Posted in: Lord of The Rings, TV | Tagged: The Lord of the Rings, the rings of power

The Rings of Power: Cynthia Addai-Robinson on Míriel, Changes & More

Cynthia Addai-Robinson spoke with Bleeding Cool about expanding Míriel's role in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2 and more.

Cynthia Addai-Robinson is always up for new challenges in her 20+ years of experience on the screen, including tackling franchises like Law & Order, CSI, Star Trek, Arrow, and her latest in The Lord of the Rings with the Amazon Prime Video prequel series The Rings of Power. Aside from bearing the responsibility and doing her part of helping to carry something as big as the J. R. R. Tolkien universe on her back, the actress took a unique approach to playing Queen Regent Míriel, the daughter of King Tar-Palantir (Ken Blackburn), and the last rightful heir of Númenor. The character was blinded during the eruption at the end of the first season. Addai-Robinson spoke to Bleeding Cool about getting a crash course playing Míriel as she arrived on set to the J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay series that expands on the lore of the Peter Jackson films, what inspiration she drew from to play the regal character and adjusting to production changes from New Zealand to England.

Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Star Cynthia Addai-Robinson on Learning and Embracing Míriel

Bleeding Cool: How do you compare the feeling as you're about to film season two of 'Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power' to season one when you didn't even know if you could play till you arrived?

Yeah, two very different scenarios. In the first season, not only did I not know who I played, but I was also arriving in New Zealand at the height of lockdown. Things were happening on many levels in terms of arriving in New Zealand at the height of the pandemic. Being on the other side of the world, working on a big show, but in the middle of a pandemic, and then finding out this character I have the pleasure and honor of portraying was a queen or a queen regent at the time. There was a sense of, "Okay, I'm going to be creating a character that exists in Tolkien's lore alongside the showrunners and what they have come up for this character." Now, I must figure out how she talks, moves, carries herself, and what she thinks about.

I had this lovely immersive opportunity in New Zealand to do all that in a magical place when the country was largely open during the pandemic. You could go out into the countryside in New Zealand and tap into the feeling of the place. I have a lot of beautiful memories of my time there and embarking on this wonderful journey. The beauty of returning and having a little more ownership in season two. It's like, "Okay, figuring out this person is taken care of."

Season two will be about how I evolve this character and catch up with her circumstances, which happens to be quite dark. At the beginning of season two, she lost her vision. By the end of season one, she learns her father the king, passed away. The beginning of season two starts in a low and dark place, and in that mindset, it's a bigger challenge to be in a downward place. I also had what I knew would eventually be coming up, was some training to do some work in the water this season. Season one was horse riding lessons, and some sword training as specific skill sets. Season two was about learning how to breathe through a respirator in a tank underwater, which was a huge challenge.

Speaking of challenges, my next question concerns what your character faces this season. I'll go to the next question: Did you draw any inspiration from any previous roles you played, maybe people in your life, or any historical fictional figures to play Míriel?

I thought a lot about world leaders, not one specific leader. It's a unique position to be in, and I'm sure misunderstood. Many of them would say their positions are misunderstood and it's about making huge decisions, being responsible for the masses, and knowing anything you do has this domino effect on society, potentially for years and incoming decades. There's the weight of that responsibility and isolation of being one of the few who understand the position. There's a sense of your ability to trust people and their motives around you.

From an intellectual perspective, I interestingly think about the psychology of world leaders, how they behave publicly to convey that leadership, and what their thoughts are privately when they're away from people and left to their thoughts. That was always really fascinating to me. In the context of 'The Rings of Power', we're meeting this character in numinous history and crossroads. Society is starting to fracture, season two is about the deepening of those divisions, and how she stares amidst societal chaos.

Did shifting productions from New Zealand to London feel dramatically different? Did you feel anything was gained or lost because of the change?

It felt different, but that's not necessarily bad. This means we were trying to take everything established in New Zealand, which became this protective bubble for us as a cast and crew. We were creating something away from people, out of sight, in a way you could hide down there, which was interesting because it's such a big production, difficult almost anywhere to do except for this unique time and place. It was lovely to feel like we were working in New Zealand like that.

Once we moved to the UK, where we were more visible and people knew who we were and what we were working on, it was harder to conceal, hide, and do those things. A lot of our cast are UK-based. They could work from home, so to speak, and return home. There are a handful of us, this is our second international move in so many years. There was the adjustment of going from country to country, but we have an incredible infrastructure in the UK with our crew and their ability to pivot and pick up this behemoth of a show. My hat's off to them as it's no small feat moving a production to another country. What we established the foundation in New Zealand carries through to what we do as we move forward.

Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, which also stars Morfydd Clark, Lenny Henry, Sara Zwangobani, Dylan Smith, Markella Kavenagh, Megan Richards, Robert Aramayo, Benjamin Walker, Ismael Cruz Córdova, Nazanin Boniadi, Tyroe Muhafidin, Charles Edwards, Daniel Weyman, Owain Arthur, Charles Vickers, Sophia Nomvete, Lloyd Owen, Trystan Gravelle, Maxim Baldry, Ema Horvath, Sam Hazeldine, and Leon Wadham, premieres on the streamer on August 29th.

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