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Haakon

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These are the casting choices after the poll and a couple of executive decisions:
(Voice of) Ilúvatar - Ralph Fiennes
Manwë - Daniel Day-Lewis
Varda - Lucy Liu
Melkor - Michael Fassbender
Ulmo - Manu Bennett
Aulë - Liev Schreiber
Yavanna - Gina Torres
Nienna - Marion Cotillard
Námo - Idris Elba
Vairë - Holly Hunter
Irmo - Alexander Siddig
Estë - Lyndie Greenwood
Oromë - Alexander Skarsgård
Nessa - Summer Glau
Vana - Amandla Stenberg
Tulkas - Dwayne Johnson
Mairon - Simon Woods
Olórin - Gael Garcia Bernal
Uinen - Sofia Boutella
Ossë - Ben Schnetzer
Curumo - Domhnall Gleeson
Eonwë- Liam Hemsworth
Ilmarë - Yoo-Jeong Kim
Melian - Rachel Weisz
Gothmog- Chris Pine
Ungoliant - Morena Baccarin
Estel - Jason Drucker
Gilraen - Alicia Vikander
Elrond - Benedict Cumberbatch
Bilbo - James McAvoy
 
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Thanks for listing that out here! I'm mostly pleased with the direction things went, with a few disappointments, but I'll survive. I am absolutely certain that there are better choices for Elrond out there, but I don't have any suggestions myself, so...it is what it is. And vetoing Jason Mamoa for Ulmo just because he got the part of Aquaman! But....we can cast him again later, no worries. Not sure who yet - maybe Bëor?

And I'm amused that our Nessa and Ungoliant scenes will be played out between River Tam and Inara!

Sauron is a chameleon, and I think we picked someone who can play widely different personalities, so that's good. Many of these roles are very minor, and we'd never get someone we've 'heard of' to play them. Estë, Vana, Ilmarë - these would most certainly be played by 'nobodies' in an actual show. In fact - nearly all of the characters on a TV show are unknowns (before the show gets popular, that is), so this list is more 'someone like....' rather than an actual cast list.

It is helpful, though, to have visual ideas of what these characters would look or sound like when plotting scenes and planning costumes and all of that. So, yay, decisions! Those are few and far between on this project, but the hosts held up admirably and made their choices. :)
 
I'm mostly satisfied as well. I know people are feeling Cumberbatch fatigue but I think that will pass - that usually happens, the popularity of actors tend to pass. Time will yell of course, we might laugh at some of these choices in a decade or two, or marvel at how good they are.
I don't mind casting big stars as Valar, that kind of fits, doesn't it? Less known actors will be better later on, in a way, playing mortals.
 
Ah...for me it's not so much fatigue as...I have never particularly cared for the guy and don't understand why some people like him so much. And I think he is all wrong as Elrond. True, I've never seen him as Sherlock, and that's apparently why people like him, so I'm sure he does a great job there. But I love the character of Elrond, and was looking forward to a new casting that takes a step away from Hugo Weaving, and.... *sigh*.

Oh well, at least I still have the Rankin Bass Elrond with the stars around his head to console me :p
 
Ah...for me it's not so much fatigue as...I have never particularly cared for the guy and don't understand why some people like him so much. And I think he is all wrong as Elrond. True, I've never seen him as Sherlock, and that's apparently why people like him, so I'm sure he does a great job there. But I love the character of Elrond, and was looking forward to a new casting that takes a step away from Hugo Weaving, and.... *sigh*.

Oh well, at least I still have the Rankin Bass Elrond with the stars around his head to console me :p
I understand. If it's any comfort, I think he'll be quite a step away from Hugo Weaving. And he is good as Sherlock.
 
This just occured to me, I wish I had considered him before and nominate him, but I completely forgot about him.

Maybe Jeremy Irons would have been a good choice for Elrond? My only issue is that he might be too old for the role, but other than that...

I believe we should totaly consider him for a role. Particularly with his deep strong voice... I always liked his voice.
 
This just occured to me, I wish I had considered him before and nominate him, but I completely forgot about him.

Maybe Jeremy Irons would have been a good choice for Elrond? My only issue is that he might be too old for the role, but other than that...

I believe we should totaly consider him for a role. Particularly with his deep strong voice... I always liked his voice.
I have been thinking about Jeremy Irons actually. I think he's too old for Elrond. But he should absolutely get a role somewhere.
 
I'm having a bit of a hard time seeing Chris Pine as Gothmog.

Keep in mind that the balrogs start out as rather angelic beings, and don't get their balrog-forms until the destruction of the Lamps in this version of the story.
 
Well, Gothmog wasn't identified as such until after the destruction of the Trees and Chris Pine seems too snarky to be Gothmog.
 
We will be using the same actor for the character throughout, so Gothmog will be introduced in Episode 3 of Season 1 as one of Melkor's loyal followers.
 
I'm looking forward to watching Chris Pine do "regal" instead of "cocky".

Haakon, you forgot Tulkas!
 
Have you had time to listen to the sessions yet? Or read the session notes?
 
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