Amazon’s Lord of the Rings Star Says Series Is Something “People Have Never Seen”

Peter Jackson’s original Lord of the Rings trilogy was unlike anything moviegoers had ever seen before when the first film was released back in 2001. The new Amazon TV series based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s beloved world, which is currently in production, appears to be aiming for the same kind of effect with audiences. To borrow a phrase from the one and only John Hammond, Amazon is sparing no expense when it comes to The Lord of the Rings.

We’ve known that Amazon has been pouring money into this show, but the sense around the set is that something very special and unique is being made. ComicBook.com recently sat down with actor Benjamin Walker for his role in Netflix’s new film The Ice Road, and we asked him about his work on Lord of the Rings (he was on location for the project during the interview). While Walker didn’t want to reveal anything specific about the series — even his character’s identity is still being kept a secret— he did say that Lord of the Rings will be unlike anything that has come before.

“Well, I’ll tell you. I’ve done a few jobs where they say, ‘You can’t talk about it,’” Walker told us. “Usually, that’s really annoying, because you’re excited about something, and you kind of going, ‘What difference does it really make?’ But on this one, having spent some time building it, as excited as you are, you don’t want to spoil it.”

“People have never seen what we’re doing,” the actor continued. “It’s going to be exciting. Even the smallest little hint about where it might be going or what it might be, it’ll just take that little bit of joy out of seeing it for the first time.”

Given the success and popularity of the original Lord of the Rings trilogy, the bar for the new Amazon series is already pretty high. According to Walker, that pressure to deliver is part of what makes this production so exciting and enjoyable.

“I don’t see it as pressure necessarily. I see it as something that reminds you to focus,” Walker said. “There is a lot of interest and a lot of people that have a high expectation, but I like that. People want it to be good. Luckily, everyone they’ve assembled here also really wants it to be good. There’s a lot of research you have to do to understand the Legendarium at large. The source material, of course. Then it’s that the people that are putting the pressure, the fans, are actually some of the most knowledgeable and helpful people in the world about Tolkien. So I really enjoy it.”

The stakes are high for Lord of the Rings, but it seems like the cast and crew of Amazon’s ambitious series are up to the task.