Middle-Earth & FuelFest: A Legacy of Passion with Cody Walker and The Rings of Power Cast

0:00 In this episode of pop Culture Weekly, I talk with the cast of Amazon Prime Videos Lord of the Rings, Rings of Power season two, and I talked to Cody Walker about fuel Fest. Let's go. Welcome to pop Culture Weekly with Kyle McMahon from my Heart Radio, your pop culture news, views, reviews and celebrity interviews on all the movies, TV, music and pop culture u Crab Weekly. Here's Kyle Mcmahonni. Noah, what's up? Welcome the pop Culture Weekly with Kyle McMahon. I of course am Kyle McMahon. I thank you once again for hanging out with me for another.

0:41 Episode of pop Culture Weekly. This week, it's all interviews, no rotating panel of guest hosts for this episode because we have so many interviews relating to the Lord of the Rings, The Rings of Power. I also Cody Walker returns, the brother of Paul Walker, the founder of fuel Fest and the CEO of reach Out Worldwide, an incredible organization. Cody comes back once again and we discuss fuel Fest, which is a amazing time if you haven't been, and also reach Out Worldwide, what he's doing with that, which is such an incredible organization that you know, his brother Paul Walker started and Cody is keeping that legacy going. Depending on when you are listening.

1:31 The mid Atlantic fuel Fest date is in at New Jersey Motorsports Park in Jersey September fourteenth, from one to eight, and then there's a bunch of dates coming up including Atlanta in October and. Tokyo as well as Scottsdale. Arizona, which is where Cody is from and it's kind of his hometown, you know. Finale for the season that's December seventh. Can get all the info at Fuelfest dot com. So let's jump in to my conversation with Cody Walker. So once again, I welcome to iHeartRadio Pop Culture Weekly, Cody Walker, fuel Fest reach Out Worldwide.

2:18 How you doing man, I'm doing great, Kyle. Thanks for having me back man. Of course he applies by fast, it really does. So what is the last year brought for you? The last year's has been epic, man. We've just had a bunch of shows all across the world. I'm leaving for Japan in two days for our third year of fuel Fest in Tokyo. I'm really looking forward to that, obviously, but it's just been incredible. It's been a good ride. So far. I've got three kids now. I got to home from sick sick from school today, So if you hear anything, apologies. My wife and I work, so it's tough. Yeah, for sure. So fuel Fest continues to grow.

3:01 If somebody hasn't yet heard of it, tell me tell them about it. Yeah. Well, it's like a gathering of a car enthusiasts and movie lovers. It's it's putting together love of cars, bringing the culture together. So it's a it's a car meet. And a car show, and it has motorsports all day long. And in New Jersey this year, we'll have role racing again down the down the back street, and we're also going to be drifting. All day long. And that is getting in these high horse power rear reel drive cars and going very fast and sliding around corners. And we're going to be using the entire track, the Big Track at New Jersey Motorsports Park this year, and I believe that's a first.

3:45 They've never allowed that before. And people can go for ride alongs on the Big Track with a pro. Wow. Pretty cool. Yeah, yeah for sure. And and I can't And one other thing I can't forget is we do a big stage with live music. This year, we're gonna have Asap twelve is going to be performing for us from the Asap crew, so we're really excited about that too. It's gonna be cool, yeah, for sure. And that's actually that's what I was going to bring up, was you also, it's also you have a whole music element and there's vendors, you know, it's kind of a whole community there for the day, which is pretty cool. Yep, that's right. It's a family for the event. So kids twelve and undred are in free, and it's there's something for everybody at all these shows.

4:29 So we're very proud of that. And why was that important to you to make make it free for kids twelve and under? Oh man, I if there's any way that we can help families out. I mean, times are tough right now, but I think the biggest part of it was I want to make it as accessible for youth as I can, because they are the future. I'm trying to generate more love and affection for cars, so like feed the use, create that next generation of car lover and so that's that's been part of the game plan since day one. That's why we do it. That way. I love that, and as a father of three, I'm sure you you can get it exactly.

