New Lord Of The Rings Show Casts One Of Its Leads

The new Lord of the Rings TV show from Amazon has cast another one of its leads. According to Variety, actor Will Poulter will play an unspecified lead role on the upcoming fantasy show. This news follows another report from July that claimed Markella Kavenagh was in discussions for a lead role, too.

Poulter is known for his roles in The Maze Runner, The Revenant, and most recently in the horror movie Midsommar. He also played one of the lead roles in Netflix's choose-your-own-adventure Black Mirror episode, Bandersnatch. Additionally, Poulter stars in the next episode of Until Dawn developer Supermassive's Dark Pictures anthology series, Little Hope.

According to Variety, the role in the Lord of the Rings TV show is a big deal for Poulter, as it was said to be "one of the more coveted jobs in town for young actors."

The new Lord of the Rings show's plot is under wraps, but it is known that it will take place during the Second Age, long before the events of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. The showrunners are JD Payne and Patrick McKay, who have no TV writing credits to their name but then neither did D.B. Weiss and David Benioff before the start of Game of Thrones.

In July, Amazon announced the star-studded behind-the-camera talent for the Lord of the Rings TV show. The writers room for the untitled Lord of the Rings show includes Gennifer Hutchinson (Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul), Helen Shang (Hannibal), Justin Dohle (Stranger Things), Bryan Cogman (Game of Thrones), and Stephany Folsom (Toy Story 4).

J.A. Bayona, the director of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, is directing episodes one and two of the Lord of the Rings show.

Kate Hawley is the costume designer; she previously worked on Edge of Tomorrow and Suicide Squad. Rick Heinrichs, who won an Oscar for Sleepy Hollow and also worked on The Last Jedi, is the production designer; Jason Smith, who worked on The Revenant, Super 8, and The Avengers is the visual effects supervisor. Tolkien scholar Tom Shippey is also working on the new Amazon show, as is Lord of the Rings movie trilogy illustrator and concept artist John Howe.

The Amazon show also has numerous producers, including people who have worked on Westworld, Boardwalk Empire, 10 Cloverfield Lane, and The Departed.

The show will air on Amazon Prime, though a release date has not been announced.

In Lord of the Rings video game news, a new Lord of the Rings title focused on Gollum is in development at Daedalic Entertainment, while a brand-new Lord of the Rings MMO is coming from Amazon--though it is not connected to the TV show.