In a convention center in Salt Lake City there cheered hundreds of “Lord of the Rings” fans.
At the first big panel of this year’s FanX convention, fans got a taste of Middle Earth.
The “Lord of the Rings” panel featured Miranda Otto, who plays the character of Éowyn; Lawrence Makoare, who plays Lurtz, the Uruk-hai leader, and also the Witch-king of Angmar and Orc Gothmog; and John Rhys-Davies, who plays the dwarf Gimli.
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) John Rhys-Davies, who plays the dwarf Gimli in the “Lord of the Rings,” gets into character during a panel discussion for the start of the FanX Salt Lake Comic & Pop Culture Convention at the Salt Palace on Thursday, Sept. 25, 2025.
“It’s a long way from Middle Earth to here,” Makoare said in greeting to the roaring crowd. Makoare also revealed that licking the knife after stabbing the character of Aragorn was his idea, not director Peter Jackson’s.
Rhys-Davies is a FanX regular and led the conversation, asking the other two actors questions in the first part of the panel.
They recalled details from filming the “Lord of The Rings,” like Makoare, who said he spent 11 hours in makeup to be transformed into his character. Rhys-Davies recalled how much his costume weighed – 10 pounds for the helmet, 12 for his boots and 18 for other elements. Otto spoke about how she loved filming the fighting scenes.
Their responses solicited deafening cheers from the crowd.
“What meeting the audience has done for me over the years is teach me how marvelous people are,” Rhys-Davies said.
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Sabrina Bredthauer, dressed as Éowyn from “Lord of the Rings" asks Miranda Otto, who played the character, a question during a panel discussion at FanX Salt Lake Comic & Pop Culture Convention on Thursday, Sept. 25, 2025.
The actors also answered questions from fans, who asked about what the actors’ most memorable moments from filming were, and asked more general questions like what their least favorite subject was in school.
One asked the actors if they had a fan moment that changed their lives.
“I’m always bowled away by ... how much the fans have very much kept this world alive,” Otto said. “Like it really is, the fans, more than anything, that has kept the ‘Lord of the Rings’ going.”