut in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 2, and actor Rory Kinnear has now confirmed that his take on the character will be... different.

By MarkCassidy - Aug 26, 2024 05:08 PM EST
Filed Under: Lord of the Rings
Source: Via SFF Gazette

"Eldest, that's what I am... Tom remembers the first raindrop and the first acorn... He knew the dark under the stars when it was fearless - before the Dark Lord came from Outside."

We recently got confirmation that a fan-favorite character from J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, Tom Bombadil, will make his live-action debut in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 2, and the actor who will bring the "Merry Fellow" to life, Rory Kinnear, has now confirmed that the Prime Video series will be doing something "different" with the character.

If you've read Tolkien's seminal trilogy, you should be very familiar with this mysterious character, who was introduced along with his wife Goldberry when Frodo and his company made their way through the Old Forest in The Fellowship of the Ring. Bombadil was clearly a very powerful individual, who was actually able to put the ring on without turning invisible or being influenced by its evil.

Tolkien never revealed much about old Tom, but he claimed to have existed before the Dark Lord came to Arda, leading to speculation that he may even have been alive even before the coming of the Valar.

"I guess with the other adaptations, I think Peter Jackson said it, it doesn't necessarily drive the story on, particularly in the narrative of it," Kinnear tells Games Radar. "But in the pages and in people's imaginations, he is this incredible character that has so much knowledge and so much sense of fun and so much life about him, as well as the whole of humanity and history and the earth. This is sort of representative of all that Earth is, and Middle-earth."

Though Tolkien purists may not be overjoyed to hear this, Kinnear feels the ambiguity surrounding Tom gives the series a bit of room to manoeuvre when it comes to how he's depicted on screen.

"Obviously over multi-season episodic TV, you’ve got more time to investigate those stories. In the way that [showrunners] J.D. [Payne] and Patrick [McKay] are telling the story, they're able to create a role for him that isn't necessarily the one that he has in the books. So whilst they're using that character, they are using him in a different way to how Tolkien did."

What do you make of Kinnear's comments? Check out some new promo stills and a clip at the link below.

"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 1’s epic scope and ambition, Season 2 of Amazon’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power 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."

Returning cast members include Morfydd Clark, Benjamin Walker, Charles Edwards, Charlie Vickers, Markella Kavenagh, Nazanin Boniadi, Ismael Cruz Cordova, Tyroe Muhafidin, Maxim Baldry, Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Owain Arthur, Trystan Gravelle, Ema Horvath, Sophia Nomvete, Megan Richards, Dylan Smith, Leon Wadham, Daniel Weyman, and Sara Zwangobani.

Sam Hazeldine (Peaky Blinders) replaces Joseph Mawle as Adar, with Ciarán Hinds (Game of Thrones), Rory Kinnear (Penny Dreadful), and Tanya Moodie (The Man Who Fell to Earth) joining the ensemble in key roles.

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 2 returns to Prime Video on August 29.

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MaxPaint
MaxPaint - 8/26/2024, 5:17 PM
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Moriakum
Moriakum - 8/26/2024, 5:19 PM
This show is using everything in a different way to how Tolkien did...
marvel72
marvel72 - 8/27/2024, 2:02 AM
@Moriakum - I was going to say exactly the same thing.
Clintthahamster
Clintthahamster - 8/27/2024, 4:55 AM
@Moriakum - Adaptations typically make changes to the source material, it's true. If you prefer the books, they'll always be there for you.
Fogs
Fogs - 8/27/2024, 5:21 AM
@clintthahamster - Funny because while I agree with your sentence (I don't consider myself a purist) I just can't apply it in the context of this series. It's just a bad fanfic.
Moriakum
Moriakum - 8/27/2024, 6:32 AM
@clintthahamster - Yes, but even with the changes the goal is to remain true to the spirit of the source material.
This show is nowhere near the spirit and feeling of the source material. It feels like very expensive fan fiction.
Clintthahamster
Clintthahamster - 8/27/2024, 7:16 AM
@Moriakum @Fogs - I guess I need to know where y'all are getting your fanfic. Because most of what I've come across hasn't been lavishly shot TV series with ambitious but flawed concepts, and more shitty .txt docs that start with some shit like "Tom Bombadil was starting his first day of high school, but no one, not even his closest friends, knew he was a werewolf."
Fogs
Fogs - 8/27/2024, 7:55 AM
@clintthahamster - Well, perhaps it fits more in a "Sauron and Galadriel having some sexual tension in a boat while dwarf ladies sing to find mithril ,and a amnesia-suffering Gandalf comes to middle earth inside a meteor, greeted by primitive hobbits who won't really call themselves that merely due to name right issues" type of fanfic category.

