After 20 minutes of screentime across 5 movies, Lord of the Rings actor Hugo Weaving admits he doesn’t think of his Elrond "with the same sort of stature" as fans do

The Lord of the Rings
(Image credit: New Line Cinema)

It seems that Lord of the Rings actor Hugo Weaving doesn't love Elrond as much as us Tolkien nerds do.

"I haven't seen it, and apologies to Robert. No, I spent too long in Middle-earth, and I don't particularly want to go back there. I love New Zealand, I recently went back to New Zealand," Weaving told RadioTimes when asked if he'd seen The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. 

Robert Aramayo portrays Elrond in The Rings of Power, which is set thousands of years before J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings and focuses on the major events of the Second Age of Middle-earth. The cast includes Morfydd Clark as Galadriel, Lenny Henry as Sadoc Burrows, Sara Zwangobani as Marigold Brandyfoot, Benjamin Walker as Gil-galad, Charles Edwards as Celebrimbor, and Charlie Vickers as Sauron.

Weaving played the half-elven lord in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy and reprised the role in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies. Weaving's Elrond is a favorite character among fans, becoming the subject of several popular internet memes and being frequently shared in clips of the films online. Across the five movies though, Weaving only had 20 minutes of actual screentime.

Continued Weaving: "But no, it's funny - I think when you spend so much time on a particular piece, and in one way… it's a big, big film, huge franchise, but for me, kind of, in a funny way, not a role that I think of with the same sort of stature in my head as it might do for fans. So, no, apologies to Robert, but I haven't seen it. I'm sure he's great."

The Rings of Power season 2 is streaming now on Prime Video. For more, check out our The Rings of Power season 2 review, our The Rings of Power season 2 release schedule, and our guide to the best shows on Amazon Prime Video.

Lauren Milici
Senior Writer, Tv & Film

Lauren Milici is a Senior Entertainment Writer for GamesRadar+ currently based in the Midwest. She previously reported on breaking news for The Independent's Indy100 and created TV and film listicles for Ranker. Her work has been published in Fandom, Nerdist, Paste Magazine, Vulture, PopSugar, Fangoria, and more.