Robert Aramayo on His Double Role in ‘Rings of Power’ Season 3

In The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power‘s upcoming third season, we’ll once again see the adventures of Elrond, one of the leaders among the Elves of Middle-earth. But we’ll also be meeting another member of his family, a character J.R.R. Tolkien fans will recognize from the author’s lore: Elrond’s twin brother, Elros. Elrond and Elros (both played by Robert Aramayo) are half-Elven and half-human, and while Elrond chooses the immortal path (and the pointy ears), Elros decides to become mortal. He founds the island kingdom of Númenor and becomes its first ruler, many generations before the events of The Rings of Power. By the Second Age of Middle-earth, when the Prime Video series is set, Elros has passed away, while Elrond is obviously still around—with a lot more ahead of him, as anyone who’s seen him in Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings movies (where he’s played by Hugo Weaving) well knows. But thanks to the magic of flashbacks, The Rings of Power takes a moment to show us Elrond and Elros having maybe the most important conversation of their lives, as Elros explains his decision to his brother. At a recent press day for the show, io9 asked Aramayo what it was like playing both brothers together in that scene. “It was a real challenge in sort of all ways, really. But I really like Elros. I think he’s a good lad,” he said. “I thought it was a really interesting challenge to play identical twins who’ve been through a very similar experience [but] sort of choose very different paths without being too obvious or hitting something over the head—these are identical twins, and you can see that in them, and I wanted that to be the case—but I wanted [to explore] the subtle ways [that they’re not the same person].” He approached his portrayal of Elros with special care. “Originally they were talking about them having different accents or something like that. I didn’t want to do any of that because I wanted them to be really close, but they just choose different ways,” Aramayo said. “And it’s an important conversation, that conversation, about what it means to be ‘Edain’ or not. I’m really, really glad that in the show we got to explore it because it’s an important part in his legendarium, that dialogue.” The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power returns to Prime Video November 11. Want more io9 news? Check out the best movies and TV shows to stream this month and all the upcoming sci-fi, fantasy, and horror books that should be on your radar.