5:11 And you can get in. I mean, it's it's super affordable. That it's it's like forty dollars for a four pack right now or something, which is awesome, you know. So it's not like one of these events where you're spending one hundred dollars just for yourself to get in and that, you know, I mean you can go affordably yourself, your family, your friends, whatever, a date and and go and have a great time. And all of this stuff is going on. And it's for like seven hours too. Yeah, from it's from one to eight. And the other thing I wanted to add that we got into last year, Kyle is the other big The main reason why I even put this thing together was to create a fun way to yes, inspire the next generation, but also create something that can generate some funding for reach Out Worldwide, which is the foundation that my late brother Paul Walker founded back in twenty ten. And so to date, through these shows, we've been able to raise over half a million dollars for reach Out Worldwide. So it's really incredible, it feels good, it's it's and whether people know it or not when they come to the show, like a portion of everything they're doing is going to reach Out Worldwide, So it's it's really special.

6:29 It's really cool. I love to brag about that a little bit, but it's really everybody that comes to the show that's made. That happen, you know what I mean. For sure, it's. Really really neat and that is that's a great thing to brag about because half a million dollars is a lot of money, and it's helped a lot of people to tell somebody that may be unfamiliar what reach Out Worldwide does. Specifically, the reach Out Worldwide does disaster relief. Don't think like Red Cross level anything like that. It's a small organization, but it's small by design. It's what Haull wanted. It allows the organization to get through a lot of the red tape and get small groups of people in there to help with either mucking and gutting houses or getting people medical supplies, water, food. It's coming in after tornadoes and tsunamis and hurricanes and earthquakes. We've responded to wildfires and done wildfire relief for communities that have been devastated by that. I mean, there's there's no shortage of natural disasters to go around and or just one of those little groups in there that you know, we encourage our followers and supporters to directly get involved ro oww dot org.

7:44 People can learn about how. They can get involved, whether that's being the boots on the ground, being a volunteer, or wanting to start their own fundraiser. So I encourage everyone to go and check that out. I love that so much. And what got you into your passion for cars and the community. It's like so many people that I meet. I'm the youngest of four, Paul was the oldest. I'm fifteen years younger than he was, so naturally had a huge impact on me. You know, Fast and Furious came out along well before I had my driver's license or could drive or you know, I was just dreaming of driving at that point, you know.

8:24 And who instilled that in Paul was our father. Our father was always into cars and motorcycles, and our grandfather. So I think it's something that runs in the family. But you know, those are your formative years when I being fifteen years younger, when Paul was doing all these crazy Fast and Furious movies and really getting indoctrinated himself by the tuner culture. Like he became really into the whole tuner car scene, and it obviously brushed off me in a big way. I was going parrides in his you know, his his epic cars at the time that were unobtainium you know, our thirty four GTRs and all of that stuff back when they were getting those in long before they were twenty five years old. There's some for those that don't know, there's some funny import rules when it comes to vehicles that were never originally sold in.

9:16 The United States. But yeah, he had a huge impact on me. I grew up loving cars and and he just fed me, fed me even more of it. So that's kind of how that's all has come together. And it's you know, it's beautiful that you have, you know, making this one of your making making you have making this, I think is the right word, one of your life's missions now to to carry on that legacy, you know, in both reach Out Worldwide and fuel Fest and kind of combining those two with that lifelong you know, passion that you've had honoring Paul, you know, and and doing great work surrounding it.

10:02 You know, it's really a beautiful thing. I appreciate that. You know, you never know where life's gonna what life's gonna throw out you, or you know what's gonna change. It's typically when you think you have things figured out that you know. Uh, someone said, like life has like got two hands, you know, in the one hand they're giving you the the butterscotch, and then the other hand, it's like smacking you across the face. I was a paramedic up in Oregon at the time that Paul passed away, So it was this kind of a weird uh, you know how everything kind of felt together. I him and I were extremely close, so everything that he had done was like a part of him that he had left left behind. And so me, being a paramedic, I was like, Okay, reach out worldwide, like how do we help this survive without Paul? He was the heart and soul of this.

10:56 He funded this one hundred percent. How do we make sure this can tenues onward? You know? And then of course my genuine love of cars, And then here we are, all these years later. It's been a wild ride, but I'm so humbled and touched by the success that we've been able to see with fuel Fest and then therefore allowing reach out worldwide to continue to thrive and grow and do more good. It's just been it's it's been incredible. I know Paul would be blown away because it was just such a simple, small idea that he had years ago. And the fact that it's still going on strong. Yeah, it's we're we're eleven. November is gonna be eleven years.

