[JohnnyB]

The character concept of Galadriel as the female warrior is fine by me, but the actress they cast has seemed weak to carry the role so far imo. Hopefully she'll improve as the show continues. I just haven't found her compelling at all.

I do like the casting for Durin and for Elrond, and for a few of the Harfoots though, especially the lead girl Harfoot.

This show just isn't going to be Amazon's GOT. GOT had a very unique combination of brutal violence, sex, and total uncertainty about who was going to live or die even among the most prominent and loved characters. That combination really drove a lot of the stickiness of GOT and captured audiences. POTR can't do that. We know too much about characters already and audiences won't be nearly so easy to surprise or fill qith a real sense of tension about a character they like facing possible death. POTR really needs to just captivate by plugging into the world of Tolkien and making it feel wonderous again. They still have lots of runway to make that happen.