J. R. R. Tolkien’s villainous Orcs from The Lord of the Rings series are appearing like you’ve never seen them before in Prime Video’s new series The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. The story—which takes place in the Second Age of Middle-earth’s history—is set thousands of years before Tolkien’s “The Hobbit” and “The Lord of the Rings” books. In the series, the Orcs are fighting for their survival. Entertainment site IGN shared the exclusive first look and dug into details about how the creatures would be featured in the series.
The Orcs of 'The Rings of Power' are 'wilder' and more 'raw'
“We spent a lot of time talking about what it would mean to be an Orc in the Second Age,” said Lindsey Weber, executive producer of the series. “It felt appropriate that their look would be different, part of a wilder, more raw, Second Age Middle-earth, closer to where the First Age ends. As we meet them, they're not yet organized into armies, they're a little more scattered and they've been scavenging.”
The show is set before the Orcs earn their battle scars
In other productions, the Orcs have scars from fighting. But The Rings of Power, is set in the time period before many of those epic fights. “There are still wrinkles, and lines, and shape, and form, but they're not so battle scarred,” said Jamie Wilson, head of prosthetics. “They're coming back out for the first time again.”
The makeup and prosthetics were applied with action in mind
The state-of-the-art prosthetics that Wilson and his team used add a new dimension to the creatures. “All the ears, noses, Orcs pieces are all made in encapsulated silicon, which is basically two layers of silicon with a moveable piece of silicon in the middle, so when it's applied to the actor's face, they can move and it works,” said Wilson.
'The Rings of Power' features the first female orcs
“There are some female Orcs that I truly loved,” Weber said. “But there's one Orc in particular, who's very, very tall and strong, who has a particularly enjoyable fight with one of our Elven characters that I suspect will be a favorite among fans.”
Amazon’s original series The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power premieres on Prime Video in more than 240 countries and territories worldwide on September 1-2.
Explore the full article on IGN for more details.
