EXCLUSIVE: Lloyd Owen & Ema Horvath Tease Season 2 of ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power’
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2 is gearing up to premiere its second season this Thursday, August 29 on Prime Video. We got the chance to chat with Lloyd Owen and Ema Horvath about the new season.
During the chat, the two talked the evolution of their characters’ relationship, pressure from the fan base, the show’s five-year plan, and so much more. Check out what they had to say below.
Let’s talk about the evolution of the relationship between your characters in Season two?
Lloyd Owen: “Sure. What should we start with the first episode, where we’re at? Yeah?”
Ema Horvath: “Well, first of all, I have to say my favorite part of the season was I spent so much time on the phone with you discussing a lot of things.”
Lloyd Owen: “We did. It was so helpful.”
Ema Horvath: “Yeah. When we start Isildur has died. We both think he’s dead and I’m still very active in my grief and anger and my father, his stoic self, is hiding it a lot more. And there’s a lot of frustration on my end that someone isn’t grieving in a way that I think is appropriate.”
Lloyd Owen: “Yes. That’s where we start with them. What the showrunners brilliantly did with this new character, they’ve created a divide in Numenoreans. I’d say it’s already existed before the show starts because the king has already been slightly deposed and it’s the queen region. There’s already a problem in society there, and I think they’ve very cleverly inserted that into the family. So, the political will be represented in the personal ultimately, so what you have is a very strong sense of ideas. If you’re not tribal about it and you would say the nationalists have a point of view, if the elves can live forever, why shouldn’t we live forever? We have Elvin in our background, why is that not possible? So, you can see the nationalist point of view. The problem is where it comes in with personal ambition in the shape of Ar-Pharazôn.
Ultimately a lot of that is to do with this Sauron influence. We went to war because of Galadriel because she’s chasing the wrong thing. All of that plays into this particular relationship. And the other thing that they’ve done brilliantly was set up a widowed man trying to bring up some orphan children. So, all that grief plays into so much and the grief of losing Isildur. And a father who’s, as you say, stoic enough that I don’t think he can feel anymore at the beginning, it’s too painful to open that up. So, they’re not really communicating.”
Speaking of that pain and grief, how do you two keep it so it doesn’t affect your personal lives?
Lloyd Owen: “It’s good question. It depends on the actors process, right? The method actor, which I’m not, takes a lot of that home then will live that for the full nine months. I think probably because of my theater background that tends to exist. There’s a way of becoming fully focused in the moment. As Em said, we’re on the phone a lot, so we’re discussing what we think is happening in the scene and it’s just about saying, ‘What story are we trying to tell in this moment?’ So that, as the days get closer to that particular scene, then your focus gets tighter and tighter and more intense. But I feel for my mental, emotional, physical, I have to let go of it as well. Also, because I need to open my mind to other experiences as an actor, not just the ones that I’m playing, because I don’t know what the role is going to be in it in five months’ time that’s going to be needed my mind to be open. Make sense?”
Ema Horvath: “Yeah, no, I think I worked similarly. Some of our phone calls were two hours long and they would start and end and then you could forget about it, kind of word vomit about what we were both thinking and personal experiences that maybe were helpful in certain scenes.”
Lloyd Owen: “Yes, it makes it very rich therefor. Yeah.”
Ema Horvath: “Let it go, yeah. There’s one scene in particular, which I’m told is in the show that we worked very hard on and I’m very excited to watch it because it was one day for one scene that we’d been talking about for months. Where everything kind of comes to a head. So, yeah. Anyways, looking forward to watching that.”
How do you guys deal with the pressure from the fan base and how has that feeling changed now that you’re into Season 2?
Ema Horvath:” Oh, it’s so much more fun this time. Because we were new two years ago and now it feels like the people, you’re signing autographs for, taking pictures with are authentic in their love for it. Yeah, two women came dressed as me [to Comic-Con] and it’s insane. I’ve been having the best time this time around.”
