Amazon Studios’ Lord of the Rings TV series, The Rings of Power, is making a big change for Season 2, with Adar actor Joseph Mawle (Game of Thrones) dropping out. Amazon Studios CEO Vernon Sanders discussed this shakeup, what’s in store for Season 3 and more in a new interview with Deadline.
Regarding Mawle’s departure from The Rings of Power, Sanders simply said, “Unfortunately, it didn’t work out.”
“Joseph var enorm og ga en utrolig prestasjon. Karakteren til Adar i sesong 2 har noen virkelig spennende dynamiske ting å spille,” sa Sanders.
Sam Hazeldine (Peaky Blinders) erstatter Mawle som Adar for The Rings of Power sesong 2. Mawle sa at han forlater The Rings of Power fordi han føler det er hans plikt som skuespiller å “utforske nye karakterer og verdener.”
The Rings of Power debuterte i september og nådde 100 millioner mennesker globalt, sa Amazon. Det kreative teamet har kartlagt fem sesonger, inkludert det aller siste skuddet. Sesong 2 spilles for tiden inn i Storbritannia. Amazon har ennå ikke offisielt bestilt en tredje sesong, Sanders sa at fans sannsynligvis kan forvente en offisiell fornyelsesordre i 2023. De kreative lagene er «sannsynligvis to til tre måneder inne» med forberedelsene til sesong 3, sa Sanders.
“Det er så mye planlegging og forberedelser som er nødvendig for at vi skal få dette montert at den eneste grunnen til at vi sannsynligvis ikke har kommet dit helt ennå [on an official renewal order for Season 3] is that we’ve just been head over heels for Season 2, but I expect there will be news in the new year.”
As mentioned, The Rings of Power Season 2 is being filmed in the UK, which is a big departure from Season 1 which was filmed in New Zealand, where Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit film trilogies were produced.
Sanders said one of the benefits of moving from New Zealand to the UK is that the show’s second season will have a different look.
“Part of the advantage of being in the UK is that we’re going to be able to shoot in locations that look very different to what we saw in season one. We can shoot all over Europe and we’ll see some of that production value on screen ,” he said.
The full Deadline interview touches on many more elements of what’s to come for The Rings of Power, such as how successful the show has been.
According to Sanders, The Rings of Power has been “a huge success” so far globally. “It’s by far the biggest scripted series, it’s the most acquired show we’ve put out. After we finished releasing episodes, we saw a new wave of people coming to the service to start the show,” Sanders said . “We’ve already released the fact that we’re over 100 million, and the number has gone up since then, there’s millions and millions beyond that.”
The Rings of Power also brought people back to the Lord of the Rings books, Sanders said, noting that the series saw a “surge in book sales” because of the show. The show, which is among the most expensive ever produced, has “more than paid for itself,” Sanders said.
“It’s just been a success for the entire company, and as important as our investment has been, it’s more than paid off for us,” the executive explained.
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