Who Plays Isildur On The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power?

Longtime fans of J.R.R. Tolkien's epic fantasy novel "The Lord of the Rings” will know that Isildur is one of the most important historical figures to ever live in Middle Earth. Isildur is a child of the ancient island kingdom of Númenor, which is said to be the greatest civilization ever to be conceived by Man, and whose descendants would go on to found the realms of Arnor and Gondor.

The feat which Isildur is most well-known for occurred at the end of the Second Age, when he took up his father's broken sword, Narsil, and used it to cut the One Ring from Sauron's finger — thereby destroying the Dark Lord's corporeal form and ending the battle on the slopes of Mount Doom. Although the battle was won, Isildur's decision to keep this immensely powerful ring for himself would later initiate the entire story of "The Lord of the Rings," as Isildur's corruption would allow Sauron to live and gradually regain all of the power he had lost.

We see these events play out in several flashback sequences scattered throughout Peter Jackson's "The Lord of The Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring," and as such, the tale of Isildur is one that plenty of Tolkein fans (from both the books and the movies) ought to be familiar with. In addition, fans should be extremely excited to learn that Isildur's backstory will be expanded upon even further in Amazon Prime's "The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power." Here's who plays Isildur in the upcoming epic fantasy series.

Isildur will be played by British actor Maxim Baldry in "The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power." Baldry's first prominent film role came in the 2007 comedy "Mr. Bean's Holiday," in which he co-stars as a young boy named Stepan Duchevsky who is accidentally kidnapped and taken on a vacation across France by the incompetent Mr. Bean (Rowan Atkinson). More recently, Baldry appeared on the BBC dystopian drama series "Years and Years" as a Ukrainian refugee named Viktor Goroya, and starred in the "Doctor Who" episode "The Haunting of Villa Diodati" as the historical figure Dr. John Polidori.

In any case, it's clear that Baldry's performance in "The Rings of Power" is set to be one of the biggest roles of his career to date — especially since the showrunners have already hinted that Isildur will play a major part on the series. During an interview with Vanity Fair, showrunners J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay explained that we will meet Isildur in his earliest days as a sailor, and that his story will be portrayed in a much more tragic light than in Peter Jackson's adaptation. "You meet Isildur and he's like Michael Corleon," said McKay. "He's the young member of the family with optimism and immaturity. Trace that guy to the tragic, final decision rather than the mistake of a fool."

McKay's comments make it clear that Isildur will have a major part to play in the story of "The Rings of Power," and his comparison to Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) of "The Godfather" trilogy – arguably one of the greatest characters in cinematic history — is certain to get fans excited about Maxim Baldry's performance.