Rings Of Power goes total merry dol, casts Tom Bombadil for season two

Hey dol! merry dol! ring a dong dillo! Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power has cast Tom Bombadillo. The water-lilly-loving elemental that might be God, the personification of nature, or a reminder to Rings readers to loosen up a bit is headed to the next season of Rings Of Power. Prolific character actor Rory Kinnear, perhaps best known for playing a stuffed shirt in the Daniel Craig Bond movies, will be the first to play Old Jolly Tom on screen.

Though he and his wife Goldberry appeared in the Russian television play Khraniteli, Bombadil has long been deprived of a movie deal. Excised from Ralph Bakshi and Peter Jackson’s Lord Of The Rings adaptations, it was long believed that Bombadil, one of Tolkien’s earliest creations, would never join the broader Rings conversation. Tolkien first introduced the character in his 1934 poem “The Adventures Of Tom Bombadil,” which also featured Bombadil’s wife, Goldberry; the tree that eats Merry and Pippin, Old Man Willow; and the barrow-wights, a group of evil spirits haunting the Barrow-downs near Bombadil’s cottage.

As has been noted many times before, including by Peter Jackson, none of this factors into the Rings movies because its removal doesn’t drastically alter the story. However, it raises some questions about the swords Aragorn gives the hobbits. Aside from that brief moment when Tom puts on the Ring and dances around his cabin, the character doesn’t factor into Frodo’s quest. “He observes drama but largely doesn’t participate in it,” Rings Of Power showrunner J.D. Payne told Vanity Fair. His appearance is an anti-plot moment that, while crucial to Tolkien and his readers, would only increase the runtime of a very long movie. But that doesn’t mean Elijah Woods’ Frodo didn’t meet him.

“If you look at the edit, we don’t know they didn’t go through the Old Forest,” Lord Of The Rings screenwriter Philippa Boyens said. “We don’t know that they didn’t mean Tom. We just don’t mention it. It’s left untold, is how I like to conceive of it.”

We won’t have to continue subscribing to Boyens’ coping mechanism for our lack of Bombadil—though her theory is one this writer subscribes. In the show, Bombadil leaves the Withywindle for his “second home” in Rhûn, recently reduced to, as Payne put it, a “dead wasteland” that Tom is investigating, presumably in search of water lilies, green leaves, and lilies white to please his pretty lady. Tom is a keeper and protector of the natural world and joins the Stranger in a shared hope that Sauron’s destruction won’t spread further. Bombadil does not typically leave the borders of the Old Forest because he has a house to mind, and Goldberry is waiting, so it is a surprise to hear that his fast feet are on the move. Payne sets the proper expectations: The show’s Bombadil isn’t as passive as Tolkien’s, and Old Tom gives the Stranger a little nudge out the door. “Our Tom Bombadil is slightly more interventionist than you see in the books, but only by 5% or 10%,” Payne says. We’ll see you in the comments, Payne.

But for anyone who doubts that nearly a century after his creation, Tom Bombadil will finally make his screen debut, hey, come merry dol to Vanity Fair, which has pictures of Rory Kinnear in Tom’s blue coat and long brown beard. Otherwise, catch Old Tom when the second season of Rings Of Power premieres on August 29.