We’ll see Tom Bombadil in the upcoming season of The Rings of Power, whether we want to or not. The character is much loved by those who’ve read about his yellow boots and jaunty feathered hat within the pages of Tolkien’s books.
Tom, as I like to call him, claims to be as old as Middle-earth and gives esoteric advice to Lord of the Rings protagonists, often in verse. He is, in a word or two, an odd duck, and he didn’t make an appearance in the film adaptations. Prime Video is seeking to rectify that, and has released first-look images of Bombadil, who is played by Rory Kinnear. You might recognize Kinnear as Captain (and Admiral) Badminton in Our Flag Means Death, as John Clare/The Creature in Penny Dreadful, or as the man in Alex Garland’s Men.
“There’s this sense of huge experience, huge openness, huge empathy, and having gone through so much that he [Bombadil] knows it’s the small things that are important,” Kinnear said in a statement about taking on the role of Tom. “That felt actually quite domestic, felt quite reachable in terms of my understanding of who he was.”
The Rings of Power showrunners J. D. Payne and Patrick McKay waxed lyrical about Bombadil after the news about Kinnear’s casting broke. “He’s whimsical and magical, and almost verging on silly. But also has the wisdom of the ages and the music of the spheres and deep emotional wells of ancient history and myth, and his conception and function are tied to Norse myths and have deep roots in European fairy tale. So weirdly, he’s kind of the most Lord of the Rings thing in Lord of the Rings,” McKay said in a statement.
Payne added, “Tom is sort of a curiosity within that structure because while it is darker, Tom Bombadil is singing and saying lines that could be nursery rhymes from children’s poems. So, he sort of defies the tonal shift of the rest of the season and is a real point of light amidst an otherwise sea of darkness.”
The second season of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power will premiere on Prime Video on August 29, 2024.
Here are other images of Kinnear’s Bombadil (whose boots aren’t nearly yellow enough), for your viewing pleasure.
