With the streaming wars heating up, the combatants are pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into prestige series designed to keep subscribers hooked. One of the biggest of these (if not the biggest) will be Amazon’s The Lord of the Rings show.
Details are still vague, though writers J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay have said the show will capture the “primordial beauty of the Second Age of Middle-earth”. Now a new rumor may confirm at least one major character.
Twitter account @fansfellowship is reporting that Isildur “will be one of the main characters from around episode 3 onwards”, with the character description calling for him to be played as if he “has the weight of the world on his shoulders, so must feel an old soul” and describing his personality as “troubled, but mercurial and charismatic”.
Isildur briefly appeared in the prologue of Peter Jackson’s The Fellowship of the Ring and was played by Harry Sinclair, where we saw him make the fateful decision not to destroy the One Ring. This sets in motion the events of The Lord of the Rings thousands of years later, though his sword, Narsil, went on to be wielded by Aragon when he became King.
The only problem is that a show focusing on him would mean Amazon’s show can only show the final years of the Second Age. Fans are skeptical that this rumor is true, pointing out that credible sources have indicated that the initial arcs will see the forging of the rings and the war with the elves, with Isildur only entering the plot late in the story as the Second Age comes to an end in the climactic War of the Last Alliance.
Then again, Isildur eventually lived to be 234 years old, so he can pack a lot into his life. Let’s hope we find out more soon, though the first season of The Lord of the Rings won’t air until Fall 2022.