We may still be thousands of years before the start of Tolkien’s saga, but the Middle-earth of Rings Of Power is starting to look very familiar indeed.
The second season – premiering on Prime Video on Thursday, 29th August – picks up not long after the first, with Galadriel (Morfydd Clark) feeling betrayed after discovering Halbrand (Charlie Vickers) was Sauron all along, with the nameless Stranger (Daniel Weyman) elsewhere in the kingdom revealed to be a much more heroic wizard indeed.
Even with those mysteries solved, there are still several unanswered questions going into the long-awaited new season. We were recently lucky enough to sit down with the cast, including Clark, Vickers and Weyman, alongside showrunners JD Payne and Patrick McKay, who helped set the stage for a much more expansive second season.
Stay tuned to the Zavvi blog for most cast and creator interviews as the season continues.
You Will Find Out The Stranger’s Name – And You Won’t Be Surprised
The worst-kept secret in Middle-earth is The Stranger’s identity, but as Payne explained, that’s partly by design. His name will be revealed by the end of the season, and if we’re to assume the showrunner isn’t double bluffing, it is exactly the wizard you think it is.
He told Zavvi: “Who Daniel is playing is the cherry on top of the Sundae, not the entire ice cream itself. If people are expecting a big rug-pull or reversal, then they’ll be disappointed; this is a wizard’s journey of self-discovery, understanding his purpose and powers – you will find out his name, but you shouldn’t expect to be shocked by it!”
McKay added: “We’re not about tricks and games, even if it might seem to some like we’re playing tricks on the audience, that’s not what we’re about. I think part of the opportunity of this show is seeing how the world we discover in Lord of the Rings came to be that way.
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“That’s not the only reason to tell a story in this era, as this era has its own rich stories to explore, but the fun of telling a story in an earlier period is watching things in the earlier stages of their development. That means that it might take a minute for characters and places to look exactly like how we imagine them to look.”
As for the actor who plays Gand… sorry, The Stranger, Weyman hasn’t disclosed the name, but he has begun telling journalists they already know who he’s playing (even if he does joke that he’s channeling Rowan Atkinson in Bean). He was kept in the dark about his character’s identity when shooting the first season, and he’s tried to maintain a similar approach to his performance this time around too.
He told Zavvi: “I feel that the big joy with playing this character is that the audience know him well already; they’ve seen literally everything he’s experienced in Middle-earth. It hasn’t been too much of a problem to think about where he’s going, as he lives in the present.
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“This season, when he meets Tom Bombadil, The Stranger must work twice as hard to keep up with him and understand what’s going on, which is helpful to me as an actor. The joy is immersing yourself in the present and the scene you’re filming; how that shapes his journey from there really takes care of itself.
“I don’t have any knowledge of where the showrunners want to take this character; when filming the first season I didn’t even know that he was going to be a wizard. I quite liked working like that, as the only way to get to the future is to stay in the present.
“The scenes are so involving, and the characters he plays with are so fundamentally exciting to work with, that it’s enough for me to just stay in this cradle of creativity and let the showrunners take him where they want him to go.”
Galadriel’s Revenge: There Will Be An Epic Showdown With Sauron
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Galadriel enters this season shaken to the core following the revelation of Sauron’s identity in the first season finale – and co-showrunner McKay has laid his cards on the table by saying this latest run of episodes will build up to a major confrontation between the pair.
Before we get there, though, Galadriel’s big battle is rebuilding her sense of self, as Clark explained to Zavvi: “I think Sauron has done his job very well. Galadriel wants to get her revenge on him, but she’s now so depleted – and you become so different after you’ve been deceived like that.
“She’s completely broken and lost all sense of certainty, which she was full of in the first season. Everything has been put into question, so as much as she wants revenge, it’s unclear if she has the strength to pull it off.”
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You don’t have to read between the lines to find the hints that the Dark Lord might not be defeated easily, which as McKay explained, is where this season gets the most juice.
He continued: “Galadriel and Sauron perceive each other as threats, as great powers who might even be equally matched – a factor that can both draw and repel you to somebody. The drama of that is a major factor in their first season relationship, whereas this time they’re separate but on parallel tracks.
“Without spoiling too much, this season will build to them having another confrontation. The real question people should be asking is what happens when we get there.”
Will Galadriel And Sauron Get Together?
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There’s a certain corner of the Rings fandom who, since the first season finale, have been hoping that the pair’s arc will go full circle, with these new enemies finally becoming the lovers many assumed they’d be in the first place. Vickers “pleads the fifth” but is very aware that the pair are being “shipped” online, but Clark is more upfront about wanting to explore a more romantic dynamic in the series.
She teased: “It’s always fun exploring complicated relationships, and I think Galadriel and Sauron have made a mark on each other. It’s quite significant when someone makes you question the way you think of yourself, and they had a close bond already as they were both so lonely when they met – there’s a powerful connection there for sure.”
It’s not that this relationship would be without precedent, as the ground is laid for a shared history in a throwaway, unexplored line in The Fellowship Of The Ring chapter The Mirror Of Galadriel.
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As Payne pointed out, Galadriel tells Frodo: “I say to you Frodo that even as I speak to you I perceive the Dark Lord and know his mind, or all of his mind that concerns elves, and he gropes ever to see me and my thought but still the door is closed.”
“We found that full of possibilities in terms of defining their past relationship”, he explained. “It made it sound like this dynamic had been in place between them for a long time.
“As to how close that relationship became, I think that’s something that people can continue to speculate about, and all fan theories are welcome! All I will say is that we’re excited to tell the strongest story between them.”
McKay added a further tease: “They didn’t just know each other – they knew each other well enough to know each other’s minds. That’s a rich starting point”.
Meet The New Face Of Adar
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Adar has a beefed-up role to play in season two, with the fallen elf now firmly in command of the newly christened region of Mordor, entirely unaware that Sauron has returned from the dead. But Adar’s return came with a big surprise, as Joseph Mawle was replaced by actor Sam Hazeldine under the prosthetics.
Hazeldine has previously worked with Mawle on another project and is open about “intensely watching” as much of his performance as possible before filming started. Unfortunately, shooting started in October 2022 – before the first season had finished its run – so he couldn’t take in everything.
He told Zavvi: “I really enjoyed his performance, and felt it was a really great place to take the baton from. I loved the character and was struck by how complex he was; Adar isn’t just an out-and-out villain.
“You could watch the show and easily argue that he isn’t one, and that he’s just acting to protect the orcs, who otherwise would have no protector. I found it interesting to play someone who, in his own world, is regarded as a hero even as he doesn’t see himself that way – he’s duty bound to the Orcs, perhaps even a father to them in his own way.”
Goodbye, New Zealand…
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There’s another massive replacement this season too – this will be the first live-action Lord Of The Rings outing that won’t be shot on location in New Zealand. Well, mostly.
Payne pointed out that: “There are parts of New Zealand that will make it into the new season. We banked 20 hours of aerial photography when we shot the first season, so we will be incorporating some of the New Zealand vistas.
“But bringing the show to England was very special. These are the forests and fields that Tolkien’s imagination was fired up in when he was a young man, so in a lot of ways we see this season as us taking Middle-earth back home.”
Stay tuned to the Zavvi blog in coming weeks for more cast and creator interviews, including Rory Kinnear talking Tom Bombadil!
The Rings Of Power Season 2 premieres on Prime Video on Thursday, 29th August.
