The Nudity in Amazon's THE LORD OF THE RINGS Series Explained To Be "Very Dark Thematic Material"
When it was first rumored that there would be nudity in Amazon’s The Lord of the Rings series, there was a big backlash from fans who immediately assumed that the nudity would be used in a sexualized nature. Well, it turns out that’s not the case at all. While there will be nudity, it will be “sparse and not sexualized.”
The nudity we see in the series will be included in scenes that show the transformation of elves into the first orcs. This news comes from TheOneRing.net, and it’s said that these scenes will be some of the darkest and most ambitious in any adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's work. The report explains:
"Nudity is sparse and not sexualized— contrary to earlier concerns: but rather this artistic choice represents very dark thematic material suggestive of concentration camp-type visuals of victims, a harrowing portrayal of the corruption of the Elves by dark powers to ultimately become Orcs [if this plays out fully it will may well be one of the most ambitious things undertaken by this production and perhaps by anyone attempting to adapt Tolkien]."
Yeah, this will definitely be a super-dark moment and it’s pretty cool that they are going to dive into this history of Middle Earth. Before the First Age, a character named Melkor led some elves astray and tortured them, and transformed them into orcs. These orcs were used as his soldiers in his attempt to conquer Middle Earth. Melkor would later become Sauron's master Morgoth. Later on Sauron would breed the Black Uruks, which were orcs bred specifically to battle men. It was Saruman, who then created the deadly Uruk-Hai of Isengard.
What do you all think about the way that the nudity will be utilized in the story?
The Lord of the Rings “brings to screens for the very first time the heroic legends of the fabled Second Age of Middle-earth's history. This epic drama is set thousands of years before the events of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, and will take viewers back to an era in which great powers were forged, kingdoms rose to glory and fell to ruin, unlikely heroes were tested, hope hung by the finest of threads, and the greatest villain that ever flowed from Tolkien's pen threatened to cover all the world in darkness. Beginning in a time of relative peace, the series follows an ensemble cast of characters, both familiar and new, as they confront the long-feared re-emergence of evil to Middle-earth. From the darkest depths of the Misty Mountains, to the majestic forests of the elf-capital of Lindon, to the breathtaking island kingdom of Númenor, to the furthest reaches of the map, these kingdoms and characters will carve out legacies that live on long after they are gone.”
Game of Thrones alum Bryan Cogman is serving as a consulting producer on the show, and J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay are leading the charge on the project as the writers and showrunners. The show it being helmed by J.A. Bayona, Wayne Che Yip, and Charlotte Brändström. The first season of the show is estimated to already cost $465 million and it features an ensemble cast of 39!
The rest of the cast for the series includes Robert Aramayo, Owain Arthur, Nazanin Boniadi, Tom Budge, Morfydd Clark, Ismael Cruz Córdova, Ema Horvath, Markella Kavenagh, Joseph Mawle, Tyroe Muhafidin, Sophia Nomvete, Megan Richards, Dylan Smith, Charlie Vickers, Daniel Weyman, Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Maxim Baldry, Ian Blackburn, Kip Chapman, Anthony Crum, Maxine Cunliffe, Trystan Gravelle, Sir Lenny Henry, Thusitha Jayasundera, Fabian McCallum, Simon Merrells, Geoff Morrell, Peter Mullan, Lloyd Owen, Augustus Prew, Peter Tait, Alex Tarrant, Leon Wadham, Benjamin Walker, Charles Edwards, Will Fletcher, Amelie Child-Villiers, Beau Cassidy and Sara Zwangobani.