Hobbits have been at the very heart of Middle-earth’s greatest stories since Gandalf recruited Bilbo for a grand adventure. But while J.R.R. Tolkien’s Second Age didn’t call any race by that iconic name, the Harfoots are one of the tribes who become Hobbits. That puts star Markella Kavenagh at the heart of Prime Video’s The Rings of Power. What’s it like filling such an important role? How will the lovable, positive Nori respond to the evil shadow spreading across the world? And what’s it like going on a journey with a wizard? We asked her about all of that and more when ahead of The Rings of Power‘s second season.
Nerdist: After two seasons of lengthy productions, how sick are you of wandering around outside in rags without shoes?
Kavenagh: I love it. Love it. Could do it all day. I mean, obviously it still feels like you’re wearing shoes because the silicon is so thick. I think it’s silicon that they use. But the feet that you wear are so thick the underneath still feels like a shoe. But I love it. I love the feet, they’re great.
The relationship between Hobbits and a powerful Istar is the very heart of The Lord of the Rings. Now that we know for sure the Stranger is a wizard, do you feel any added pressure playing his Hobbit friend?
Kavenagh: :laughs: The pressure I feel is to betray Nori’s truth. As truthfully as possible and in the most believable way. I don’t really think it’s helpful to think too much about the kind of Wizard/Harfoot dynamic. Just because it’s so specific to our story and to The Rings of Power. It exists in its own kind of narrative. In that sense, I just would get too in my head and I wouldn’t be able to focus on the story we’re telling, which is what’s important for Nori and what’s important for me and portraying Nori. So that’s what I focus on the most.
How does Nori knowing the Stranger’s real identity and just how powerful he is change their relationship in season two?
Kavenagh: She’s more prepared for it now. She had season one, where obviously there was so much experimentation and so much uncertainty and unpredictability, because it was so out of his control. And then in this season, it’s really his responsibility to try and harness it and really work on why it’s so uncontrollable. So for Nori, instead of it being as fearful as she was in season one, for her it’s more curious. It’s more trying to understand where it comes from and how she can also help him navigate it. And realizing it might take something else, some time, in order for him for it to fully come to fruition in a way that works for him and that is not taken out on everyone else around him or the environment.
Does the growing darkness that is spreading over Middle-earth change Nori this year? Or does her kind of purity of heart help her stay the same Harfoot that we met in season one?
Kavenagh: I would definitely say she’s still playful and has that really joyful energy. And, hopefully, a lot of heart. The things that she’s been through towards the end of season one have definitely impacted her in season two. And she just has a little bit more maturity around it and she’s less naïve. She’s just growing. She’s evolving. So there are going to be things, or the way she approaches things, might not always be the same, but she definitely has that underlying sense of that lightness and that purity and wanting everyone and everything to be okay.
What did you learn about Nori during season two that you didn’t know, or maybe didn’t even fully appreciate, before the season?
Kavenagh: How much she underestimates herself. Sometimes she can come across as this Harfoot that’s super forthcoming and super strong-willed and loves adventure and loves being curious and loves all these new experiences and connections. But I think she also really struggles with her own self-confidence and trusting herself. So you really see, I think in this season in a way that you didn’t in the last, is thats she’s on her own a lot more now. She actually has to be with herself and figure out what she wants and what her purpose is in a larger sense. She does have Poppy, so there’s that familiarity there, but ultimately she’s also navigating a lot on her own. It does require a self-awareness that she didn’t really have to confront in the same way in season one.
Harfoots are one of the three tribes of Hobbits, a group that holds a really sacred place in pop culture at large. How do people treat you now that you’re a very important part of a beloved group?
Kavenagh: I don’t obviously look very similar to Nori in my day-to-day. So I’m fine, walk around and no one really says anything. But for people who do like it, yeah, it’s really lovely when it resonates with people, to be able to see the joy on their faces, watching the show as a whole and the series as a whole. And then I’m so glad that in some ways Nori has resonated with people.