11:37 Since we lost Paul. So it's just it's a it's a big deal. M h. Yeah. And you know, I my belief is that he is, uh, you know, watching you do this and is with you, and is you know, so proud of all that you're doing. And you know, I'm sorry. No, no, I'm sorry. Yeah, there's a lot of people that make this whole thing possible. I want to make sure everybody realizes that, Like, there's there's a lot of there's a lot of folks in this wheel. I have an incredible team, my wife just as incredible in my family. To be able to do this, I'm just I'm just kind of a face, I guess in a way. But there's so many there's so many incredible people behind the scenes that work to make all of this possible reach out worldwide, and of course these events feel fest.

12:27 So yeah, yeah, there's a whole Yeah, absolutely, there's always a whole team behind all of us that do you know, do various things that often don't get that that love. So I love that that you shouted them out. But you and I talked. I think about my mom who had passed a few years ago last year, and one of the things she said to me before she passed was, if you're you know, when you need me, just talk to me. You know, you may not see me, you know, you may not hear me, but I promise you I'm there, you know, And so just talk to me.

13:10 You know I'm there. And I truly believe that, you know, I have had experiences, which you know we'll get into in this show, but I had experiences that I you know there. To me, there's no doubt that that she is there and they are with us and not only live through our work and our lives, but come and check us out, you know what I mean. And so for me my belief, there's no doubt that he is with you and watching you and and just egging you on to keep going because you're doing such great things and. Your mom is there as well. I have no doubt I'm with you on that, Kyle, one hundred percent. I often talk to those that I've lost, sometimes out loud, even you.

13:54 Know me too, Yeah, I feel that, brother. Yeah, you are so up. Besides Japan coming up, then you have Jersey, and then I believe Atlanta. In Atlanta, that'll be the first we've never we've never gone to Atlanta before, so that's that's the first for us. That's October the nineteenth. Actually, okay, and then you you kind of that's your last one for the season, right for the year. No, we we actually in the year in what is now my home state of Arizona. Okay, Scottsdale. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, Okay. So for those listening, if you if you've heard of you know, Barrett Jackson, Big Auction House, car auction House, wonderful people over there. That's where they have their big auction every year, is at Westworld. So this is going to be our second year at West World, I believe, our fourth or fifth year here in Arizona now, so it's cool.

14:48 We kind of bring it home at the very end of the year. Yeah, yeah, I love to have a big homecoming. And then then in at the end of the year you'll announce states and cities for next year as well. That's right towards the towards the end of this year. We hope to have the whole thing all scheduled out and drop that as as soon as possible, because we do have some new locations for next year and a lot of fun stuff up our sleeves and in the works that I'm really excited about, really excited about. Awesome. That's so dope. Where can we you know, no matter where they're watching or listening, where can we get information on fuel Fest and reach out worldwide and everything?

15:30 Yeah, we made it easy for everyone. It's fuelfest dot com and on over there fuelfest dot com. Give the Instagram page, Facebook page a follow as well. Obviously that's the quickest you know, in turnover of information. But Fuelfest dot com that's how you can find your way to get tickets or get involved being a vendor or sponsor and a future show. And then for. Reach out Worldwide, we just do r o w W for reach Out Worldwide, r o w W do that'll take you to the U the homepage for reach Out Worldwide, where you can learn how to get involved with the foundation. I love that so much. Cody, thank you as always for speaking with me. I can't thank you, of course.

16:14 I can't wait till until fuel Fest comes to Jersey and uh and I can't wait for everybody to go and see it at their nearest location. Yeah, man, me neither. It's gonna be a good time. Year two in Atlanta. Last year was an awesome year, which is why we're back. So we're realleaking forward to the show. Yeah, that'll be a great one. Is there any and you might not be able to tell me, but is there any cities in like your you know, five ten year plan or whatever that you're like, I want to go that's a you know, culturally relevant city for Turner heads or is that that's what? Right know? For sure? There's so many I really want to get. I want to I really want to get down into South America.

