What a difference thousands of years makes. In Tolkien’s Middle-earth, Elves live for millennia – and so when we met Cate Blanchett’s ethereal Galadriel in Peter Jackson’s The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring, her performance came steeped in eons of experience and memory reflecting her stature. But just like the you of 10 years ago might be pretty different to the you of today, the Galadriel we meet in Prime Video’s The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power has a long way to go before she becomes the one played by Blanchett. Here, she’s portrayed by Welsh actor Morfydd Clark, who put in an astonishing performance in Rose Glass’s psychological horror Saint Maud.
Where that film was all blood, cockroaches, and shoes filled with drawing pins, The Rings Of Power was an altogether more adventure-filled shoot. “It was like being on a school trip!” Clark tells Empire in our world-exclusive cover feature. “I got to do swimming, riding, climbing…” That sense of outdoorsiness hints at a more active incarnation of Galadriel, one who, according to the actor, “still has a lot to learn” through the course of the show. “I had to find that balance between someone who has got an element of the eternal but hasn’t yet seen it all. Don’t expect the same character that you meet later on.” She is, of course, reverent to Blanchett’s portrayal – aware of the lineage she’s stepping into that is, in a word, legendary. “Galadriel is legendary. Cate Blanchett as Galadriel was legendary. Tolkien himself is legendary!” she enthuses.
As for the world that Galadriel will be adventuring in, Clark promises big things. “[I] was not aware of how limited my imagination is until I stepped onto the set,” she says, hinting at much Middle-earthian magic to come. “It was like, ‘Oh my God, I have the imagination of a paper bag compared to this!” Get ready for wonders in this world beyond your wandering.
Empire’s world-exclusive The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power issue takes a deep-dive into Prime Video’s epic fantasy series, with three covers to collect. Inside, we explore its epic scale, its many inhabitants, and its multi-year plan to tell a whole new tale in a beloved world, speaking to showrunners J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay, director and executive producer J.A. Bayona, producer Ron Ames, and stars including Morfydd Clark, Lenny Henry, Robert Aramayo, Markella Kavenagh, and Benjamin Walker. All that, plus tons of never-before-seen images. Find a copy on newsstands from Thursday 9 June, and pre-order a copy with your choice of covers here. The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power starts streaming from 2 September.