wizards

The 32-year-old's breakthrough role came on Disney Channel's Wizards of Waverly Place in 2007 but she has continued acting and was recently nominated for awards for her role in Only Murders In The Building.

In the Harry Potter films, she played the acerbic Professor Minerva McGonagall, famous for her pointed witch's hat and stern manner with the young wizards at Hogwarts.

Payne adds that they went deep into Tokien’s legendarium to look at which wizards would have been around in the Second Age.

“If you have five wizards and it’s five on one, why couldn’t they just take on Sauron in an all out wizard grudge match? That’s a question that we’re looking at in terms of, what journey does Gandalf go on in the Second Age that might make that prohibition exist in the Third Age?”

There were other options for the Stranger’s identity, including Saruman and the Blue Wizards.