17:00 Central South America would be just absolutely nuts. I think like. Brazil would be wild for a lot of reasons. You know, the Brazilians love motorsports too, so that would be that would be pretty neat. I want to get back over to the UK and and do another show. It's been years since we've done that. We've grown so much. Uh in Europe in general, I want to get over to Germany. Germany would be nuts. I think Germany would be a place where we'd need to do two cities, you know, two weekends in a row to like spread the love because there's obviously no surprise, there's a lot of people that love cars over there, so the list could go on and on.

17:42 Really, it's really special, really cool to. Be doing a show in Japan. I mean for obvious reasons. For for for the tuner folk out there that is home. So it's been really incredible to be able to do that. This is going to be year number three for us over in Japan. There's a lot of places. Uh, there's there's that I say, you know, this isn't me, this is this has been used a million times. I know it has. It's you know, cars are a it's a universal language, you know, love of love of cars. So you can go anywhere and make friends real quick. You go to like a car meet or a car you know meet up or something. It's like it's a shared passion. So the automotive culture is just it's alive, and it's just it's everywhere.

18:31 It's everywhere. You will find motor lover, motorheads everywhere, and so I think the sky is really the limit. I think as we kind of move along doing more of these shows, we're gonna identify more places that would be a really good fit and and and you know, put it together, and it takes an incredible team, and to do these international shows, it requires a lot of trust and finding the right people to work within those countries, because you know, motorhead, you know who no one knows it better than the locals, right, So you know, that's that's that's. Kind of how we play that. We want to we want to play nice with everybody and not step on toes and just put together like a fun event with no ego.

19:16 Yeah, and we succeed in doing that. We crushed that. That's why people like our shows, and that's why we always are so open to families and stuff. You'll see kids and stuff, and it's just fun. It's a lot of fun. Yeah. I can't wait. I can't wait to watch you continue to expand and grow and raise money for a great cause. Man, You're you're doing awesome more Cody. Thank you so much, Kyle of course, brother, Yeah. Thank you you as well. Cody Walker. It's always a great time talking with him. Fuel Fest it's such a cool event, you know, tour really that is just such a It's this community that comes together and everybody is so friendly and you know, there's so much stuff to do and you could go, you know, and not spend a dollar if you don't want and see all this cool stuff. I mean, all these cool people. It's really really, really great. You can get more information on Fuelfest at fuelfest dot com get your tickets as well. And for reach Out Worldwide the organization, you can go to ROWW dot org. Your donation to reach Out Worldwide helps the teams there of medical experts and disaster release and disaster relief professionals to immediately respond when disasters strike. They have over three thousand volunteers across the country. It is a pretty incredible organization. It's a

20:46 registered five oh one c three nonprofit founded by Paul in twenty ten after the Haiti earthquake, and it's only grown from there and thanks to Cody and his team, you know, it's continued to grow and continued to help people all across the not just the country, but all across the world. So there you go, reach out world wide, roww dot org and Fuelfest at fuelfest dot com. All right, next up, you may remember that I last year, it was actually two years ago, for the first season of Lord of the Rings Rings of Power, I interviewed the entire cast and we had a great time talking to you know, I had a great time talking to all of them before the show started. Now that we're in season two two years later, you know, some different perspective and season two was really good.

21:51 So I had to a bunch of questions to ask the cast. I talk with Charlie Vickers, Charles Edwards, Daniel Wyman, Meghan Richer, Markleek, Havenaw Benjamin Walker, and Ismael Cruz Cordova. And it is a really great group that talking with, great groups groups that I'm talking with today. But we're all it's all about. Lord of the Rings the Rings of Power season two. It is so good. It is streaming right now exclusively on Prime Video. And you know it is if you're a Lord of the Rings fan, you haven't watched Rings of Power. Even if you're not a Lord of the Rings fan. If you enjoy you know, fantasy and wizards and power and Rings and Rings of Power, you will love the Lord of the.

