Will Poulter Exits ‘Lord Of The Rings’ Amazon Series

Will Poulter, who had joined Amazon’s The Lord of the Rings TV series in September, has had to exit due to scheduling conflicts, Deadline has confirmed. Poulter had been in negotiations for a role, but his casting was never confirmed by Amazon.

The streamer recently moved ahead with an early Season 2 renewal for the sprawling adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s fantasy novels. In conjunction with that renewal, the series will be going on a 4-5-month hiatus after filming the first two episodes from Season 1 to map out and write the bulk of the scripts for Season 2. We are told the change in the production schedule made it impossible for Poulter to stay on with his other commitments.

Set in Middle Earth, the LOTR TV series will explore new storylines preceding J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Fellowship of the Ring. The show’s core cast, which has yet to be confirmed by Amazon, includes Ema Horvath, Markella Kavenagh and Joseph Mawle.

The Lord of the Rings series is produced by Amazon Studios. In addition to showrunners Payne and McKay, executive producers include Bayona and his producing partner Belén Atienza, Lindsey Weber, Bruce Richmond, Gene Kelly, Sharon Tal Yguado as well as writers Gennifer Hutchison; Jason Cahill and Justin Doble.

Poulter recently appeared in lead roles in Netflix’s Black Mirror: Bandersnatch and horror film Midsommar. His other feature credits include the role of Gally in The Maze Runner franchise, as well as Detroit and The Revenant.

Variety had first reported Poulter’s casting in the project in September.