'Rings of Power' cast teases season 2 of the 'Lord of the Rings' prequel series (2024)

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It's a misty day in England, and Markella Kavenagh looks like a fairy queen. The Australian actress, who portrays the adventurous Nori Brandyfoot on The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, is wearing a regal purple gown and sitting on a throne made of trees. Just out of frame are about a dozen of her costars, which makes this Entertainment Weekly cover shoot a special occasion indeed.

Since the show features different groups of characters and storylines spread across the wide landscape of J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-earth, Kavenagh doesn't usually get to work side by side with Morfydd Clark (who plays the immortal elf warrior Galadriel) or Cynthia Addai-Robinson (who portrays Queen Regent Míriel of the island kingdom of Númenor). That gives this gathering the aura of a warm family reunion… at least until the rain begins. Storm clouds bring a chilly shadow over this beautiful gathering.

The rain is inconvenient, but the cast couldn't ask for a better metaphor for the long-awaited season 2 of The Rings of Power, which premieres Aug. 29 on Prime Video. Season 1 introduced the heroes of the Second Age, some familiar from Tolkien's writing (like Isildur and Elendil, the mythic ancestors of Aragorn), and some fresh faces, like Nori. But now darkness gathers on the horizon.

"If season 1 was like the heroes' journey, season 2 is the villains' journey," Addai-Robinson tells EW. Foremost among those villains is, of course, the Lord of the Rings himself.

Under his eye

When The Rings of Power began, Sauron was a mystery. It was clear from the first episode that the Dark Lord was at work in Middle-earth, but initially he was only present in the form of muttered whispers and sigils scrawled in the shape of an eye. Then, the season 1 finale revealed that the rugged warrior Halbrand (Charlie Vickers) was actually Sauron in disguise, a surprise to the immortal elf Galadriel, who had journeyed across Middle-earth all season in search of her enemy without realizing he was right next to her the whole time. She rejected his proposal to be his queen, but remains shaken by her inability to identify him.

"She has really made a fool of herself," Clark says of her character. "The elves aren't really known for doing that, so she’s in a whole new space where she’s no longer the voice of authority and reason. He's been very successful at destabilizing his enemies."

Now that everyone knows Vickers is actually playing Sauron, the show is able to get inside the villain's head in a way that even Tolkien didn't. (Although The Lord of the Rings is an expansive story told from the vantage point of many different characters, the title character is the exception to that rule.) "From a storytelling perspective, instead of trying to guess who Sauron is, we're now inside his mind," Vickers says. "In the past, the camera would cut away from him when he had his private thoughts. Now the camera follows him through those thoughts. The audience is in on it, which I think is quite fun."

What he's thinking might not be exactly what viewers expect from such a prominent villain. "In Sauron's mind, he's the hero of his own story," co-showrunner JD Payne says. "His idea of himself is that he wants to heal and rehabilitate Middle-earth. He's got a very clear vision for how it should be done, and the only problem is other people keep on getting in the way."

One of those people is the orc leader Adar, now played by Sam Hazeldine instead of Joseph Mawle. In the climax of season 1, Adar awakened Mount Doom and created Mordor, transforming the Southlands of Middle-earth into a new homeland for orcs. Readers and viewers of The Lord of the Rings are used to seeing the dark and stormy Mordor ruled by Sauron, but Adar has kicked out his old boss (season 2 gives the dirty details via flashbacks) leaving Sauron temporarily homeless. "There's certainly a sense of anger and injustice on his part," Vickers says.

Sauron has tried to compensate for that loss by making new friends among the elves. He may have failed in his attempt to sway Galadriel, but he still needs help to enact his master plan — and one elf in particular is uniquely equipped to provide it. Celebrimbor (Charles Edwards) is the greatest craftsman his mythical race has produced since his grandfather, Fëanor, forged the jewels known as Silmarils and set off the events of Tolkien's The Silmarillion back in the First Age. Celebrimbor is desperate to prove himself worthy of that legacy.