Lloyd Owen: “As a theater actor, my background, you have an evening where the audience and the actors create the show every night. Each night’s different. It’s immediate. You literally feel the audience. When you shoot film and television, you’re in your own little bubble and it just goes out there and you never really know. You might have a friend who would say something. The great thing about fantasy, about Comic-Con, about this particular genre is, because this is built up over the years, you get to meet the actual audience who’ve experienced it. There might be a time delay, a lag of four months between shooting it and meeting them but you feel the effect that the show has had and it’s such a privilege. Really, really, it’s very, very lovely.}
We’ve heard there is a five-year plan surrounding the show. Can you guys confirm this news and the status of Season 3?
Lloyd Owen: “They’ve said, publicly, and lots of articles, they’re going to make 50 hours of television of it. We’ve been asked to do season three as a group of actors. So, when that will start, we don’t yet know. But I think the boys have planned the whole arc when they first pitched and wrote the idea. In fact, when they first told me in New Zealand, they said, ‘You’re here for a long time,’ is what they said to me. So, that was good. I was pleased about that.”
Ema Horvath: “That’s always good to hear as an actor.”
Lloyd Owen: “I mean, you never know in show business, right. But so far so good.”
Ema Horvath: “Fingers crossed.”
Lloyd Owen: “Yeah, fingers crossed.”
Were you told your arcs when you signed on or is this something that each season, they tell you what’s going to happen?
Lloyd Owen: “Yeah, they usually pitch an arc, right?”
Ema Horvath: “Yeah. I had a Zoom call before I arrived in New Zealand where I was like, ‘Can you tell me what kind of creature I’m playing?’ Because I didn’t even know that and they told me some overarching details, but I think things also change slightly as we make the show.”
Lloyd Owen: “Yeah, I think they definitely work off what- “
Ema Horvath: “What’s being delivered.”
Lloyd Owen: “… what happens organically. But obviously there’s the source material, so we have a good idea of what Tolkien was talking about it, right?”
Ema Horvath: “Yeah. You’re safe.”
Lloyd Owen: “Yeah, I’m safe.”
Ema Horvath: “For a while.”
Lloyd Owen: “I’m safe for a bit, yeah. So, within that framework is how they write it is the million-dollar question for each of our characters because you can imagine you could do a whole series about one of these characters, couldn’t you? You could just watch their life go through. How the focus is going to change and how they blend it all together. I’m so glad I’m not them. Because there’s many of us, right? To get into that.”
Ema Horvath: “Yeah. I know the original plan for me, but how we get there, I don’t know.”
Lloyd Owen: “I’ve got to get to The Last Alliance of Elves and Men that we know. So, how do we get there? That’s the exciting bit is you go, ‘How do we shape it?’ Because that’s all we know from Tolkien is the endpoint for Elendil if you know your lore, but how he gets there as a fully rounded human being will be the great challenge.”
Apart from your own storylines, which ones have connected to mostly personally?
Lloyd Owen: “That’s a good question. Dwarves for me.”
Ema Horvath: “Yeah, the dwarves too. I really love watching them. The two of them together too.”
Lloyd Owen: “Yeah, great. And the father too.”
Ema Horvath: “They both have comedic theater backgrounds too.”
Lloyd Owen: “Yeah. I don’t know whether I feel like dwarves are, they’re men for want of a better expression or whatever we are, the Numenorean to the power of a thousand in terms of feeling, right. So, angrier, sadder, happier. So, you can relate to them in that sense.”
Ema Horvath: “That’s a great observation. I don’t think I’ve thought about it that way.”
Lloyd Owen: “Well, I think, yeah, because of complication with elves, which is why there’s a complication for the Numenorean is you’ve got no experience of what eternal life feels like. There’s a disconnect there. So yeah, dwarves.”
Make sure to check out the first three episodes when they premiere on Thursday!
*This interview has been edited for length and clarity
Photo credit: Jerod Harris/Araya Doheny/Getty Images for Amazon MGM Studio