TheRings of Powercreators explain Saurons identity and their plan to explore the edges of Tolkiens map.
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Spoilers for Alloyed, the season-one finale ofThe Rings of Power.
Or rather, right next to her on a raft, smoldering and even flirting with her a bit.
Tell me about the origins of Halbrand as a character.
We know hes a deceiver and comes in disguise.
How might he take advantage of that stroke of luck?
Did Charlie Vickers know he would be playing Sauron when he was cast?J.D.
Payne: During the audition, we put him through the paces, reading things like monologues fromRichard III.
We wanted to see his range.
It needed to be about the heroes, about each of these peoples and whats important to them.
We didnt want the weight and complexity of evil that Sauron will come to represent to overwhelm that.
Sauron in the books comes to the Elves as Annatar, the Lord of Gifts.
The idea that the shadow can take many forms was part of what we were attracted to.
There are more gifts yet to come.
The show also gives the Elves more motivation for crafting the rings.
Payne: We knew the rings needed to have a special power to them.
But we thought it could be interesting to play with the kind of power they have.
He says in that fifth episode that its apocryphal.
I would trust his read on a piece of lore.
Mithril is unusual in Middle-earth.
Its Tolkiens vibranium, or adamantium, or like the one inAvatar, unobtainium.
We know from canon that mithril is in at least one of the rings,Galadriels ring.
We felt there were possibilities to hint that maybe theres a little more to it but maybe not.
The finale reveals the Stranger is really one of the Istari, a.k.a.
Why involve a wizard in a show about the Second Age?J.D.
It was hard for us to think of a Middle-earth tale that did not have a wizard in it.
You see the northernmost wastes in the first episode.
We loved leaving bring up the question of what shes going to do with that knowledge.
Payne: Were certainly listening to the critics and to our audiences.
I dont know if I want to point to any specifics.
Patrick McKay: My immediate reaction to that question is no.
That is informed by what we learned on season one on our own.
What specifically did you learn in making season one?J.D.
Some scenes we shot didnt even make it into the final edit.
When you put them up against the larger stakes of the world, they didnt quite punch their weight.
Patrick McKay: In Middle-earth, everything at the end of the day is about the fate of Middle-earth.
It wants to tie back to the battle of good and evil and the temptation of power.
Its a high bar for anything to clear to deserve a spot in the story.
Starting this journey five years ago, J.D.
and I had an idea of what that bar was.
Having gone through the process, we have more specificity of what really feels like Middle-earth and what doesnt.
Hopefully we have raised the bar for the show going into season two.
The Rings of Poweris leaving behind the vistas of New Zealand to film in England in season two.
Production wise, does it feel like your approach will change along with that?J.D.
Payne: Not tremendously.
We have different terrains and topography that are available to us here.
We have an excellent crew on the ground here.
We had an excellent crew on the ground in New Zealand.
We brought a lot of institutional knowledge from one place to the next.
In coming to England, we feel that we have brought Tolkien home.
The specifics of these things matter so much.
Hes talking like the folks hes learned to talk around.
Every character weve introduced thats still alive is on the board for possible continued storytelling.
Were excited for audiences to see how their narratives develop.
