‘The Rings Of Power’ Recasts Adar As Joseph Mawle Bows Out Before Season 2

Amazon announced seven new cast members coming to The Rings Of Power in Season 2 today.

Buried in that news was a recasting. The role of Adar, the dark elf ‘father of orcs’ will no longer be played by Game Of Thrones alum Joseph Mawle. Mawle is stepping aside and Sam Hazeldine (Peaky Blinders) will step into the part.

“I loved my time exploring Middle-earth and diving into Tolkien’s mythology,” Mawle tweeted Thursday. “I’m so honoured that the character was liked. He cared deeply about telling you his story. Though as an actor it remains my wish, my job description to explore new characters and worlds. Wishing all the best to cast and crew for S2, I’ll be cheering you on from the sidelines.”

Now, there are countless reasons why someone might leave a show. Maybe Mawle got a better role elsewhere. Maybe he’s going to get resurrected and show up in Snow, the possible-upcoming Jon Snow Game Of Thrones spinoff. Reprising his role as Benjen Stark would be very cool, especially given how little time Benjen gets in the show and books.

But there are also many good reasons to stay on a show, especially a massive show like Rings Of Power which must pay quite well given its gargantuan budget. And Mawle was, in my humblest of opinions, the best actor in the whole thing, really giving Adar depth and texture that most characters (ahem, Galadriel) severely lacked. To leave a show and a paycheck like that behind is no small thing. That makes me think that perhaps Mawle was not happy with how things turned out. After all, what many people remember is not Adar bringing about the creation of Mordor, but the goofy Southlands-to-Mordor powerpoint transition that we get during Adar’s final scene in Season 1.

That’s meme territory, and not really flattering to anyone involved with the show.

Ah well, whatever the case may be, The Rings Of Power just lost one of its very best actors and I’m not sure how the character Adar will recover. I can envision another scene between Halbrand and Adar where Adar asks “Do you remember me?” and Halbrand replies, “No.” Kind of turn the original scene on its head, ya know? SO DEEP.

The Rings Of Power returns likely sometime in 2024. You can read about the new cast members here. Check out my video reaction to the Adar recasting below:

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