I feel so grateful to be a part of it and a part of Tolkien’s world. In that sense, it’s been really lovely hearing that Nori has resonated with some people or that they can feel they can relate to her or have connected to her in some way. But also, I don’t really read a lot online about how it’s been received, so it is always lovely and surprising when someone voices how it’s affected them in a positive way.
I talked to your very tall screen partner and I was asking him about how much, if at all, he draws on the other famous relationships between wizards and Hobbits, and he said that he thinks that your onscreen relationship is actually rooted in your offscreen bonding. Could you talk a little bit about how you and Daniel have evolved together and built this bond?
Kavenagh: We have spent so much time together. Season one, we were there together pretty much the whole time. We were hanging out all the time. And I feel like in many instances with friendships, or people who have to portray friendships on screen, you try and meet up and create a friendship of some sort off screen. At least in my experience, it’s what I’ve attempted to do. But in this instance with Dan, it was so natural and so easy that we really did become really close friends.
I am so fortunate to be able to work with him and to be able to act opposite him and have that friendship. And we just really spent so much time together. We spent so much time together. And even in the UK as much as possible, we would talk about scenes and hang out. But creating a friendship really did. And the same with Megan Richards. It really helped us. Hopefully it reads on screen, because we really do have a lot of love for each other and a lot of respect for each other as humans. I think it always helps when you are taking from your real life into a dynamic on screen. And in this instance, I think it definitely helped us that we just happened to get along.
I’m really fascinated by the craft and how different performers create their characters. And I know you kind of touched on this a little bit, but I do want to just ask because I asked Daniel, too. Is your performance at all, either with the relationship with him, or even just in general, influenced by Peter Jackson’s movies? And I only ask because they’re so big and so iconic and so well-known, and there are onscreen parallels to what you’re doing on this show, even if Nori is completely new. Is there anything you take from them?
Kavenagh: I really love those films. And I love those actors so much and respect their performances and just think they’re really, really incredible. But in terms of whether I look to them for this, I didn’t because the story is so specific and it’s just so way before that time that the Harfoots are just in a completely different space. Headspace wise, their experiences are different, their circumstances are so different. These are people who have had to survive. They don’t even have a base. They’re moving constantly. So their personalities and their makeup internally, and the way they view the world and their perspectives are just so, so different that we really had to start from scratch in a way.
Even though Harfoots exists, Nori is not in the lore. So to be able to create a fully-fledged Harfoot that exists in her own right and with the other Harfoot, that was more focusing on what the showrunners had provided us. And obviously being so inspired and making sure that there’s respect for the lore and making sure that it’s as truthful to that as well. Then also my own backstory, and fusing all of those together. So more focusing on that and what was relevant to Nori, which was her past experiences and her present rather than everything else. They’re just so different. Their circumstances are so different.
You’re already such an important part of the show. But as we talked about, Sauron is rising, things are getting worse in Middle-earth. And they’re only going to get worse and worse as the show goes on until it ends. What do you expect for Nori in terms of how much more important she becomes in this story?
Kavenagh: That’s an interesting question. I hope for her she fulfills her purpose. I know I’ve said that a lot this interview. But in this season particularly, you find out why and what she has to do, essentially for herself and for the bigger picture. I just hope we see her fulfill that. I mean, I personally want her to meet all these other storylines, which I know…technically, who knows? But yes, I think you’ll see her fulfill that purpose. And I hope you see that happen and how Sauron rising and all of that actually affects her and the Harfoots.
I’m not asking you to spoil anything. Your showrunners told me, yes, definitively this season we will get an answer as to who the Stranger really is. So my question to you is, how do you think fans are going to respond to that revelation?
Kavenagh: Whooo knows? Like, who knows? Honestly, I couldn’t even tell you because I think it’s… people have such strong opinions, of course, about Tolkien and Tolkien’s lore. And obviously there are going to be character reveals. It’s just so difficult to say how it’s going to be received. I just…who knows.
How did you react when you found out?
Kavenagh: (laughs) This is so ambitious? I really respect this ambition, for you to try.
I’m not asking you to spoil it, just how did you respond to it?
Kavenagh: How did I react to it? I mean, I love Daniel Weyman. So I was glad he was able to know who and what he was playing.