Morfydd Clark And Charlie Vickers Talk Language And Backstory In Rings Of Power - Exclusive Interview
Morfydd Clark and Charlie Vickers are set to play two key characters in Prime Video's upcoming "The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power" streaming series. The show is one of the most expensive entertainment projects to date and has been in production for years now. Season 1 was filmed in New Zealand, where Clark and Vickers joined an enormous ensemble cast as they brought a new perspective to Middle-earth history via a story set in the Second Age, thousands of years before "The Lord of the Rings" and "The Hobbit" stories take place.
With an exciting new chapter of Tolkien's mythos about to unfold, we were excited to have a chance to catch up with Clark and Vickers to discuss how they're acclimating to a project this massive. Both are playing characters who come with a steep set of challenges. Clark will be following in the footsteps of Cate Blanchett by portraying the immortal (though much younger) Galadriel. Vickers will be tackling the task of bringing the human Halbrand (a non-canonical character invented for the series) to life on the streaming screen.
Both actors have already spent significant time together on the set, and they seem ready for the adventures that await. From favorite characters to language affiliations to mysterious backstories, here are some of the actors' thoughts on their upcoming foray into Middle-earth.
Who is your favorite Tolkien character?
I know I only have a few minutes. I wanted to start with a nice, easy one. What is each of your favorite original Tolkien characters?
Charlie Vickers: You mean one of the original characters?
That Tolkien wrote.
Vickers: In the source material. Oh, [that's] a tough one. I think mine, if we want to get into it, is probably Beren. I love Beren's story, or Lúthien.
Morfydd Clark: Yeah, I think I was going to say Lúthien.
Vickers: We're Beren and Lúthien. Maybe Lúthien's my favorite because she does some really badass stuff.
Clark: Yeah.
Vickers: And so does Beren.
Clark: Yeah.
They work together really well, right?
Clark: Yeah, exactly.
Vickers: Yeah, exactly. Do we work together well?
Clark: Fingers crossed.
Morfydd Clark dishes on speaking Welsh and Elvish
Morfydd, I noticed that you speak English, Welsh, and Swedish. Is that true?
Clark: No, unfortunately not. I wish I spoke Swedish. I speak Welsh. I was born in Sweden but don't have any Swedish, unfortunately. But I speak Welsh, so I was really excited that I was in something to do with Elvish.
We've already heard from the dialect coach, from the showrunners that obviously language is a huge deal here. How has that impacted bringing Galadriel to life on the screen?
Clark: I feel I can be much more romantic and deep in Welsh. So that was really useful for me because I was thinking, "[What's the] language of her heart? What language does she think in? And how much does she throw this in, and would, in times of rage, would Quenya come in?" So that was really useful. I felt so proud. It was really nice to have that connection to being bilingual while filming this.
Vickers: "What does she dream in?" as well.
Clark: Yeah.
Vickers contends Halbrand isn't running from his past
Charlie, I'm going to dig a little bit. Feel free to not say what you're not allowed to. Your characters meet on a shipwreck. We know a lot about Galadriel's background from the source material [but] obviously not a lot about Halbrand. But we have heard that you're running away from something in your past. Can we know anything else about what is motivating your character and how we're supposed to connect to that?
Vickers: The best thing for the audience would be to ... It's a process of letting the discoveries come to you as the show goes on as to the parts of his backstory that will be revealed as the episodes progress. The description of running from his past — I grapple with that because I use it as well. But maybe at this point in his life, he's not necessarily running from it. He's realized that he doesn't want to be there at all anymore, so he's just left it. Nothing is coming. [It] doesn't feel like anything's chasing him at that point.
Interestingly, when he meets Galadriel, she almost creates the thing that he's running from, in that before he meets her, he's like, "I'm done with whatever I was [doing] before." But she lights this flame in him, which is like, "Maybe there is something in my past that I can return to."
Season 1 of "Rings of Power" premieres on Prime Video on September 2. It will consist of eight episodes, which will start a five-season story arc set in the Second Age of Middle-earth.
This interview has been edited for clarity.