Extras casting-call includes 'small people under 5ft'.

But that’s a big “if.” TORN’s social media has not proven itself a very reliable source on the show.
 
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It's on their own Facebook page. That 'US feature film for Wellington and Auckland' call for soldier types already went out some weeks ago.
https://www.facebook.com/heroesandvillainsnz/?fref=ts

I'd say go for it, Auckland folk! Take a full-length and a head shot with your phone if that's all you've got and email them - today - as they suggest. Just your natural look - they have plans for what they want you to look like. I know at least 2 people who got extra jobs on the Hobbit that way - and one woman who didn't bother to go to the open call in Wellington because she assumed it was hopeless and then kicked herself after someone she knew [smile] got in just that way by paying attention to posts on TORn. And it's a multi-year gig, so they will probably have an on-going need for extras. Get on the train! Or the wagon, pony, pig!

"You must be Auckland based, with transport, and have flexible availability during the week."
That is essential. You might not know from day to day if you'll be back the next and then suddenly you get that phone call/email/text and you're off for another day of fantasy and mayhem. It's a rollercoaster - and a total blast! [laugh]

Do it! Fortune favours the bold, Tornadoes! Break a leg!

(If my words didn't convince you, did the exclamation marks?!)
[heart]
 
TORN’s social media has not proven itself a very reliable source on the show.
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To be fair, TORN reports on the best information available at the time. That sometimes changes or may not be reliable in the first place. Take all speculation with the appropriate grain of salt.
 
You'd think, given the timeframe, that the show will focus almost entirely on Men and Elves.

But I do dearly love Dwarves, and would be excited to see them continue to be part of the fabric of Middle Earth.
 
But that’s a big “if.” TORN’s social media has not proven itself a very reliable source on the show.
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One of my complaints with TORn (Twitter & TORn Tuesday) is that they have a tendency to state things as if they were a fact with no indication of how they arrived at their conclusion. That is not the case here, as the source is clearly identified as "Heroes & Villains NZ", which is a talent agency based in New Zealand. Of course, the talent agency doesn't specifically say that the casting call is for the LOTR series, only that it is for a fantasy TV series being produced in Auckland, that is an international production. But that seems to be how casting calls work, at least for new productions where much is still secret. I suppose it's possible that there's another upcoming fantasy TV series being produced in Auckland, but odds are this is a casting call for the Amazon series.
 
You'd think, given the timeframe, that the show will focus almost entirely on Men and Elves.

But I do dearly love Dwarves, and would be excited to see them continue to be part of the fabric of Middle Earth.
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There was friendship in those days between the Elves of Eregion and the Dwarves of Khazad-dûm, and in particular between Celebrimbor and the Dwarf Narvi. Narvi might already be dead in the timeframe of the series, thought we might see him in flashback. However, the Dwarves don't seal themselves away from Eregion until S.A. 1697. Around that time they also had to deal with Orcs taking control of Mount Gundabad.
 
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But - like I said - you'd think the show would focus primarily on Men and Elves. By comparison with Eregion and Numenore, there's very little happening in Khazad Dum.

Really, in terms of Tolkien's writings, the Dwarves and their history were always relatively tertiary in importance, having been originally concieved as an evil race akin to Orcs. His main focus was Elves, Men and - once he concieved of them - Hobbits. The only Dwarf-centric piece of writing Tolkien ever gave us was "Durin's Folk".

By extension, I expected the show to be focused on men and Elves. If they find the reception of The Hobbit as something to be distanced from, you'd think they'd downplay the part of the Dwarves, in much the same way that the Disney Star Wars productions have avoided the halmarks of George Lucas' prequel trilogy like the plague.

If the show does prominently feature Dwarves, you can count me as pleasently suprised.
 
The casting call clearly indicates a distinction between at least two "races", one around 5 feet tall, and the other around 6 feet tall or taller.

If the first season focuses largely on Númenor, it would make sense to focus on Men and perhaps Drúedain, who apparently lived in Númenor during the first part of the Second Age, but began leaving during the reign of Tar-Aldarion, and were all gone before the Downfall. Apart from the fact that they existed in Númenor, they're pretty much a blank slate.