22:43 Rings The Rings of Power. So make sure that you tune in. You can check out my interviews with the cast from season one. I'll have that in the show note, so just click on that and that'll take you to that episode. If for some reason you have missed an episode of my show and you have like what But if not and you just want to listen to it again, obviously, then click on that link in the show notes and that'll take you to that episode. So, without further ado, let's just. Jump into these interviews. So, as you know, the Lord of the Rings The Rings of Power, it's based on the J. R. R. Tolkien's History of Middle Earth and the appendence you know, primarily taken from the appendices of The Lord of the Rings. The series is set thousands of years before the books, in the Second Age of Middle Earth, and so season one depicts the emergence of the Dark Lord sar On and the forging of the first Rings of Power that you know become prominent in the Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit. But it's incredible you know, Amazon acquired the rights to the series back in twenty seventeen. The first season came out in twenty twenty two, and now season two is here for twenty twenty four. So first up, let's talk with Benjamin Walker and Ismael Cruz Cordova. Benjamin plays Gilgelad, the high

24:14 King of Elves, and Ismael plays Are and Deer, who you know has that kind of forbidden love thing going on. So let's jump right into my interviews with ben and Ismael. Here they are Benjamin Walker and Ismael Cruise Cordova. First of all, great speaking with both of you. Congratulations on season two. Your characters are are layered and complicated and amazing as a viewer to watch. What is it like for both of you to be in this world of Middle Earth? Boyhood dream come boyhood dream come true? I'm gonna say, you know, it's what when you're a kid and you're running around in the woods with a bow and arrow you made out of sticks and shoelace.

25:04 You had shoelaces. I found it in the dirt. It's uphill both ways. But genuinely, like you wish you could go back to that kid and and say someday you're gonna get paid to do that. I mean, it's it's. It's just so. I mean, we're gonna talk about this for ages. But I have to second that is it is a childhood dream and that informs a lot and it really does help that it is a childhood dream because the kind of wonder, sense of wonder and commitment and passion, and you have to all that that it requires to be a middle Earth. You have to allow yourself to be completely engulfed by what it is. You can't have a foot in and a foot out. You have to be Gil Gold. You have to be out on it. You have to really am by what he is. So I mean, i'm I'm and I speak for both of us. I think it's a dream come true or extremely grateful to be working and to be in something that means so much to so many people.

26:12 And speaking of out in there, you you had you know, your I would say your theme in a lot of ways with the first season was this kind of forbidden love, which obviously is uh is going to be a little bit different this season. How how for you as an actor, how is that arc? You know, how are you tackling that that arc I should. It's you know, there's deep, deep, there's deep wound that only came into the show already. You can sense there's something that bothers him. There's like a crack in his in his heart, there's a crack in his holder, then his soul. There's so much, so many questions that he has about who he is and what life is, what is being enough? And so so this this shift in this Forbidden Love just further deepens those questions. What his position is in Middle Earth there's a huge question, and I think the audience sees it too. It's like, so, where where is this guy going?

27:19 What is he doing here? You know, because we have all these the heavy hitters were like what is this guy? And he asked himself that that the same question. What role do I play in this whole thing? And I think that's uh, that's the guiding motivation. Just to give you a general. Spoiler free yeah. Yeah, and Benjamin for you, uh, you know, the High King of Elves And in the interest of time, what is your favorite Elvish saying that you have learned? Uh? And Number one I think actually is pretty applicable to the second season is the the term grach, which is an Elvish slayer slurlaer, it's an Elvis slur which no slaring you watch your slare and mount. It's an Elvish square thank you. That means basically like or like a cleaner version will be are because they the Elves, in spite of their infinite wisdom, have found themselves uh, having made some mistakes, were caught on the back foot. And there's no better way to sum it up other than crah.

28:47 I love that crah. Thank you both very much. I can't wait for everybody to see The Lord of the Rings Rings of Power exclusively on Prime. Thank you, Benjamin Walker. And it's my Cruz Cordova. Love those guys and their character arcs in season two. I can't wait to talk to you about it. So anyway, we got a lot to cover. Let's take a quick break to pay the bills and we'll be back. All right. Thank you for hanging with me through our sponsors. They allow me to do this show. They allow me to do this as a job, to talk to watch movies and series like before they come out, and then go and talk to them, like talk to the people in them, talk to you know, some of my favorite actors and artists and all. So anyway, thank you to my sponsors, to our sponsors, thank you for you, to you for making this show grow each and every week and supporting our sponsors.

