Will Poulter has successfully made the jump from TV to film, going from British sketch comedy to often playing despicable villains in Hollywood. Now, he’s making the jump back to TV with arguably the biggest role of his career. He’s been cast as one of the leads in Amazon’s upcoming Lord Of The Rings series.
He joins Australian actress Markella Kavenagh in the latest adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien‘s magnum opus. However it’s unknown what role Poulter will be playing, and plot details remain scant. The show’s official Twitter account did hint at exploring the Second Age, which in Tolkien mythology was the time where the Rings of Power — including Sauron’s One Ring — came into existence.
Star Trek Beyond writers JD Payne and Patrick McKay are at the helm of the series, while J.A. Bayona (Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom) will direct multiple episodes. Amazon Studios will produce in cooperation with the Tolkien Estate and Trust, HarperCollins, and New Line Cinema, distributor of Peter Jackson‘s feature adaptations.
Poulter was last seen in Ari Aster‘s Midsommar and Netflix’s interactive Black Mirror movie, Bandersnatch. He’s also appeared in Kathryn Bigelow‘s Detroit and Alejandro González Iñárritu‘s The Revenant. Three of the four roles here were heinous (but impressive) performances. One wonders what producers saw in them to give Poulter (presumably) the protagonist role in such a huge show.
In fact, he nearly played Pennywise in IT, before director Cary Fukunaga was replaced by Andy Muschietti and they cast Bill Skarsgård instead.
For anyone that signs on to Lord Of The Rings, it will require a long commitment. The show is expected to cost Amazon bucketloads and will surely be a centrepiece of their streaming platform for years. Poulter will obviously be happy with that.
#Peace.Love.LordOfTheRings