If the first season spends time in Middle-earth, there are two regions inhabited by Elves that are likely to be a focus. One is Lindon and the other is Eregion. There were probably no Dwarves or Men in Lindon, but there were Dwarf settlements on the east face of the Blue Mountains, just beyond Lindon. Much more likely, however, during the Second Age the Elven realm of Eregion, where nineteen of the twenty Great Rings were forged, was just next door to the great Dwarvish realm of Khazad-dûm (later called Moria), which reached the height of its glory during this time. This was also a time of unusual friendship between the Elves (of Eregion) and the Dwarves (of Khazad-dûm). To me it would make no sense to exclude the Dwarves if the first season focuses on the Elves of Eregion during the Second Age.

A third possibility may be Orcs. I'm sure they'll be (among) the baddies. It might be interesting to focus on them and their culture, such as it is. Clearly they carried on after Melkor's defeat without starving or killing each other off, so they had to have some sort of social structure. Were they just minions waiting for Sauron to come along, or did Sauron have to persuade them to follow him?

As for Halflings, the prevailing opinion is that they didn't do anything important during the Second Age, and they didn't live west of the Misty Mountains until the Third Age anyway, so there's no reason for them to appear in the series. I generally agree. However, I'm not entirely certain that Amazon's writing team will be able to resist including Halflings in the series. One possibility would be that the Halflings are located around Dorwinion or Rhûn during this time, so whatever they do is unknown to the Elves and Men in the west. However, whatever they do can't be too notable, or it would come to the attention of Sauron, who apparently paid them no notice at all until he captured Gollum.

My money is on Elves and Dwarves.
 
Word of God is that nobody (meaning Elves and Western Men) even were aware of the Halflings until well into the Third Age, when they appeared in the eaves of Greenwood having apparently migrated, like everyone else, from the East.
 
Assuming this is indeed, a casting call for the Amazon Middle-earth TV series, this casting call gives a few clues about the direction the series is headed.

First, the casting call:

We are casting for current and upcoming international productions

Fantasy TV Series - Auckland

  • Character faces, males and females (all ethnicities)
  • Weathered, earthy looks
  • Long hair/beards/biker types
  • Lean and beautiful looks with fine features
  • Tall people 6"ft+
  • Small people under 5"ft
  • Dancers
  • Musicians
  • You must be Auckland based, with transport, and have flexible availability during the week
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I'm not sure what a "character face" is, but it looks like they're looking for two general types of people: tall, beautiful people with fine features and short people with weathered, earthy looks. I'm also guessing that these are mainly going to be Elves and Dwarves. Keep in mind that this call is probably mostly for extras, not main characters.

I'm not entirely sure where they're going with "long hair/beards/biker types", but perhaps that refers to the dwarves.

It looks like there will be music in the series, because they're asking for musicians and dancers.

Also, they're looking for extras of "all ethnicities". Does that mean the Elves of Eregion and/or the Dwarves of Khazad-dûm will be of "all ethnicities", or will they be using some ethnicities for other regions of Middle-earth, such as Harad and Rhûn?
 
You'd think, given the timeframe, that the show will focus almost entirely on Men and Elves.
But I do dearly love Dwarves, and would be excited to see them continue to be part of the fabric of Middle Earth.
Click to expand...
There was friendship in those days between the Elves of Eregion and the Dwarves of Khazad-dûm, and in particular between Celebrimbor and the Dwarf Narvi. Narvi might already be dead in the timeframe of the series, thought we might see him in flashback. However, the Dwarves don't seal themselves away from Eregion until S.A. 1697. Around that time they also had to deal with Orcs taking control of Mount Gundabad.
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At least one Dwarven character that is fairly important would be king Durin III himself who was alive roughly around the time of the War of the Elves and Sauron, he sent dwarven troops for the war and through Khazad-dum passed many Elves en route to Lorien and back (including Galadriel, Celebrian and Amroth, who could be important characters), so I would expect to see some scenes of the dwarven kingdom in it\'s prime, with extras going around as 'civilians' and warriors in actual battles (until gates of Moria are shut). I wonder though whether Amazon can even use the material from HoME Peoples of Middle-earth which talks about Dwarven civilization in that period (the Khazad-dum empire, alliance with Edain of Rhovanion etc.), the licensing rights on those texts are unclear.
 
I wonder though whether Amazon can even use the material from HoME Peoples of Middle-earth which talks about Dwarven civilization in that period (the Khazad-dum empire, alliance with Edain of Rhovanion etc.), the licensing rights on those texts are unclear.
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From what we've been learning, I would guess that the writers might be able to use such material if given permission by The Tolkien Estate. However, as you state, this is not really clear.
 
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