Benjamin Walker is a self-proclaimed Tolkien nerd. “One of the joys of this job is they pay us to read Tolkien,” the actor, who plays Elf king Gil-Galad in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, jokes as he sits down for our round table chat at New York City Comic-Con. His love of the books isn’t unique amongst the cast – during our discussions, nearly every one of the actors in attendance admits to a certain level of Tolkien fandom. That love for the source material was something they had to reckon with: do you bring established lore to your characterization of these storied beings, or go in blind in an attempt to imbue a character with more depth?
