NEW YORK, Nov. 14 (UPI) — Tyroe Muhafidin says Theo, the character he plays in the Lord of the Rings prequel, Rings of Power, becomes the man he is meant to be in Season 3 of the fantasy drama, which premiered this week on Prime Video.
Spoilers ahead.
Asked by UPI in a recent Zoom interview what he was most excited to explore in these latest episodes, the 20-year-old Australian actor replied: “The big moment at the end of Episode 4. I think everyone will know what that is. But I think that was just kind of the pinnacle of Theo’s journey.
“This season, we get to see where he’s been built up to and who he was destined to become,” he added. “That moment is emotionally everything for Theo because it’s a moment of him saying goodbye to his past and looking on to what his future holds.”
Season 3, Episode 4 shows Theo wearing one of Sauron’s rings and shockingly stabbing to death his father figure, the elven hero Arondir (Ismael Cruz Cordova), at his evil master’s behest.
Given their intertwining story-lines, Muhafidin shares much of his time this season with Charlie Vickers, portrayer of Sauron, the power-mad dark lord determined to enslave all of Middle-earth.
“I spent most of my time with [Vickers], who was just an incredible delight to work with. I don’t even know how to describe it. He’s just like this older brother,” the actor recalled.
“He knew how to have a great time on set and we can just hang out. But, at the same time, he was super-professional about everything and really got down to business, which I loved. He was so dedicated. We would sit down and compare our scripts and compare what notes I had compared to his.”
Because the cast is so huge and the story so expansive, Muhafidin said he loves watching the finished episodes of the show so he can see the fine work his cast-mates have been doing.
“We spend so much time in our own world and we get so overly obsessed with it, but it’s amazing being able to watch the show and being like, ‘Oh, wow, I can fully step away from that world that I’m spending so much time in and feel like I knew, and still get an opportunity to watch the show as a fan,'” Muhafidin said.
“We get the scripts and I can read what everyone else is doing, but it never really seems to play out on screen exactly. It’s cool to see.”
The spectacular visual effects added in post-production is another aspect of the project that Muhafidin looks forward to each season.
“Sometimes, you’re just standing and there’s blue screens around you and you’re just looking at a rock or something and you do the part and you’re like, ‘I guess it’s going to look cool,'” he said.
Although Rings of Power is clearly a work of fiction, its depiction of the struggle between people trying to build a society that’s beautiful and peaceful and those who seek to destroy it may resonate with viewers in 2026.
“All of [JRR] Tolkien’s stories involve a sense of hope,” Muhafidin said.
“It’s always a great evil against an unexpected hero,” he added. “That’s the beautiful thing about Tolkien, in general. His message is, no matter how small you are, no matter how big the odds are against you, you have a chance and you can fight your way to a better life.”
Theo is the perfect example of someone caught between two diametrically opposing forces.
“Sometimes it is just tragic how people fall into certain situations,” Muhafidin said. “I feel like, again, there’s a lot of evil in this world, of people who have been groomed into that situation. They never really had a choice in becoming who they became.”
The actor will also soon be seen in the Netflix surfing drama/psychological thriller, Breakers, opposite Antony Starr.
“I’d spent a lot of the cold months here in the United Kingdom and I went straight back into Australia and it was just super sunny, gorgeous,” he recalled.
“This season, Theo got really dark and I was sitting in a really dark head space all the time, trying to grab onto those emotions,” he added. “So, then being able to immediately jump onto something that was a lot more light-hearted and fun, I think was a great refresh for myself, mentally.”
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.