How Karl Urban landed his role in The Lord of the Rings

Urban claims a firm allegiance to the philosophy: "A neglected opportunity does not come often". To that end, he took the opportunity to shoot a movie in New Zealand, and that opportunity multiplied into more opportunities. One of the films he ended up appearing in was a small independent film called "The Price of Milk", directed by Harry Sinclair (who himself appeared as Isildur in the opening scenes of "The Fellowship of the Ring"). As Urban explained, "Harry was a good friend of Peter Jackson, so he took a rough cut to show Peter. And I was right in Peter's face when he was looking for someone to play the part of 'Éomer in 'The Lord of the Rings.'"

Éomer only appears in the second film, but the role is central. He leads the Horsemen of Rohan to the Battle of Helm's Deep, defeating Saruman's forces and eventually becoming King of Rohan. The 'Lord of the Rings' movies instantly became cultural phenomena upon their release, garnering a total of 30 Oscar nominations, winning 17 and paving the way for the success of fantasy epics like 'Game of Thrones'. p >

The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, both the Original Edition and the Expanded Edition, is streaming on HBO Max. “The Boys” is currently streaming on Prime Video. The "LOTR" prequel series "The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power", set thousands of years before the Jackson films, is set to premiere on Prime Video on September 2, 2022.