Stranger Things star Jamie Campbell Bower listened to Sleep Token to help get into character for his new role in The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power.
Talking to IMDb, the actor/musician says that the UK masked metal band’s 2023 track Euclid was on repeat as he prepared to play the elf Celeborn in the show’s third season.
“I listened to Euclid by Sleep Token a lot,” the 37-year-old explains. “Lyrically, there’s so much beauty in it. It talks about a lot of nature stuff and trees. It just felt very, very Celeborn.”
Bower’s co-star Benjamin Walker, who plays Gil-galad, says he doesn’t “feel the need to get pumped up with Rage Against The Machine before work”. However, Isuldur actor Maxim Baldry comes to metal’s defence, calling his character “a black metal kinda guy”.
“It’s Slipknot, it’s dark, it’s aggressive,” he adds. “I actually think, weirdly, [The Lord Of The Rings’ overarching villain] Sauron has a heavy metal playlist. I would share it with Charlie [Vickers, The Rings Of Power co-star], as well. I think his song is Wanted Dead Or Alive by Bon Jovi.”
Bower is best known for playing the villainous Vecna in Stranger Things’ fourth and fifth seasons. In 2022, he revealed that he listened to extreme metal bands such as Sunn O))), Mayhem and Darkthrone to get into character.
“[There was] a lot of black metal kind of stuff that I just really latched onto and thought, ‘Wow, this is great,’” he said on the Kyle Meredith With… podcast. “There’s also something about the sensitivity in the way black metal is made and their belief system which I really fucking vibe with.”
Bower is a rock musician as well as an actor. After being a member of the punk band Counterfeit from 2015 to 2020, he started a solo career. In 2024, he launched the experimental metal project BloodMagic with the single Death / Rebirth, although the outfit haven’t released any further music.
Bower released a cover of Sleep Token’s Euclid via YouTube last year.
The Rings Of Power’s third season, which will mark Bower’s debut on the show, is set to hit streaming service Amazon Prime from Wednesday, November 11.
