One of the stars of Prime Video's fantasy epic The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power was Morfydd Clark, who played Galadriel, a role filled in the three The Lord of the Rings movies and three The Hobbit prequels by Cate Blanchett.
Clark returns for The Rings of Power season 2; not much is known about the return of the season, including its plot or release date, but it makes one departure from the six movies and first season of the show: unlike them all, it's not being shot in the magical land of New Zealand but in Britain.
The British actor attended the Canneseries Festival to receive the Rising Star Award and took time to answer a few questions about her central role in the next season of Rings of Power and how things have changed now production has moved to the UK...
There was a large gap between shooting season 1 and season 2 for you. How did you find your way back to Galadriel?
"I find my way back to her with the stunts. She is physically powerful and I definitely let that slide in the interim so it was about getting back to being as flexible and as strong as I could. And then you just don’t feel like her until you’ve got your ears, the costume and the hair on. It’s hard to be her without that. That’s why in rehearsals I always think ‘I wish I had my ears.’"
New Zealand is the most beautiful place, you do feel like you are in a magical land there.
Morfydd Clark
Playing an elf in the world of Tolkien is a challenge given how emotionless they can be. How do you navigate that?
"I have ADHD and I’m very fascinated by neuro-divergence and also neuro-divergent representation in fantasy, because I think often fantastical creatures represent ‘the other’. So I was thinking a lot about the things that, as a neuro-divergent person, make people uncomfortable. There are elements of that to the elves.
"Also, Galadriel is a female elf but gender is not the same there so I wanted to get rid of all the things that I learned in my life that make me palatable as a woman, like being careful and making sure you don’t offend, be gentle, things like that that she wouldn’t necessarily have, and that’s been really fun. The elves are very different from the humans."
What’s Galadriel’s state of mind in series 2?
"Galadriel in season one was blinded by her grief and misery and I think when you are in such a state, you become only focused on yourself to a degree, because the pain blocks out everything. Then she had this huge betrayal but also she’s made mistakes, so I think she’s had to come out of that swamp of intense feeling so she is reflecting, being self-reflective, but also looking at Middle Earth again with the eyes that have not seen it clearly for a while. She is connecting with the world around her."
What’s your favorite part about being in that world?
"I think it is the connection to nature, and the horses being a massive part of it, and the respect for the land being a character itself. I love that the main character in Tolkien’s book, I think, is Middle Earth. It’s the land that they inhabit."
What’s the biggest challenge you face with being in that world?
"I think the biggest challenge for fantasy in general is finding the vibe. I think it’s a very vibed-space genre, so lots of us were listening constantly to the audiobooks to always feel that Middle-Earthiness, not necessarily about the plot but the feeling of a place where trees can be dangerous and things like that."
Production for The Rings of Power has moved to the UK for season 2. How different is it?
"It is different. New Zealand is the most beautiful place, you do feel like you are in a magical land there, and we were very cradled and looked after by the crew and we all miss them terribly. But now, being in Britain, we also have an incredible crew here and it’s been wonderful to get to know all these people. The best part of the job is the people."
This interview has been edited for clarity.
