The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power stars open up on sheer scale of production

Watch ITV News entertainment reporter Rishi Davda interview The Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power stars Morfydd Clark and Charlie Vickers

Watching the first couple of episodes, I was quickly struck by the sheer scale of the production. 

Not just the lifelike CGI, but the numerous intricate yet expansive storylines being played out as you take in each scene. That’s probably as much as I’m going to say, for fear that I may give away spoilers… I promise, I’ll do my best not to.

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power tells J.R.R. Tolkein’s fabled Second Age of Middle-earth.

It’s set thousands of years before the events of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings books.

Rishi Davda sat down with show stars Morfydd Clark and Charlie Vickers who were massive fans of the Lord of the Rings franchise growing up.

I sat down with two of the show’s stars ahead of its upcoming release, Morfydd Clark - who plays Galadriel, a role previous taken on by Cate Blanchett - and Charlie Vickers, who plays Halbrand.

The pair were both fans of the franchise growing up. Clark recalls: "I was 11 when the films came out, so I was a massive fan of that. My dad had also read The Hobbit to me when I was nine."

Vickers’s attachment is slightly different: "My first memory is of playing the PlayStation games above all else. That’s the first thing I remember in The Lord of the Rings universe.

There is huge excitement and anticipation around this release. When the first teaser trailer premiered earlier this year, it was watched 257 million times online in just 24 hours. 

The series has some serious financial backing, a rumoured $1 billion (£858 million) budget for seasons one and two.

It may be set before the original The Lord of the Rings, but there is no doubt The Rings of Power takes things forward when it comes to its gigantic battle sequences and special effects monsters.

"I was quite glad I didn't know who I was playing because I think I wouldn't have got the role, I would have found the pressure too much."

When it came to being cast on the show, the audition process was steeped in secrecy.

A number of the actors were given their part and flown out to New Zealand for shooting, without knowing the role they were playing. 

Clark ironically was "quite glad that I didn’t know who I was playing," adding: "I think I wouldn’t have got the role because I would have found the pressure too much, it was a blessing to some degree."

Vickers believes that it shows how much people care about the work of Tolkien and the world he created: "A lot of us went out there with no idea of the role we were going to be playing. We just wanted to be a part of The Lord of the Rings."

Star Morfyyd Clark believes being a Welsh speaker both helped and hindered her ability to speak Elvish for the show

The series transports viewers out of the real world, not just with the scenery they see but with the languages they hear.

Welsh actress Morfyyd Clark had the task of perfecting Elvish dialogue. She thinks that she "had an advantage and a disadvantage when it came to being a Welsh speaker."

"I had a lot of the sounds, but Elvish and Welsh are so similar, the tiny differences are sometimes the hardest to iron out. I would have to control my Welsh-ness when speaking Elvish."

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The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power launches globally on Prime Video on September 2.