Rings of Power star Leon Wadham: 'Kemen is tipping closer and closer toward the darkness'

Leon Wadham as Kemen; Trystan Gravelle as Pharazôn in The Rings of Power. Photo: Amazon MGM Studios

Growing up in Wellington, in full Lord of the Rings fever in the early 2000s, Leon Wadham had no inkling how much part of Tolkien's world he'd one day be.

The New Zealand actor plays the character of Kemen in the latest screen iteration of Lord of the Rings: Amazon's big-budget production The Rings of Power.

The series is set in the Second Age of Middle Earth, which is thousands of years before events in The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings novels.

In season two, the rings are being forged in earnest, he told RNZ's Nine to Noon.

"This is thousands of years before the story people probably know from Lord of the Rings.

"This is built from the apprentices; Sauron is rising to power. Celebrimbor is forging the rings with Sauron that will eventually cause a collapse of a bunch of different civilisations.

"And most of us in the story have no idea what we're in for. We're all just living in a Sauron shadow."

Season two is a step-up in intensity from the first, he said.

"Series one was a lot of introducing the worlds, and series two is destroying it.

"It really feels like everyone has been stirred up by the rise of Sauron, and now the stakes are tripled from where we were before. Everyone's been plunged into darkness, and they're scrabbling to find their way through."

His character Kemen is from Númenor, an island that was gifted by the Valar to men.

"I'm part of a nationalist, progressive faction, who would rather that men made their own path.

"And, in my world, progressive ... that's a positive. I think in his world, it is dangerous. They're moving away from the thing that forged them, their connection to - in this world - a very literal heavens, and as they lose their way, things start to collapse and tumble around them."

Photo: Prime Amazon

Kemen, the entitled son of a powerful figure, was invented for the series.

"My read on Kemen in season one was that he had gratitude for the position he was in.

"He knew that he was living a charmed life, and he felt if he kept playing by the rules, he might eventually inherit his father's position, which would be a great position to have.

"His fear, if anything, was losing what he had, was it all being taken away from him, as it seemed like power might shift back toward the Elven way of doing things.

"In season two, his dad has been running the shop for a while in Queen Regent Miriel's absence, and he's got a taste for what else is available, what else is possible. And he's suddenly starving, he's hungry for power. He wants more responsibility. He wants more respect. He wants it immediately, as well, which is an issue."

Kemen is inpatient and yet only has a human life span to achieve his ambitions, he said.

"It was really fun to play. I have no idea how it's going to come across. I've only seen the first handful [of episodes], and things go from bad to worse - I can say that."

The 35-year-old has been in a number of New Zealand film and TV productions over the years including Go Girls, Terry Teo, Under the Mountain and The Brokenwood Mysteries.

His character in The Rings of Power has gone down well with a famously fanatical and knowledgeable audience, he said.

"Everyone I've met has been so supportive, so lovely, so excited.

"What'll be interesting this season is that Kemen is tipping closer and closer toward the darkness, so there will be people who will be furious with him and maybe with me, but I'm not going to be surprised.

"I mean, I know what's coming, and I'm excited for people to see it, so bring it on."