29:50 That's so huge. Okay, Daniel Wayman, Meghan Richard, and Marklee Havanaugh. And Mark plays Norri Brandy Foot, a kind of predecessor to Hobbits. Same thing with Meghan, who plays Poppy. I love Poppy so much. And then Daniel Weyman plays the mysterious the Stranger who I thought was sore On but is not. And I think lots of people thought that according to like Reddit and you know what you guys were talking about during season one, but it went on a very different track, surprising and awesome. So anyway, I'm getting sidetracked, as I always do. Let's get into my interviews with Daniel Weyman, Meghan Richard, and Marcella Kavanaugh. First of all, it's great to speak to all of you again. Thank you so much for speaking with me. I've got to say so.

30:43 I enjoy all of you. But Markella and Meghan, Poppy, you know Noorri and Poppy, your relationship, the two of you together. It's so endearing and I really love it. And then Daniel, your relationship with the two two of them is also you know, it's such an interesting thing. So my my point in question is is does that come off you know, offset as well? Is that why it's translating so well? On set? You know on camera. You have a lovely voice. Oh, thank you, Yeah, it's very like.

31:24 Yeah, I think I think. Yeah, it's such a pleasure to work with people who you naturally sort of get on with. I feel like, sort of from day one, it's kind of been. It's felt easy anyway, and I wanted, I've wanted to get to know you. But also what's great is that the characters have such an incredible relationship and I think that especially Poppy and Nor's relationship has been written so well, and I feel like the show run has really knew what that relationship was sort of from the get go, So it kind of feels easy for me anyway to fall into that. But yes, off set, we are definitely family. Yeah, there's something cool that happens when I think your characters all have unique character sort of characteristics that they bring to the table. When when you're all together, that complements each other. That means that you're all fairly equal.

32:15 That there's no you know, there's no power in bounce, or if there is a power and bounce, it shifts later and shifts later and shifts later. And that makes it quite easy to both work together but also to you cherish the other the other people and you respect them for what they bring to the table. And that's a great way of working. I think I love that. And and for you, Daniel, I you know, as I was watching season one, I thought that you were going to be your character was going to be somebody that you ended up not being, And then I was shocked at the end as you all were reading the scripts, did you get that enjoyment in these surprises as well? Or does it kind of you know, it's it's work at the end of the day for you, so it's just like oh okay, and you move on, Like, is there some of that fanboy fangirl you know, excitement as you're going through.

33:08 Yeah, I mean I think that like with anything that I watch or with anything that I read, it is always exciting when you have anticipation around a character that you think might be this, or you think might be that, and it's it's all about you feel like you're really involved in the journey of them discovering who they are as characters, and you're discovering that along, you know, with them. I really love that as a viewer and as a character. I feel like it then you feel so invested. In their journey. So yeah, the what if is really it's fun and it's exciting, and I can see why. People we were lucky enough to read some of the when the episodes came out, we would read them also get together and it was real because you didn't know what was going to happen, and it was you know, we'd sort of catch each other and going, oh my god, the page turn and it keeps going, oh yeah, it was great.

33:53 And how do you keep I mean, besides being contractually obligated, how do you keep the the the secrets and the you know, I just feel like it's so exciting that you know, I guess you can talk to each other. That's how you can kind of talk about it, right, totally. Yeah, And also I think sometimes it takes the fun out of it if you reveal too much, because otherwise. What is there to watch? Yeah, and it's really it's really fun to I think hold things back and then you get and then especially you know, like you said that you were surprised that that's such a wonderful, incredible reaction that you could now share with us, Like I think that wouldn't have necessarily happened if we told you. Thank you.

34:34 All three of you are a delight to watch and talk to. I can't wait for everybody to see Lord of the Rings the Rings of Power season two. Thank you, Thank you so much. Take care you too. Dannuel Wayman, Meghan Richard, and Mark Kella Kevin love love love them, Love the Horfoots. I love that storyline through the Rings of Power, and Poppy and nor are just a good time. I love their show. And then you know, pairing them with Daniel Wyman as the Stranger, like it's just such a good mix. I love it. In any event, last set of interviews, I'm like torn between telling you you know, but I also like, you're gonna know if you watch season one, you already know.

