Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power Season 2 is here! But as the first batch of episodes dropped this week, don’t expect one alum of Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings movies, Hugo Weaving, to be tuning into the prequel show. The 64-year-old British actor has a big reason why he’s not diving back into the franchise as a viewer, and it honestly sounds reasonable.
Hugo Weaving played the role of J.R.R. Tolkien’s half-elven bearer of one of the rings, Elrond, in five of the six Peter Jackson Lord of the Rings movies (including the Hobbit trilogy). When the actor was recently asked if he’s all caught up on the series ahead of its recent Season 2 premiere, he said this:
I haven’t seen it, and apologies to Robert [Aramayo]. No, I spent too long in Middle-earth, and I don’t particularly want to go back there. I love New Zealand, I recently went back to New Zealand.
While speaking to RadioTimes, Weaving shouted out Robert Aramayo, the new actor playing Elrond thousands of years prior to his own version for Rings of Power, while respectfully sharing that no, he’s not watching the new Lord of the Rings show. Hugo Weaving technically spent a decade of his life playing a key player in Middle-Earth and he finds that “too long” for him. As he continued:
But no, it’s funny – I think when you spend so much time on a particular piece, and in one way… it’s a big, big film, huge franchise, but for me, kind of, in a funny way, not a role that I think of with the same sort of stature in my head as it might do for fans. So, no, apologies to Robert, but I haven’t seen it. I’m sure he’s great.
The British actor immersed himself deeply into Tolkien’s world throughout the ’00s, from Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy to his The Hobbit trilogy (which ended in 2014), as the wise figure who aids in the fight against Sauron for the One Ring. While many would associate the actor very deeply with the role, Weaving has been happy to move forward from Middle-earth. His most recent role is as a new character on Season 4 of Slow Horses alongside Gary Oldman, which premieres on Apple TV+ next week.
Back in 2020, Hugo Weaving was asked if he’d go as far as reprising the role in Rings of Power, to which he said he “had more than enough of it” and would “absolutely not” be returning as Elrond. That’s all been good news for Robert Aramayo, who fantastically plays a younger version of the famed Lord of the Rings character alongside a younger Galadriel, whom Cate Blanchett originally played in the movies before Morfydd Clark was cast for the Amazon series.
Hey, living in Middle-earth forever isn’t for everyone! Hugo Weaving’s incredible performance as Elrond will certainly remain forever in the five movies he starred in. And it’s been a blast to see Robert Aramayo’s take on the role, which is streaming with an Amazon Prime subscription!