Benjamin WalkerPhotograph by Connor Harris Benjamin Walker will take any chance he can get to return to Atlanta. The Georgia native, who was born and raised in Cartersville, tells Atlanta magazine, “I try and get home as often as I can. There’s never a time where I don’t need to go and visit my mother. My brother lives there, too. It’s a long way. But it’s still my home.” Finding the time to get there has become increasingly tricky for Walker. The Julliard trained actor has gone from thriving on Broadway—starring in Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, American Psycho, and All My Sons—to appearing in the Hollywood films Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, Flags of our Fathers, and In the Heart of the Sea, as well as the television series Jessica Jones and The Underground Railroad. None of these quite match the size and scale of Lord of the Rings: The Rings Of Power, though. Based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s history of Middle-Earth, Walker plays Gil-galad, the High King of the Elves, in the Amazon Prime fantasy epic. In honor of Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power’s second season, Atlanta spoke with Walker about the return of the show, how he came interested in acting, and his favorite things to do in the city. How did you get into acting? It’s twofold. My mother was a music teacher. We had a very musical household. I learned a lot about storytelling through music and church. My father is an incredible storyteller and very funny. There’s also that Southern tradition of, once you’ve had dinner, you all sit around the table and spin a yarn. You tell the same stories, make each other laugh. That’s the foundation of why I was drawn to telling stories. Do you remember the first movies you watched? My dad had a movie rental store. We used to watch a lot of movies and discuss them. Even the movies I was too young to watch. I used to work in the store after school. I’d shelve the videotapes of so many great 80s and 90s movies. My dad was pretty adamant about watching all different kinds of movies. He was a curious man who loved to share movies. So we’d all watch movies together as a family. We watched the old movies with Gary Cooper, Barbara Stanwyck, Humphrey Bogart. That really gave me an education on storytelling through motion pictures. How has being from Atlanta impacted your creative voice? That’s where I learned music and theater. It was the foundation of my education. I miss it every day. It was the closest big city. My parents would take me to the High Museum and to the Alliance. I remember seeing Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at the Box. There’s also something unique about being Southern in that you have a work ethic, but you have manners, and it is incredible how far you can get in life or any profession just by being polite. Just treat people with respect, say please and thank you, work hard, and you’ll be amazed what you can get away with. That level of Southern hospitality, our humor, our awareness of the past, and of those that have come before you—I haven’t noticed that to be the case all over the world. I miss the appreciation Southern people have for one another. What can people expect from the second season of Lord of the Rings: The Rings Of Power? If the first season was world building, the second season is world burning. It really hits the ground running in terms of evil is back and we’re making the rings. It blows your hair back. In a way I’m glad you get a break in between episodes. Because there’s a lot happening. It’s exciting, it’s dynamic. There’s a battle that’s three episodes long. What’s great about the way the showrunners have built the show is that, because we took the time in season one to build a foundation, you care about who’s fighting. I’m really proud of it. Did the showrunners (Patrick McKay and J.D. Payne) explain how this season would differ to the last? I think they were just as eager to hit the ground running as the fans are to see it. Particularly with Gil-galad. He has such a long way to go, if you know the lore. In the first season, he was a peacetime consigliere. In the second season, he starts taking big steps towards who we know he’s going to be, which is this wartime general. There are moments where I’m in Elvish armor, carrying a mystical spear, riding a horse into a battlefield of orcs. It’s awesome. I used to run around playing Lord of the Rings in the woods with a bow and arrow made out of a stick and shoe lace. The idea that I get to do this for a living, I’m incredibly lucky and blessed. What was your preparation for this season? One of the joys of the job is getting paid to read the book. I’m constantly re-immersing myself in the source material. Even if it’s a part of the books that does not directly pertain to Gil-galad. Consuming Tolkien’s imagination just enriches what you bring to the screen. The nature of making television shows means we have to take some liberties, we take the bits of the appendices that we have and fill in places that we don’t. But that’s also part of the fun. It is an incredibly daunting task. You feel such responsibility to the fan base and to the material itself. You have to do your research and then don’t forget that it’s supposed to be fun. What do you hope audiences take away from the show? Best case scenario, there’s a new generation of readers who will see the show and go, How can I get more of this world? The answer is, Go read the books back. Peter Jackson’s films are over 20 years old. We have the honor of being the next stage in the long line of Tolkien interpretation. Luckily, his work is so dense and complex, there’s plenty of room at the table. But what an honor that we get to be the next step. What are your favorite things to do in Atlanta? I really love driving through Atlanta from the airport. Just kind of taking in the skyline and passing the stadium. You roll your windows down and you feel that heat just warming your face. That’s one of my favorite things to do in life. Just driving through Georgia with the windows down, playing music. It is just a magical place. It’s incredible. The post Q&A: Actor Benjamin Walker on Lord of the Rings and his love of driving through Atlanta appeared first on Atlanta Magazine.