Amazon's LORD OF THE RINGS Adds Its First Castmember in Markella Kavenagh
Australian actress Markella Kavenagh has been cast in Amazon's
Lord of the Rings series, becoming the first person to sign onto the streamer's mega-budgeted adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's works.
Details of her role are being kept under wraps, but she will play a character named Tyra on the show, sources confirm to
The Hollywood Reporter. Amazon paid
$250 million in 2017 for the rights to
Lord of the Rings in a deal with the Tolkien estate, publisher HarperCollins and New Line, which released Peter Jackson's
LOTR films.
The show is set in
Middle-earth's Second Age, when the titular Rings of Power were created and evil Lord Sauron came to power.
JD Payne and Patrick McKay (
Star Trek 4, Jungle Cruise) are developing the story, and
J.A. Bayona (
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom) is set to direct the first two episodes. Bayona and producing partner Belén Atienza will also serve as executive producers.
The series has a multi-season commitment from Amazon to air on its global Prime Video streaming platform, which had been actively searching for a show on the scale of
Game of Thrones.
Kavenagh's credits include
Picnic at Hanging Rock, the BBC miniseries
The Cry and
Romper Stomper, a series sequel to the 1992 Eric Bana film. She is repped by Silver Lining Entertainment.
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