Ben Daniels has debuted as the elf Círdan on The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. The actor was in a relationship with Ian Gelder, who played Kevn Lannister on Game of Thrones, for decades.

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is back on Prime Video for a second season. We visit new locations and meet new characters in the first three episodes, available to stream now. That includes Círdan, a shipwright who is among the oldest elves in Middle-earth.

Círdan is played by English actor Ben Daniels, who you may recognize from his turn as the campy vampire Santiago in AMC’s Interview With The Vampire, a role he absolutely crushed. For that reason alone, I’m looking forward to seeing him on The Rings of Power.

Daniels’ personal life is also of interest, since it intersects with the star of another big fantasy series. English actor Ian Gelder played Tywin Lannister’s younger brother Keven for years on HBO’s Game of Thrones. As it ends up, Gelder and Daniels were partners in real life.

Daniels and Gelder met during a London stage production of Joe Ortan’s Entertaining Mr Sloane in 1993. They were together for the next 34 years until Gelder’s death in May of this year, due to complications from bile duct cancer. Daniels stopped working for a while to take care of his partner, saying that Gelder faced his “dreadful illness with such bravery.” The pair lived in East Sussex. Gelder was 74 years old at the time of his death.

Círdan is a major figure in the lore of The Lord of the Rings. To my knowledge, Daniels is the first actor to play the character onscreen. We don’t know how long The Rings of Power will last, but with an actor as talented as Daniels on board, I hope he gets to play this role for a good long while.

You can stream the first three episodes of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power right now. The reamining five episodes of the season will come out one at a time on Thursdays.