Transformers always looked great so I will ignore the "lavishly shot" part. Scripts will all be TXT files in the end, with varying quality.
Clintthahamster
Clintthahamster - 8/27/2024, 9:38 AM
@Fogs - Man, either fan fiction has changed a lot since the Livejournal days, or y'all just have a higher estimation of fanfic than I do. Anyhoo!
Fogs
Fogs - 8/27/2024, 9:58 AM
@clintthahamster - Really? Semantics?
Clintthahamster
Clintthahamster - 8/27/2024, 10:12 AM
@Fogs - Considering the percentage of the patronage of this site that's some flavor of neurodivergent (including me!) it really shouldn't be surprising when people argue over semantics. That said, fair enough. I've had enough experiences with people taking my figurative language on her literally to know when I might have fallen into the same trap.
TheVisionary25
TheVisionary25 - 8/26/2024, 5:23 PM
Given that this story is set before The Hobbit or Lord or The Rings , it would make sense he is being used in a different way since those characters aren’t around yet and those events haven’t happened.

Given what we have seen of the season thus far , it seems like he’s sort of a guide or person that points The Stranger into the right direction of his destiny (whether he is Gandalf or not) which is more or less what he does in the books to my knowledge since he doesn’t have much interest in anything.

Anyway , looking forward to it and S2 overall since I enjoyed the first season!!.

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McMurdo
McMurdo - 8/26/2024, 5:24 PM
Tom Bombadil, the guy Elrond didnt invite to the Council of the Ring in Rivendel because Bombadil cannot be bothered to give a shit about the wider world, giving Gandalf advice on his purpose in Middle Earth really epitomizes these showrunners and their lack of love for Tolkien. The very notion of Olorin/Mithrandir/Gandalf not knowing his purpose in Arda is UNHINGED.
Super12
Super12 - 8/26/2024, 5:37 PM
@McMurdo - I was willing to give them a lot of grace last season. A LOT. There was enough good stuff in the show to justify me watching another episode. But the deviations went from understandable to annoying to downright unforgiveable fast. And what we've seen for season 2 shows they haven't learned a damn thing and are just staying their course. Well fine, you want to make enemies you got it. Cancel this garbage, cancel your Prime accounts. This is a tragic mishandling of the most precious IP out there.
DocSpock
DocSpock - 8/27/2024, 1:16 AM
@McMurdo -

Tommy Chong should play Tom Bombadil.
JustAWaffle
JustAWaffle - 8/27/2024, 4:05 AM
@DocSpock - User Comment Image
Fogs
Fogs - 8/27/2024, 5:24 AM
@McMurdo - bro, gandalf is a meteor man who doesn't know jackshit in this series. He should've entered the world alongside the other 4 wizards with a clear purpose in mind. Anything here can be taken seriously. They're scrapping the barrel for unused stuff so they can find the best way to distort them.
Fogs
Fogs - 8/27/2024, 5:25 AM
**nothing here
DocSpock
DocSpock - 8/27/2024, 7:19 AM
@JustAWaffle -

