Top PHILIP DORNER

Growth is the name of the game for Maxim Baldry, both on-screen and off, as he returns to Prime Video's The Rings of Power, this August. The magnitude of his second season on the Lord of the Rings prequel will reverberate throughout character Isildur's time in Middle earth for years to come, and for Maxim, finding his feet in his ”first proper [acting] job” has been equally monumental – as he tells Russell Tovey, it's given him a home in the industry and allowed him to afford one of his own.

Covering our Autumn/Winter 2024 issue, he sits down with his former Years and Years co-star to talk navigating such a vast TV arena, the hopeful escapism of Tolkien's universe, the childhood move from Russia to England that has influenced the roles that resonate with him today, how he juggles his skyrocketing acting career with life in a band, still getting recognised for his noughties turn in Mr Bean's Holiday and how Russell, himself, almost bagged a role in The Hobbit.

Head below to read an exclusive extract from Maxim and Russell’s conversation, now…

RUSSELL TOVEY: Tell me about the audition process for Rings of Power and what it was like when you got the call and they offered you Isildur.
MAXIM BALDRY: Well I didn’t even know who I was auditioning for, I was auditioning for a ‘young, mercurial soldier who has the weight of the world on his shoulders’. That was the only thing I knew. And the audition process was so long. It honestly took about four or five months of auditioning.

And were you going in and out and re-reading?
Going in and out, but ironically, I never had to do a screen test, and everyone else had to do a screen test. But I had to do so many in-the-room-meets and then Zoom calls with the creative team. And then, when I got the call, I was filming in Croatia for another show and I remember getting the call, I was in a field, covered in blood cause I was doing this death scene where my mother kills me in the show, and I just felt this overwhelming sense of relief, because I was just like, ‘Oh my god.’ It was the first time where I felt like, ‘I’m an actor’. Because before I was always winging it, I was chancing it. It was my first proper job, and I was just so terrified, and I was a bit like, ‘I hope what I’m doing is working,’ and then when I got Rings, I was like, ‘I can do this. I can be an actor, there’s progression here.’ And, I think that’s why every day is a blessing, and I was shocked to have got it. It’s an American show as well, and, I think, as an actor, there’s something kind of romantic about being in a Hollywood, zesty, flashy show. It’s kind of the dream.

Were you a fan of the franchise anyway?
Yeah, massively. Ironically, that’s also one of the reasons why I wanted to act, because I watched the trilogy and then I’d go to my Dad, ‘Oh, dad, I want to be in Lord of The Rings, and he was like, ‘Yeah, well that’s been done, so think of something else, but keep it up.’

Then there was The Hobbit. I auditioned for The Hobbit.
Who did you audition for in The Hobbit?

For Frodo… Bilbo or Frodo.
You would’ve been a good Bilbo.

Well, Martin Freeman was cast, and then Martin, at one point, apparently the dates were clashing with Sherlock, and they were like, ‘Russell, you’re up,’ and I auditioned, and they were like, ‘Listen, this is really great what you’re doing. And I was thinking, ‘Oh my god…’ And then the phone call came in that said, Sherlock have worked out the dates and Martin can do it, so sorry it’s not worked out this time.’ And I was like, ‘Oh okay, great.’

But I think as I’ve got older, I fall less in love with a role until it’s mine, to save the pain. Do you know what I mean? I just go on the ride and I go, ‘That would be fucking cool.’ But it didn’t work out and I was like, ‘Hey-ho, fine.’ And I like Martin and obviously, he was the right choice.
Well, you’re mentally headstrong to be able to get excited as well, because that’s always the fear for me – the expectation not being fulfilled, and that’s just heartbreak. I try to not get carried away, so for the four-month process of auditioning for Rings, I was like, ‘I cannot get excited about this,’ and it was getting closer and closer and I was like, ‘I cannot let myself get excited here,’ because I also knew the pain of trying so hard to get jobs and not getting them.

Well, it’s such a huge part of your career and such a huge part of your brain having to consider it, especially if you’re like, ‘It’s the dream role’ – of course, you’re going to get carried away and excited by it.
But I wouldn’t have got it if it wasn’t for Years and Years. I fully believe in that. I fully believe that that opened the door to getting that job because it was really in quick succession of Years and Years coming out.

Vest GUCCI, necklace CARTIER

Has [Rings of Power] changed your life?
Yes.

In what ways? 
It’s given me a home.

Oh, wow.
Yeah, it’s given me a home, in more ways than one. I feel grateful that I can afford a home, but also one where I feel at peace with myself, and I’ve just never been happier than recently. I’ve been working and that was all I ever wanted to do as a kid, was to just do this. So it feels good, and I feel at home when I do the work, and yeah, the opportunities that come from this are just next level. I’m talking to you and doing my first [magazine] cover, which I never thought I would ever do. So I’m very grateful for it all.

