The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power will give J.R.R. Tolkien’s fans something that even Peter Jackson’s six ambitious Middle-earth movies chose to avoid: Tom Bombadil. The powerful being with a buoyant demeanor, whose exact nature has confounded Tolkien scholars for decades, was excised from Jackson’s adaptation of The Fellowship of the Ring. The Rings of Power Season 2 has cast Men star Rory Kinnear in the role. The first look at the character via Vanity Fair, sees him standing in front of “The Stranger,” played by Daniel Weyman. The Rings of Power Season 1 confirmed that the Stranger is an Istar, one of the five wizards, and many fans suspect that he is Olórin, who will eventually be called Gandalf.
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The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2 finds Tom Bombadil in the Rhûn, the region of Middle-earth east of the newly created Mordor populated by men loyal to Sauron and his master, Morgoth. The three Mystics who pursued the Stranger in The Ring of Power Season 1 came from Rhûn and eventually recognized the Stranger as an Istari.
In Tolkien’s writings, Rhûn is also where the two Blue Wizards, Alatar and Pallando, explored and attempted to free the Easterlings, the men of Rhûn, from Sauron’s influence. Not much is written about their adventures. Given Tom Bombadil’s nebulous nature, and his penchant for blue clothing, one must wonder if The Rings of Power will suggest he is a Blue Wizard, or at least associated with Alatar and Pallando.
“There’s a reason why he hasn’t been in prior adaptations, because in some ways he’s sort of an anti-dramatic character,” The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power co-showrunner J.D. Payne tells Vanity Fair of using Tom Bombadil. “He’s not a character who has a particularly strong agenda. He observes drama, but largely doesn’t participate in it. In The Fellowship of the Ring, the characters kind of just go there and hang out for a while, and Tom drops some knowledge on them.”
“Knowledge that’s not particularly relevant to anything that they’re doing or about to do,” adds the show’s other co-showrunner, Patrick McKay. “He can be a force for good, but he is challenging to integrate dramatically in that he doesn’t have an agenda. He’s not driving forward and pushing people to arrive at any particular end.”
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2 premiers on Prime Video August 29th.a