Right on man. The 70s were great!!
McMurdo
McMurdo - 8/27/2024, 11:57 AM
@DocSpock - the only correct casting yes 😂
bkmeijer1
bkmeijer1 - 8/26/2024, 5:28 PM
I don't mind them using a character in a different way. The LotR trilogy did it all the time. As long as it keeps it recognisable as Tolkien's creation, like that trilogy did
TheVisionary25
TheVisionary25 - 8/26/2024, 5:29 PM
@bkmeijer1 - yeah

Tolkien from what I have read kept that character deliberately mysterious and as long as they still keep him that then it could work

There’s like so many analysis and theories of what he is that there maybe should not be a definitive answer
bkmeijer1
bkmeijer1 - 8/27/2024, 1:23 AM
@TheVisionary25 - wouldn't be surprised if Tolkien himself didn't even have a definitive answer.

Hope the show isn't gonna try and explain it either. Just a chill dude hanging around is enough.
TheIronDuck
TheIronDuck - 8/27/2024, 3:34 AM
@bkmeijer1 - the implication from documented conversations between Tolkien and Lewis was that Tom Bombadil was one of the many Avatars of Aslan.
bkmeijer1
bkmeijer1 - 8/27/2024, 3:43 AM
@TheIronDuck - that's actually a pretty cool reference if that really was the idea. Didn't know that
JustAWaffle
JustAWaffle - 8/27/2024, 4:03 AM
@TheIronDuck - I read that conversation never actually happened. But it does make for an interesting fan theory.

He’s kind of the Melchizedek of Middle Earth. More of a mystery that broadens the world.
Fogs
Fogs - 8/27/2024, 5:26 AM
@TheIronDuck - hmm people implied Tom was Iluvatar or a supreme being a couple times and Tolkien always denied it, stating he should remain one of those unexplained things.
CoHost
CoHost - 8/26/2024, 5:31 PM
What else is new?
Super12
Super12 - 8/26/2024, 5:32 PM
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Izaizaiza
Izaizaiza - 8/26/2024, 5:38 PM
I haven't seen any of this show, but this feels like a very different take on. Tom bombadil. I understood, but was sad when he was excluded from the films. Back then, I always thought Robin Williams was perfect to play the character. It's true that Tom bombadil doesn't push the story along, but what it does do is give a sense of The wider World and put the current challenges that the characters are facing in perspective
TheRogue
TheRogue - 8/26/2024, 5:41 PM
@Izaizaiza - Robin Williams might be the best casting ive ever heard for Tom Bombadil damn.
Vigor
Vigor - 8/26/2024, 5:51 PM
@Izaizaiza - excellent casting idea
TheVandalore
TheVandalore - 8/26/2024, 6:18 PM
@Izaizaiza - I wanna live on that planet in the multiverse. [frick], that would have been golden.
JustAWaffle
JustAWaffle - 8/27/2024, 3:58 AM
@TheRogue - I don’t think we’d ever get a better casting for Bombadil than that. Not for another 200 years.
Fogs
Fogs - 8/27/2024, 5:28 AM
@Izaizaiza - Nice casting idea indeed but yeah, I'm fine on not having him in the trilogy.
Fares
Fares - 8/26/2024, 5:44 PM
I don't really mind as long as you make it worth watching.
TheVisionary25
TheVisionary25 - 8/26/2024, 5:49 PM
Good scene between Ben Daniels’s Cirdan & Robert Aramayo’s Elrond (the latter has been a standout in the show)..

Hopefully we see enough of the Elrond’s & Durins friendship in this since that was probably my favorite part of S1!!,

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Vigor
Vigor - 8/26/2024, 5:52 PM
Hopefully they have Tom prefer the pronoun they

I like to roast my marshmallows over the fires of conservative fanboy rage
DocSpock
DocSpock - 8/26/2024, 6:20 PM
@Vigor -

Do you understand the difference between someone disagreeing with something from Rage?

Floke
Floke - 8/27/2024, 4:44 AM
@Vigor - Why would they use that? It would be weird to make an almost god suffering from multiple personality disorder.
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