If you could ask the artists behind your favorite show one question, what would it be?
Recently, a few Amazon employees who are The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power superfans got the opportunity to do just that. They posed their biggest, boldest, most burning questions straight to the series’ producers and cast members including Robert Aramayo, Morfydd Clark, Benjamin Walker, Charlie Vickers, and Sara Zwangobani. Here’s what they had to say.
Dana Kempler: “What was the best part and what was the hardest part of filming the 'Lord of the Rings' series?”
J.D. Payne (showrunner and executive producer): “The best part and the hardest part were the same thing: We love Tolkien so much. We love this material so much that we set a bar really high for ourselves and wanted to live up to it.”
Daniel Kinney-Spears: “Is there anything from the set that you wanted to keep or that you just really loved?”
Sara Zwangobani (Marigold Brandyfoot): “I wanted to keep my feet. I really wanted to keep my feet [laughs].”
Alex LaMontagne: “How much of a role does Sauron have?”
Morfydd Clark (Galadriel): “Well, everyone in Middle-earth is curious about Sauron.”
Charlie Vickers (Halbrand): “Yeah, where is he?”
Clark: “We're all in it together. His shadow was definitely there.”
Vickers: “I think that's something that's underneath the whole season.”
Nicolas Ward: “What was your favorite word or phrase in Elvish or Dwarvish?”
Patrick McKay (showrunner and executive producer): “What’s the thing she [Galadriel] and Elrond say to each other? Lindsey, you do it.”
Lindsey Weber: “I’m not doing that [laughs].”
Payne: “Lindóne lye cáva lissenen—"
Weber: “—Lissenen ni cavina.”
Payne: “Lindon receives you with grace—with grace I am received.”
Jessica Funk: “When you got the role, were you just happy to have landed a role, or did you feel the magnitude of the works and series immediately?”
Robert Aramayo (Elrond): “I'd say yes and no, because my deeper discovery of Elrond obviously began at that point. I started reading books and seeing his name and [laughs] learning that all of the stuff that's come before him and … I was like, ‘Wow!’”
Ashish Raj Shekhar: “Which character is the most powerful in your opinion?”
Lindsey Webber: “They're all powerful in their own ways.”
Morgan Dawir : “What was your favorite prop or costume, and why?”
J.D. Payne: “Galadriel’s dagger is pretty badass.”
Lindsey Webber: “Galadriel’s dagger, that would be my answer.”
Phil Buzzette: “What additional research did you perform to get prepared for the characters you were about to embody?”
Benjamin Walker (High King Gil-galad): “A ton. I mean, not only did I think every actor entrenched themselves in the text, but we also have this army of experts.”
Abbas Naqvi: “What was the most difficult part about filming the show (other than screaming with joy every five minutes)?”
J.D. Payne: “Wanting to make something that was so special to so many people, us included.”
Patrick McKay: “You know, carrying that responsibility is a joy, but it's also a real responsibility that we take really seriously. That makes it the best—and the worst—at the same time.”