It’s a really cool magazine. Have you shot the cover already?
Yeah, I shot it yesterday.

Are you happy with the images?
I’m so happy, yeah. The photographer was amazing and the location was a pub and it was so rich in texture and I think it just really worked for who I am as well, as a person. I think it was just so honest. There was an honest exploration of my character as well.

I want to talk a bit about music as well, but just before we get on to that, I want to know, [in Rings of Power], who is Shelob? How is your character connected to her and who is she within the Tolkien universe?
So, Shelob is a terrifying spider in Middle earth who everyone will have known from the trilogy because Frodo gets [stung] by Shelob. So it was amazing to be able to play a character who gets to interact with someone who I grew up watching. She is just a terrifying spider, and my first scene, in Season 2, is just me basically getting mauled alive by a spider and I have to survive and escape. And it just set the precedent for this season, for my character, which is one of survival. And I think what will excite audiences about it is the fact that it’s just so action-packed, it’s just a high-octane, thrill-seeking adventure ride. It’s for true hard-core fans but also new people who haven’t seen the movies, they’re just going to be so gripped by everything. And the visuals look amazing, the costumes are insane. I’m covered in mud for the whole season, but, most importantly, my character grows. I’ve never had to do a second season of a show. So, I’ve been living with the character for so long and I can really explore him in a deeper and more profound way. So that was something that I’ve never experienced before but I got to do so this time around. And, Isildur, my character, starts the season as a boy and ends the season as a man, and I think that’s the story arc of my character. He just gets hardened by all [that he] experiences. And, he makes a decision at the end of the season that will sort of define him as a person.

So, you ended Season 1 as a boy and you’re a man in this season?
I even start Season 2 as a boy, sort of slightly naive, but I think everything that happens in Season 2 just hardens him. He loses so much and he’s abandoned by his family, he’s abandoned by his dad, he’s just alone.

And, I think that instantly puts you into a headspace of having to grow up. It’s like, ‘No more boy, you have to be a man now.’ And he becomes more of a mercenary warrior, and I think that’s what people are expecting of the character as well.I was just at Comic-Con, which was phenomenal, meeting people who are obsessed with and live your show, it’s just so heartwarming. And, I think a lot of the comments were like, ‘We can’t wait to see Isildur become the warrior that we know he is.’ And I think that’s so nice as well because I got to play that and they’re going to relish that. So, yeah, it’s going to be a big journey and, then again, I get to spend so much time with him and he grows from season to season.

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What stunts are needed to fight a spider?
Um… a really good exfoliant. You kind of need to go to find one with a scrub to get all of that mud out. But, if I’m honest, I think I had to learn how to do some wire work which I’ve never done before. I was hooked onto a wire and I was just basically getting mauled like Leonardo DiCaprio in The Revenant with the bear – that was the sort of motif that the stunt coordinators had. But, in that scene, I had to like kill an auk, get my head smashed in and then, on top of that, they give Shelob a real personality, so it’s like a game of chess in the cave, where she moves and then I move and then I run for it and she cuts me off and, eventually, we’re like entangled and fighting on the floor. And I stab her and then I have to run off and jump on a horse. So, yeah, I had to also do horse riding, which is so epic and so fun. I found that just such a therapeutic thing to learn and do. That was one of the greatest skills that I’ve developed and learned from the show.

So, your best friends on set are a horse and a spider?
Yeah, literally.

How does that feel?
It’s quite lonely [laughs]. It’s a lonely existence. But, honestly, the horse that I got to ride was just gorgeous, and also,Isildur’s best friend is a horse on the show, so it was quite nice.

How many seasons are you signed up to do?
Fuck knows, a lot.

How many do they perceive this to be?
Amazon has signed up to do 50 hours, so that would equate to five seasons.

Because, eventually… I’ve been looking up what happens to your character… and you actually defeat Sauron, get the one ring…
Well, I get corrupted by the one ring.

You get the one ring off of him and then you take the ring and you become…
I become evil. Evil, corrupt. It’s an interesting story but I think the thing with Tolkien is it’s mythical stories but it’s about human nature, and it’s about whether or not anyone could withstand ultimate power and ultimate governance over people. And, I think, it’s quite poetic and something that attracts me. It’s quite existential and philosophical because it is asking these big questions, but yet there are eagles and spiders and auks and elves and hobbits, and, despite all of that, when you really distil it, it’s about finding hope. And I think there’s something beautiful in that, despite where we’re at with life at the minute, it’s escapism, but it’s hopeful escapism. It gives you a sense of peace and clarity and hopefully of an optimistic future, because that’s what Tolkien was all about, and he’s a fascinating man. He really was a fascinating man.

The Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power out now on Prime Video