“The Lord of the Rings” fans received an early Christmas present in December 2020 when a slew of casting details about the upcoming series were announced. Amazon announced 20 cast members were joining the series: Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Maxim Baldry, Ian Blackburn, Kip Chapman, Anthony Crum, Maxine Cunliffe, Trystan Gravelle, Sir Lenny Henry, Thusitha Jayasundera, Fabian McCallum, Simon Merrells, Geoff Morrell, Peter Mullan, Lloyd Owen, Augustus Prew, Peter Tait, Alex Tarrant, Leon Wadham, Benjamin Walker, and Sara Zwangobani.
Though Amazon did not specify what characters any of the aforementioned talents would be portraying, one of the actors is a franchise veteran: Tait portrayed Shagrat, an antagonistic Black Uruk (Orc) in “The Return of the King.”
Amazon also announced a cast list at the 2020 Winter Television Critics Association (TCA) Press Tour: Robert Aramayo, Owain Arthur, Nazanin Boniadi, Tom Budge, Morfydd Clark, Ismael Cruz Córdova, Ema Horvath, Markella Kavenagh, Joseph Mawle, Tyroe Muhafidin, Sophia Nomvete, Megan Richards, Dylan Smith, Charlie Vickers, and Daniel Weyman. At the TCA Press Tour, Amazon co-head of TV Vernon Sanders said, “We still have a few key roles to cast.”