Major spoilers for Season 2, Episode 5 of Rings of Power, and the Númenor storyline specifically, are ahead! If you aren’t caught up, you can stream The Lord of the Rings prequel with an Amazon Prime subscription.
For the majority of Rings of Power’s run, Kemen has operated in the shadow of his father Pharazôn. In Episode 5 of Season 2, we saw him make his biggest move yet as he tried to control the citizens of Númenor and kick them out of their place of worship. Ultimately, this led to him killing Valandil by literally stabbing him in the back. Now, Leon Wadham, who plays Kemen, has broken down what it was like to shoot that pivotal sequence and why it caused him “so many responses simultaneously.”
Along with the interviews CinemaBlend did for Rings of Power’s first three episodes, I chatted with members of the Númenor cast about Episode 5 specifically. Obviously, I had to ask Wadham about Kemen’s biggest moment yet, and how he felt about shooting that scene. In response, he revealed a personal connection he shared with his co-star, Valandil actor Alex Tarrant, that made him feel all the feelings:
I had so many responses simultaneously. So Alex Tarrant, who plays Valandil, and I went to drama school together. We’ve known each other for 10-plus years. And in all that time, we’ve been in the same projects here and there, but we’ve never actually shared scenes together. So, it was such a pleasure working with him this season. But when I saw that I would no longer be working with him after stabbing him in the back, I was both, heartbroken — because I think he’s done a beautiful job with that character — but also hugely excited, because what a way to go out.
Both actors are from New Zealand – which is where Season 1 was shot – and attended the Toi Whakaari New Zealand Drama School. As Wadham explained, they’ve known each other for a long time and worked on similar projects, however, they hadn’t shared a scene together until now.
So, as Tarrant’s Valandil defended Elendil and the faithful, Wadham’s Kemen tried to use his power over them. It ultimately led to a tense battle, and eventually, Valandil put his sword down and didn’t kill Kemen because Elendil begged him not to. However, Kemen stood up, and stabbed him in the back, literally.
It was an intense and action-packed scene, which is something the Númenor cast of Rings of Power doesn’t get to shoot often, and that excited Wadham too as he told me:
Alex and I understood the shape of the story, [we] understood the split we were on, as far as this battle for power between the kingsman and the faithful. And I think it was just, on top of all of that, a pleasure to finally get to work together. So you get to bring a kind of performer joy to these things that can be kind of nasty and loaded and dangerous. There is a thrill to doing them that brings them even more alive.
Wadham and I talked about this scene at length, and along with his own feelings of excitement about working with his friend and sadness about not being able to share the screen with him on this show afterward, he also addressed the possible viewer response. He noted that fans love Valandil, and he expects that they’ll be “absolutely furious” about his end.
In the end, the Kemen actor described filming this scene as “an absolute pleasure,” because it was a thrilling turning point that he had never experienced before. To top it off, his primary scene partner was a long-time friend, which made it even better and more emotional. As he said the “thrill” they felt while making the sequence made it “more alive,” and I could feel that radiating off the screen.
Now, the focus is turning to how this major moment will impact Kemen and his place in Númenor. There have been a lot of interesting new relationships and power dynamics this season – like the relationships between Galadriel and Adar or Sauron and Celebrimbor. Now, we can add Kemen and the faithful to that list as we wait to see how Elendil and Míriel act on the death of Valandil.
To see what happens after this pivotal moment, you can stream new episodes of Rings of Power – which is one of Prime Video’s best shows – on Amazon every Thursday.
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