Actor Tom Budge has left Amazon Studio's upcoming Lord of the Rings series. The highly anticipated show recently resumed production in New Zealand, after shutting down in mid-March of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. While the shooting location is the same as Peter Jackson's films, the series is set to take place well before the beloved trilogy and will wield a new storyline. Amazon's take will be set 3,000 years before the movies and J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit, in what's called the Second Age of Middle-earth.
The Lord of the Rings series is being setup for success with a five-season commitment and has already officially gotten renewed for season two. The massive undertaking boasts a $500 million budget, the heftiest price tag in television history. Based on the previously released Lord of the Rings series synopsis, it sounds like every million will be used in the epic adventure tale. Opening in a relatively peaceful time, the series will introduce viewers to an ensemble cast of new and familiar characters who will eventually be plagued by evil. Though those characters have yet to be officially announced, the massive cast of actors, including Budge, has been proclaimed.
Budge surprised fans when he took to Instagram on Sunday, March 14 to announce that he would no longer be involved in the series. With "great sadness," the Australian actor revealed that he left the show after shooting over the past year. He didn't go into too much detail, but noted that his character would be going in a different direction. Budge's caption accompanied a video of Johnny Cash singing "Ring of Fire." Read his full statement below:
Due to secrecy surrounding the Amazon Prime show, it is unknown what character Budge had been breathing life into. What's clear is that the series would've been a major step forward for his career. The performer has earned a smattering of respected credits in television, film and theatre over the years. His work on Jeremy Sims’ film, Last Train To Freo, garnered him best supporting actor nominations at the 2006 AACTA Awards and the Film Critics Circle Awards. More recently, Budge played Mayor Mr. Frankly in the movie, Judy & Punch, directed by Mirrah Foulkes, which was well received at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival.
From Budge's post, it appears that Amazon decided to end his contract based off of the performance he turned in. Combing through the comments, it seems safe to infer his character choices didn't mesh with the studio's overall vision. While devastating, these incidents unfortunately occur from time to time in the entertainment industry. In fact, it happened early in the Lord of the Rings film franchise. Stuart Townsend was originally supposed to play Aragorn, but Viggo Mortensen stepped in to take the role a mere day before filming began. Imagine the film without Mortensen. Although the news is unfortunate, hopefully it is in the best interest of the upcoming series and things will pan out for Budge and his career moving forward.
Source: Tom Budge