35:25 I'm just gonna say it, so here's a spoiler. So if you don't, if you haven't yet watched season one or the end of season. One, then like skip the next twenty seconds. Okay, all right. Charlie plays the shape shifter who we know as the evil dark Lord sore On. We saw him in many different forms in the first season, and of course Charles plays Celebromores. You know, he's kind of like a like Oppenheimer in a lot of ways, which you know I'm gonna ask him about. But in any event, I'm getting distracted again like I always do. Let's get right into the interviews. Charlie Bickers and Charles Edwards. Hey, great to talk with both of you again. Thanks for speaking with me. Charlie, I want to start with you. You are a shape shifter.

36:17 You've played many shapes in this series so far. What has that been like for you to be able to kind of, you know, put on different masks if you will. It's a real privilege. I mean, it's kind of an actor's dream, right. It's why I got into acting, I think, and something that I've connected to with the craft of it, I guess since I started doing it. And to have the kind of role where you can really lean into transformative work has been really incredible. So there has been a lot of hard work to distinguish the different characters. But the stuff I've really enjoyed has been developing different vocal changing, you know, my vocal work and physical work to suit what I imagine the characters to be.

37:08 I love that. And uh and Charles for you, Celebromore Celebramore has been I would say, almost like that Oppenheimer of Middle Earth in some ways. Would you agree with that kind of assessment. You know what? I like this. It's been coming up with a bit quite a bit recently, and I like it because, yes, I think there are a lot of similarities unleashing this thing that he's uncertain of of of of the effects, well, the effect is going to have, but there's certainly the torture that's the kind of mental torture that's that's that that Oppenheimer goes through, and the and the shall I SHANN'TI dilemma and all those things I think are very applicable.

37:56 But he's. Oppenheimer is less on in the thrall of a guy like Saron is pulling the strings. Ultimately, although it is very much a power play between the two of these characters, they both need each other for various things, so that makes it more interesting that way. And for both of you. You know, I spoke to you season one before that launched. Now I'm speaking to you before season two launches. What are where? How are you different from when we talked this time last year in regards to your your yourselves and the show?

38:38 Well, I think I think it's probably two years now since we did this press press tour. And has it been two years? Yeah? And I think I was cast in this show in twenty nineteen, so and we've just done the second season, right, So it's it's it's I think a lot of things have changed personally, I mean, but I guess for me it's about being getting really comfortable and adjusting to doing a show on this scale and living in this world. And I think just naturally living with a character for so long it's my first experience of that. It just deepens your understanding because it's kind of always there on the back burner, in the back of your mind, whether you're doing another project in between. I'm kind of always thinking about this character because I know I'll be returning to it at some point, and that's a real joy.

39:27 Yeah, it is to know something is ongoing, even though there are these huge gaps between each season. It really absorbs you, but even when you're not doing it. And I think this season we're a lot more grounded, we're a lot more well, it's still amazing to walk onto those sets, but we're a lot more O FAI with it now. So and also the stories are really settling now and now we're telling the stories. I love it. I can't wait for everybody to see season two. Thank you both for speaking with me, and I look forward to speaking with you again. Thank you very much, Thanks your time, Thanks Kyle. Thank you Charlie Vickers and Charles Edwards. Like, I can't tell you how cool it is for me to be able to say that I just talked to sore On, not only like this time, but I talked to him last season two, not even knowing that he.

40:19 Was sore On, which is crazy. Like this is like a childhood dream come true. So I'm so stoked. I'm so hyped for you to see season two of The Lord of the Rings Rings of Power exclusively on Prime video. Do yourself a favor, please watch it so we can talk about episode one. I can't wait to talk to you about it. If you haven't joined the conversation yet, you can hit me up on any social at KMAC Music or at Real Kyle McMahon. Or at pop Culture Weekly. You'll find me everywhere. Pick one and hit me up, or send your hate mail as always to my email, which. Many of you do. Love that. Keep that coming, please.

41:01 And all right, we got some exciting stuff coming up in the next few episodes. We're getting close to my favorite time of year, Halloween, so you know it's gonna be an all horror October slate of pop Culture Weekly episodes. All right, that's all for this episode. Talk to you soon. I will see you next week. I love you. We thank you for listening to pop Culture Weekly. Here all the latest at Popcultureweekly dot com. I hear hobbitz, I hear hobbitzes and precious