‘The Lord of the Rings’ cast: Who has contended at the Emmys?
“The Lord of the Rings” is the most successful film series in the history of the Academy Awards, winning 17 Oscars including two Best Picture awards out of 30 total nominations.
Both “The Fellowship of the Ring” and “The Return of the King” won Best Picture while Peter Jackson won Best Director for the latter movie, which holds the joint record for most Oscar wins of all time with 11 victories (the same number as “Ben-Hur” and “Titanic”). However, the lauded trilogy only received one acting citation — that was for Ian McKellen for Best Supporting Actor for “The Fellowship of the Ring.”
More from GoldDerby
But while the Oscars didn’t nominate nearly enough actors in this trilogy (shout out to Andy Serkis), “The Lord of the Rings” cast is full of incredible actors who have received multiple awards nominations for other projects. Considering it is Emmys season, we’re going to focus on Emmys.
Below is a ranked list of all of “The Lord of the Rings” cast who have contended at the Emmys.
We are only focusing on the Jackson trilogy, by the way, so we’re skipping the Amazon Prime Video “Rings of Power” TV series. We will, however, include “The Hobbit” trilogy. Plus, we are only looking at the major stars of “The Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit” so forgive us if we miss out a slightly lesser-known actor who has been cited at the Emmys. We are also not including International Emmys. So, without further ado, below is a list of those “Rings” stars ranked from most Emmy wins/nominations to least.
Benedict Cumberbatch — Smaug and The Necromancer/Sauron — Seven nominations, one win
Cumberbatch portrayed the dragon Smaug in all three “The Hobbit” movies via motion capture while he used the same technology to also play The Necromancer/Sauron (again, in all three flicks). Cumberbatch has a terrific Emmys record with seven Emmy nominations and one victory on his CV. Six of those seven citations came for Best TV Movie/Limited Series Actor: in 2012 for “Sherlock: A Scandal in Belgravia,” in 2013 for “Parade’s End,” in 2014 for “Sherlock: His Last Vow,” in 2016 for “Sherlock: The Abominable Bride,” in 2017 for “Sherlock: The Lying Detective,” and in 2018 for “Patrick Melrose.” That latter show, “Patrick Melrose,” also reaped him his seventh nomination — for Best Limited Series as a producer on the show. He won for “Sherlock: His Last Vow.”
Martin Freeman — Bilbo Baggins — Three nominations, one win
Cumberbatch’s “Sherlock” co-star, Freeman, led the line in “The Hobbit” trilogy as the young version of Bilbo Baggins. He also has a hattrick of Emmy nominations, too, with two citations for Best TV Movie/Limited Series Supporting Actor — in 2012 for “Sherlock: A Scandal in Belgravia” and in 2014 for “Sherlock: His Last Vow.” His third nomination also came in 2014 — for Best TV Movie/Limited Series Actor for “Fargo.” His sole win came for “Sherlock: His Last Vow,” the same as Cumberbatch.
Ian McKellen — Gandalf — Five nominations, zero wins
McKellen was cast as Gandalf the Grey in “The Fellowship of the Ring” amidst fierce competition for the role as Jackson and his colleagues considered many great actors including Patrick Stewart and Anthony Hopkins. McKellen earned that aforementioned Supporting Actor Oscar bid for “The Fellowship of the Ring” and came back as Gandalf the White, the resurrected Gandalf, in “The Two Towers” and “The Return of the King.” He has a stellar Emmys record with five nominations to his name. His first two bids both came for Best TV Movie/Limited Series Supporting Actor — in 1994 for “And the Band Played On” and in 1996 for “Rasputin: Dark Servant of Destiny.” He picked up a Best Comedy Guest Actor citation in 2006 for “Extras” before securing two nominations for Best TV Movie/Limited Series Actor in 2008 for “King Lear” and in 2009 for “The Prisoner.”
Cate Blanchett — Galadriel — Two nominations, zero wins
Blanchett portrayed the ethereal elf Galadriel in all three “Rings” movies and returned to the role in “The Hobbit” trilogy, too. Blanchett has reaped two Emmy nominations so far and they both came in 2020 for “Mrs. America.” She was nominated for her off-screen work — Best Limited Series as a producer — as well as her on-screen work — Best TV Movie/Limited Series Actress.
Ian Holm — Bilbo Baggins — Two nominations, zero wins
Holm played Bilbo in both “The Fellowship of the Ring” and “The Return of the King” while he reprised the role in two “The Hobbit” movies — “An Unexpected Journey” and “The Battle of the Five Armies.” Holm, who passed away in 2020, was nominated for two Emmy nominations. The first came in 1998 for Best TV Movie/Limited Series Actor “King Lear” and the second came in 2000 for Best TV Movie/Limited Series Supporting Actor for “The Last of the Blonde Bombshells.”
Brad Dourif — Grima Wormtongue — One nomination, zero wins
Dourif played Grima Wormtongue, the snakey figure who controlled Bernard Hill’s King Theoden before returning to the services of Christopher Lee’s Saruman, in both “The Two Towers” and “The Return of the King.” However, he is only seen in the extended edition of the latter. Dourif was nominated for the Best Drama Supporting Actor Emmy in 2004 for “Deadwood.”
Lee Pace — Thranduil — One nomination, zero wins
Pace appears as the Elvish King Thranduil in the second and third “Hobbit” movies — “The Desolation of Smaug” and “The Battle of the Five Armies.” His sole Emmy nomination was reaped in 2008 for Best Comedy Actor for “Pushing Daisies.”
John Rhys-Davies — Gimli — One nomination, zero wins
The legendary Rhys-Davies has had a storied career, appearing in two of the most important film series in cinema history — he played Sallah in “Indiana Jones” (he actually popped up in the most recent film, “The Dial of Destiny”) and Gimli in “The Lord of the Rings.” He appeared in all three “Rings” films, forming a key comedic duo and sweet friendship with Orlando Bloom’s Legolas. Rhys-Davies has one Emmy nomination, which came in 1980 for Best TV Movie/Limited Series Supporting Actor. The show? Coincidentally, it was the original “Shōgun” series. He played Vasco Rodrigues, the character played by Néstor Carbonell in the 2024 Emmy-nominated series (Carbonell is also Emmy-nominated for this role — for Best Drama Guest Actor).
Andy Serkis — Gollum/Smeagol — One nomination, zero wins
In one of the great crimes of cinema, Serkis was not nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Gollum/Smeagol in both “The Two Towers” and “The Return of the King” (he also appeared in “The Fellowship of the Ring” very briefly). He also returned to the role in “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” and will do so again in the upcoming “The Hunt for Gollum,” which he will also direct. That latter film is the academy’s chance to make up for their mistake by nominating there but perhaps they will still feel iffy (wrongly) about nominating a motion capture performance. Anyhow, Serkis has one Emmy citation to his name so far — that came in 2009 for Best TV Movie/Limited Series Supporting Actor for “Little Dorrit.”
Make your predictions at Gold Derby now. Download our free and easy app for Apple/iPhone devices or Android (Google Play) to compete against legions of other fans plus our experts and editors for best prediction accuracy scores. See our latest prediction champs. Can you top our esteemed leaderboards next? Always remember to keep your predictions updated because they impact our latest racetrack odds, which terrify Hollywood chiefs and stars. Don’t miss the fun. Speak up and share your huffy opinions in our famous forums where 5,000 showbiz leaders lurk every day to track latest awards buzz. Everybody wants to know: What do you think? Who do you predict and why?
SIGN UP for Gold Derby newsletters and updates
Best of GoldDerby
Sign up for Gold Derby's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
