Rings of Power Season 2 Images Reveal Live-Action Tom Bombadil

A batch of new images from the upcoming second season of Prime Video’s Rings of Power reveal our first look at a much-loved character from Lord of the Rings lore, Tom Bombadil. Set to be played by Men and Penny Dreadful star Rory Kinnear, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 2 will introduce Tom Bombadil to proceedings, with the beloved, enigmatic character having been largely absent from previous adaptations of J.R.R. Tolkien’s iconic text.

You can check out the new images of Kinnear as Tom Bombadil in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 2 below, as well as some insight from showrunners J.D. Payne regarding why the character has often been left out of live-action. Speaking with Vanity Fair, Payne explained…

“There’s a reason why he hasn’t been in prior adaptations, because in some ways he’s sort of an anti-dramatic character. He’s not a character who has a particularly strong agenda. He observes drama, but largely doesn’t participate in it. In The Fellowship of the Ring, the characters kind of just go there and hang out for a while, and Tom drops some knowledge on them.”

While he first appeared in Tolkien’s 1934 poem The Adventures of Tom Bombadil, the character is best known for his role in The Lord of the Rings. Rescuing the hobbits after they become trapped in the Old Forest by Old Man Willow, Bombadil as shown in these new images from Rings of Power is pretty close to how he is described in the books. His origins remain a mystery, and have been the subject of much debate over the years, mostly thanks to the fact that Bombadil is immune to the influence of The One Ring.

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Equally intriguing is Bombadil’s role in the story. Depicted as humble-yet-hugely powerful, Tolkien himself has said “Tom Bombadil is not an important person—to the narrative.” Writing about the character in 1954, the author added that “He represents something that I feel important, though I would not be prepared to analyze the feeling precisely.”

Rings of Power Will Take Some Liberties When Adapting Tom Bombadil

The Rings of Power

Release Date

September 2, 2022

Seasons

1

Studio

Amazon Studios, Harper Collins Publishers, New Line Cinema

Franchise

Lord of the Rings

Payne continued, revealing that the Tom Bombadil introduced in season 2 will also have no agenda, which makes it difficult to bring him into the drama.

“He can be a force for good, but he is challenging to integrate dramatically in that he doesn’t have an agenda. He’s not driving forward and pushing people to arrive at any particular end

We started thinking, What does he care about? And how can that be a doorway to drama? We know he cares about the natural world. And we know he is a helper. He’s not going to push you, but he will help you. And so, traditionally, he lives in this place called the Withywindle, which is this sort of almost enchanted forest.”

To best bring Bombadil into the world of Rings of Power, Payne and co-showrunner Patrick McKay will take some liberties, giving the character a second home along with some internal struggle.

“In our story, he has gone out to the lands of Rhûn, which we learn used to be sort of Edenic and green and beautiful, but now is sort of a dead wasteland. Tom has gone out there to see what’s happened as he goes on his various wanderings.”