Lord of the Rings star Orlando Bloom: "The TV series is different, and that's a good thing"
The British actor spoke out about the upcoming Lord of the Rings TV series being produced by Amazon.
Orlando Bloom has shed some light on Amazon's upcoming Lord of the Rings series, revealing that it's not just a rehash of the Peter Jackson-directed film trilogy.
Bloom, who played Legolas in the wildly successful cinematic franchise based on J. R. R. Tolkien's novels, told Collider that he had the opportunity to chat to one of the producers on the show, but chose not to spoil it for himself.
"I had a few questions for him to begin with... and then I was like, 'You know, I don't need to know any more.'"
"It's not, obviously, it's not a remake. It's actually not based on The Fellowship or any of that. So I think it could be really, really interesting from that perspective," he said.
"I remember being on set with Peter Jackson and him saying, 'Can you imagine the day when they do a remake of this movie?' And I was like [flabbergasted face]," he added. "And then of course here we are, 20 years later, but it's not a remake."
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He continued: "The Lord of the Rings is a title for a world. But I think it's going to be interesting from that perspective – because if it was a remake I would be like, 'Are you going to take us back into Hobbiton? It was such an informative time, it had such an impact so it's different what's coming and I think that's a good thing."
Bloom said he is going to "fan it up for sure" when he watches the show, adding that he understands that Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is a "big fan" of the fantasy world.
"They certainly paid a pretty penny to get it done, to get the rights to do that. No doubt there is a lot riding there on that," he added.
Amazon Studios acquired the rights to produce at least five seasons of a Lord of the Rings series back in November 2017, with production beginning earlier this year – however, due to COVID-19, filming was halted in March.
Game of Thrones' Robert Aramayo is set to play the lead character of Beldor, alongside Years and Years actor Maxim Baldry, Owain Arthur (Hard Sun), Nazanin Boniadi (Homeland), Tom Budge (The Pacific) and Morfydd Clark (Dracula) among others.
Bloom starred in the Middle-earth set Lord of the Ring films, including The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), The Two Towers (2002) and The Return of the King (2003), alongside franchise stars Elijah Wood, Viggo Mortensen, Liv Tyler and Cate Blanchett.
The 43-year-old also reprised his Legolas role for The Hobbit series in 2013 and a number of video games set in the Tolkien universe.
He currently stars in another Amazon fantasy series, Carnival Row, which was renewed for a second season in July.
The Lord of the Rings TV series will be on Amazon Prime Video. If you’re looking for something else to watch, check out our TV Guide.
