After years of waiting, fans can finally stream The Rings of Power on Amazon Prime. The series, a prequel to J.R.R. Tolkien’s classic Lord of the Rings trilogy, premiered it’s first two episodes on Thursday to high praise from critics. Multiple new characters found themselves introduced during the show’s initial hours, alongside younger versions of some familiar names. One fresh face, however, was that of Daniel Weyman’s mysterious Stranger, a lumbering giant of a man with strange mystical abilities. The character was shown falling to Middle-earth in a meteor in the series’ pilot.
There have been no shortage of theories on who the unnamed person actually is, but one has stood out more than the rest. A popular opinion online says that Weyman is secretly portraying a young Gandalf as he first appears in existence. According to a recent interview with ET, the actor has known the true identity of the Stranger since he was cast – but he won’t be spilling the beans anytime soon. When asked about the Gandalf theories, Weyman responded that fans will have to keep watching to find out:
I would think, hopefully, people will have as much fun watching his story as I had filming it. And I suppose the best thing to say is that while we were working, I, at each point in the story, knew exactly where the character was and who he was and what he was going through. So, from my point of view, it was quite an easy task to follow that through.
Daniel Weyman
On the other hand, his co-star, actress Markella Kavenagh, was left just as much in the dark as viewers during the creative process. Kavenagh portrays an adventurous young Harfoot named Nori in the show, and is the one who discovers and helps the Stranger when he crashes to Middle-earth. She explained that she was forced to learn his real identity as filming went on:
[We were] finding it out week to week. I mean, you’ll see when you watch it why it was also kind of beneficial because of how the Stranger is and how Nor is as well. But yeah, it was an experience.Markella Kavenagh
Actress Cynthia Addai-Robinson, who has not yet appeared in the series, chimed into the conversation to add her take as well. She claimed that, in her opinion, there is a real joy in watching a mystery unfold without immediate answers:
We enjoy all the fan theories and we have those ideas. But even for some of us, we don’t ultimately know the way in which our characters are going to have these experiences. And the audience will also get to see it as it unfolds as well.
Cynthia Addai-Robinson
The Rings of Power is now streaming on Amazon Prime.
Source: ET
