Prime Video has released some images of Rory Kinnear as the iconic J.R.R. Tolkien character Tom Bombadil in Season 2 of ‘The Lord of The Rings: The Rings of Power‘.
Tolkien fans have loved the timeless, mysterious, and jovial Bombadil for decades. Given his hand in so many key moments of the larger story, the character’s absence from other on-screen depictions of Middle-earth has often been the topic of “robust” conversations online.
Tom Bombadil is a figure of unknown origin in Tolkien’s works who projects a timeless wisdom, often propelling characters in a direction to see things more clearly and helping them better understand the wide world around them. In the lore, he claims to be as old as Middle-earth itself, possessing wisdom far beyond the reaches of others. Essential to the spirit of discovery and of the search for meaning, Bombadil is famously clad in yellow boots, blue jacket, and a feathered hat, and prone to enigmatic expressions in singsong verse.
Whilst Tom Bombadil is in the original Tolkien novels on which Peter Jackson’s epic movies were based, this will be the first time the character has appeared on screen in live action. Jackson opted not to include the character in his trilogy of films as he felt Bombadil didn’t really advance the main story, so was an obvious cut he could make to an already lengthy script. He also felt the character was tricky to fit in tonally with the rest of the movies. However, ‘Rings of Power’ showrunners J. D. Payne and Patrick McKay are happy to lean into the lightness Bombadil brings.
“He’s whimsical and magical, and almost verging on silly. But also has the wisdom of the ages and the music of the spheres and deep emotional wells of ancient history and myth, and his conception and function are tied to Norse myths and have deep roots in European fairy tale,” McKay says. “So weirdly, he’s kind of the most Lord of the Rings thing in Lord of the Rings.” Payne adds, “Tom is sort of a curiosity within that structure because while it is darker, Tom Bombadil is singing and saying lines that could be nursery rhymes from children’s poems. So, he sort of defies the tonal shift of the rest of the season and is a real point of light amidst an otherwise sea of darkness.”
Rory Kinnear has most recently appeared in Netflix projects ‘The Diplomat‘ and ‘Bank of Dave’, along with popping up in ‘Our Flag Means Death’, and playing Churchill in Guy Richie’s ‘The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare’. He’s next due to appear in Joe Barton’s adaptation of ‘Amadeus‘ for Sky, along with a sequel to ‘Bank of Dave’.
“There’s this sense of huge experience, huge openness, huge empathy, and having gone through so much that he [Bombadil] knows it’s the small things that are important,” says Kinnear. “That felt actually quite domestic, felt quite reachable in terms of my understanding of who he was.”
‘The Lord of The Rings: The Rings of Power‘ Season 2 is due to premiere on Thursday, 29th August 2024 on Prime Video worldwide.
