Amazon's Lord Of The Rings: Fan-Casting Every (Possible) Major Role

If the Amazon show writers elect to feature Frodo in his younger days, Asa Butterfield should clear his schedule. Butterfield conveys wild-eyed curiosity and tenacity in difficult circumstances better than any other actor in his generation.

Frodo's backstory receives some recognition in Jackson's movies but the films focus mainly on his young adulthood. The prequel would be an excellent platform to examine his orphan childhood, a state of being that Butterfield captured wonderfully in Hugo. Butterfield wowed viewers as the pained twelve-year-old resident of a train station dealing with the absence of his parents. He would be an ideal choice to dramatize Frodo's sorrowful history and his transition to Bag End.

Butterfield has a knack for portraying the central figures of acclaimed literary works. He received praise for his turns in John Boyne's The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, Brian Selznick's Hugo, and Orson Scott Card's classic Ender's Game. In addition to his delicate physical features, he's an impressive interpreter of characters who've lost a great deal but who thrive in spite of it.

Frodo endures strife without question, but the hobbit exhibits an admirable amount of maturity despite his youth. Butterfield displays similar attributes in Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children as the children's leader Jacob Portman. If Butterfield transfers that same heroic persona to Amazon's Frodo, audiences will embrace the latest version of one of the most popular inhabitants of the Shire.

The book-loving Ring-Bearer would benefit from an actor who's lead audiences to love literature-based movies.