The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power: Who Plays Tom Bombadil in Season 2?

Amazon MGM Studios recently confirmed that The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2 will introduce Tom Bombadil – so, who plays him? And what do we know about Tom Bombadil from J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings books?

Related: Is The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Canceled?

The Rings of Power Season 2’s Tom Bombadil Actor, Explained

Rory Kinnear plays Tom Bombadil in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2. The English actor is best known internationally for portraying MI6 chief of staff Bill Tanner in four of Daniel Craig’s James Bond films: Quantum of Solace, Skyfall, Spectre, and No Time to Die.

Kinnear also won plenty of fans worldwide as The Creature Penny Dreadful, and Peter Craft in its spinoff series, City of Angels. His other high-profile big and small screen projects include Black Mirror Season 1, The Imitation Game, Men, Our Flag Means Death Season 1, Catherine the Great, and The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare.

Related: The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power: Who Plays Sauron in Season 2?

It’s currently unclear how big a role Kinnear’s Tom Bombadil will play in Rings of Power Season 2. He could appear in one episode, or all eight. That said, co-showrunner J.D. Payne indicated in a recent Vanity Fair interview that Bombadil will leave his mark on the second season, regardless of how much screentime Kinnear gets.

According to Payne, Tom Bombadil will guide The Stranger – a wizard character widely believed to be Gandalf – for at least part of his travels. “[Tom Bombadil] nudges the Stranger along his journey, which he knows will eventually protect the larger natural world that he cares about,” Payne teased.

Who Is Tom Bombadil in Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings Books?

Tom Bombadil is a bit of a riddle in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth canon. Aside from a couple of quasi-canonical poems, he only appears in one book – The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring – and his true nature is never revealed. All we really know is that he’s an eccentric, nature-loving fellow with a penchant for colorful attire, who keeps the Old Forest in line with his vaguely defined powers (including magical songs).

Tolkien makes it clear that Tom’s not a man, elf, dwarf, wizard, or hobbit, but doesn’t elaborate further. At one point, Bombadil describes himself simply as “eldest” – an immortal being who predates Sauron’s arrival in Middle-earth. Oh, and speaking of Sauron, Tom’s immune to the One Ring! Apparently, he’s such a tree-hugger that he’s neither tempted by the Ring nor affected by its magic (Tom can still see Frodo when he’s wearing the Ring).

Related: The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power: Is Barad-dûr in Season 2?

This ambiguity explains why Tom Bombadil doesn’t appear in most Lord of the Rings adaptations: he further complicates an already complicated story. Plus, Fellowship of the Ring‘s Bombadil-centric chapters are largely tangential to The Lord of the Rings‘ wider plot. According to Payne, The Rings of Power Season 2 gets around this by making Tom “slightly more interventionist” than in the books. It also uproots him from the Old Forest, relocating him to where the action is.

“In our story, [Tom Bombadil] has gone out to the lands of Rhûn,” Payne explained. “Which we learn used to be sort of Edenic and green and beautiful, but now is sort of a dead wasteland.” That said, Payne also confirmed that Kinnear’s performance involves “singing and saying lines that could be nursery rhymes from children’s poems,” which sounds very in keeping with Tolkien’s Bombadil.

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2 premieres on Prime Video on August 29, 2024.