And then there were three… Our latest delve into Amazon’s casting brings us to British actor Lloyd Owen.
Born and raised in London, Lloyd Owen – as you might guess with such a name – has Welsh parents, who were both actors. (His sister Cathy Owen is also an actress.) Owen trained first at the National Youth Theatre, and later at RADA. His professional work began touring the world with Shakespeare company Cheek by Jowl.
He will be best known to British audiences for his role in the television series Monarch of the Glen, where he played Archie MacDonald’s half brother, Paul; the character first appeared in season four of the show. Owen was also featured in series three of BBC2’s show Coupling. American television viewers may recognise him from his time as Henry Jones, Sr. in eight episodes of The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles.
The majority of Owen’s work has been on stage, and he has a very impressive theatre resume. He has appeared across the UK at theatres including the National Theatre, the Royal Exchange, Donmar Warehouse, Greenwich Theatre, Almeida Theatre, and the Young Vic, as well as with the Royal Shakespeare Company. In 2012 he starred in the West End as Frank Farmer, in the stage show of The Bodyguard.
One of his biggest movie appearances was as the solicitor William Heelis in Miss Potter, with Renee Zellweger and Ewan McGregor. More recently, Owen appeared as the US President in Sky’s You, Me and the Apocalypse – the cast of which also includes Fabian McCallum, who featured in our article on Saturday 12th December.
So who might he be, in Middle-earth? To me, he looks like a Boromir type figure; so I see him being cast in the world of men. An heroic role, perhaps? At the same time, with his breadth of stage experience and his classic training, he can bring depth and nuance to a role; perhaps he could play a character who is charming and handsome on the outside, but hides a sinister interior? Could Lloyd Owen be our Sauron…? We’ll have to wait and see!
Editor Note: Join TheOneRing.net as we focus on the recent cast member announcements for Amazon TV’s The Lord of the Rings inspired TV series. Throughout the month, and as part of our Tolkien Advent Calendar celebration, we will be taking a deep-dive into their previous work, relating that to the world of J.R.R. Tolkien. Today’s calendar is below!
