Cynthia Addai-Robinson and Sophia Nomvete feel more grounded in the world of The Lord of the Rings as they go into the second season of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.

The two actors spoke with Trey Mangum, managing editor for Blavity/Shadow and Act during the 2024 Essence Fest. Addai-Robinson, who plays Queen Regent Míriel, said that she felt she was still getting to know her character during the first season.

“It was sort of about learning, doing the research, kind of in real time, discovering who Queen Míriel is and is going to become and what that trajectory is going to be,” she said. “And now there’s a real ownership of that character. So, you know, you understand that audiences are invested in these characters and they care about their fates. You want to sort of be able to relax into [the character] a little bit more.”

“So it’s less about doing this sort of research and combing through the literature and now, it’s like, ‘OK, I know this character. This character is part of me. I am part of her,’ and now the stakes are increased and pushed and it’s getting very serious,” she continued. “So I think it’s that interesting balance of like, okay, I know this woman…I think there was a nice ability to just relax into it a little bit more because we own these characters. We have ownership over these characters. So that’s kind of how I felt this time around for sure.

Nomvete, who plays Disa, princess of theDwarven city of Khazad-dûn, said that getting into character was a little different since her character was created for the series.

“You know, Disa is not a canon character. She is a new character…And it was about trusting and empowering this character,” she said. “I was very lucky that the showrunners and producers were really open to quite a collaborative process. But what it meant is that I had to really believe in her and, by extension, really believe in me.”

She said that realizing she had to trust herself in the process of creating Disa was an added challenge she didn’t expect. But she celebrates the fact that she did believe in her ability to co-create the character with the producers and showrunners.

Watch the full interview below. Season 2 of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power comes to Prime Video Aug. 29.

Sophia Nomvete

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