‘The Lord Of The Rings’ Actor Trashes Prime Video’s ‘The Rings Of Power’ Claims It Is “Not Like The Real Thing”

John F. Trent |

Dec 2, 2022

Bernard Hill as King Theoden in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King via Göksel Köksal YouTube

The Lord of the Rings actor Bernard Hill, who played King Theoden in Peter Jackson’s film adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s novels, trashed Prime Video and Amazon Studios’ The Rings of Power production.

Bernard Hill as King Theoden in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King Extended Edition

Hill spoke with British outlet Metro where he made it abundantly clear he had no interested in watching Prime Video’s The Rings of Power. He told the outlet, “No, not interested.”

Hill then elaborated as to why, “It’s a money-making venture and I’m not interested in watching that or being in it. Good luck to them and all that stuff but it’s not like the real thing.”

Bernard Hill as King Theoden in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

Hill was then asked if Tolkien’s work would have been better left to Jackson’s original trilogy. He responded, “Completely, yes.”

He went on, “I think they were pushing it when they made The Hobbit. The Hobbit’s a tiny book.”

Hill did go on to praise Jackson’s adaptation of The Hobbit into a film trilogy, “They did it well – they did it really, really well. They expanded it [but] I think you can only stretch a piece of elastic so far. I think they managed it in The Hobbit because there were some really good things in The Hobbit without a doubt.”

Bernard Hill as King Theoden in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King Extended Edition via EgalmothOfGondolin01 YouTube

Hill isn’t the only one to question Prime Video’s The Rings of Power series. Viggo Mortensen, who played Aragorn in Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy was asked about The Rings of Power back in May before the series premiered on Prime Video.

When asked if he planned on watching it, Mortensen stated, “What is that? The TV thing? It is with Apple, or something?”

After being made aware it was being made by Amazon and was “thought to be the most expensive TV series ever made,” Mortensen responded, “Oh, right. Yeah, I’ll watch that.”

Viggo Mortensen as Aragorn in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King Extended Edition

However, he then questioned, “But do you know what source material they’re using? What were they allowed to use?”

After being informed that the show would feature Isildur and would be taking place thousands of years prior to the War of the Ring, Mortensen did indicate he would watch, “Oh, that’s cool! Yeah, it’ll be fun to see.”

Viggo Mortensen as Aragorn in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings

As for Hill’s comments about the series “not like the real thing” he couldn’t have said it any better. The show is anything but an adaptation of Tolkien’s writings about the Second Age.

In fact, the showrunners have admitted as much. Patrick McKay told The Hollywood Reporter in October, “Season two has a canonical story. There may well be viewers who are like, ‘This is the story we were hoping to get in season one!’ In season two, we’re giving it to them.”