"The way I see it, his ambition has been eating away at him," Edwards says. "He wants to produce something that will help the world, but also will ensure that his name is on a plaque somewhere forever. So it's a double-edged sword with him. He's vain, he's ambitious, and he wants to achieve something that will overshadow his grandfather's work. Now he thinks he's found the key."

Throughout season 1, the elves were disturbed by the feeling that their immortal power was already starting to fade, symbolized by a black plague eating through the leaves of their beautiful trees. The high king Gil-galad (Benjamin Walker) theorized that the dwarven ore mithril might hold the key to fighting this decay, but it was Halbrand/Sauron who finally suggested using the mithril to forge magical rings. With his prompting, Celebrimbor forged the three elven rings — Narya with its ruby, Nenya with its diamond, and Vilya with its sapphire — in the season 1 finale.

Sauron wants to make even more (remember, there were seven rings for dwarves and nine for men), but he still needs Celebrimbor's help. So to deceive the great elf, Sauron abandons his Halbrand form in favor of a new look: Annatar, the Lord of Gifts. The long blond hair and elfin features are meant to trick Celebrimbor into thinking that this new arrival is an emissary of the godlike Valar, rather than their adversary.

"In terms of his physicality and appearance, we designed everything from the perspective of: What would best sway Celebrimbor?" Vickers says of his Annatar look. 'The character had to have a weight and power about him, so that someone like Celebrimbor, who is the great smith, would be persuaded."

Spending so much time together, and shooting their season 2 scenes in chronological order (which isn't always possible with filming schedules, especially on massive productions like this) allowed Edwards and Vickers to really build a complex relationship between their characters.

"Celebrimbor has the ability, and Sauron has the vision," Edwards says. "It's an interesting give-and-take, which often happens in these kinds of relationships where they both need each other badly. As you'll see, it plays out in a very interesting way. It's something so personal and psychological that is playing out against the backdrop of Middle-earth and the epic scale that you would expect from The Lord of the Rings."

Sauron is typically depicted as an overpowering overlord who forces his enemies into submission through overwhelming force. But the more even playing field with Celebrimbor becomes a showcase for what makes Sauron truly dangerous.

"Other villains might try to find your weakness and poke at it. Sauron does something different where he tries to find what your strength is," Payne says. "The image of the eye is really appropriate, because Sauron sees you. He sees the best version of who you want to be, and then he's able to take your own desires for good and twist them to bring about his own evil ends."

Inside the mountain

The animosity between elves and dwarves is one of the more famous elements of The Lord of the Rings, but Celebrimbor is such a skilled smith that he is respected by the dwarves of Khazad-dûm — including their own greatest smith, Narvi (Kevin Eldon). The dwarves are a proud people, but they could really use the elf's help.

A big argument tore a rift in the dwarven royal family at the end of season 1, with King Durin III (Peter Mullan) disowning his son, Prince Durin IV (Owain Arthur), after the latter gifted some of the dwarves' precious mithril to the elves of neighboring Eregion. And beyond that familial split, the kingdom is facing structural problems that demand a magical solution.

"We lose light in Khazad-dûm and therefore we can't grow crops, so the kingdom is dying," Arthur says. "So rings are made by Celebrimbor and are introduced to Khazad-dûm. What we see from these rings is a quick fix, if you like, but the knock-on effects of having those rings in Khazad-dûm seeps its way into everything and everyone, primarily with King Durin III. Prince Durin sees a change in his father — a darkness in his father — which has a massive effect on him."

Although the names and powers of the elven rings are described at length in The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien provided comparatively little information about the seven rings given to the dwarves. That presented a perfect opportunity for The Rings of Power to fill a big blank spot in the canon.

"There are tantalizing hints in the source text that the dwarven rings didn't really control the dwarves the way Sauron might've liked, but it did stoke their greed," co-showrunner Patrick McKay says. "That sent us down this rabbit hole of 'What about Peter Mullan going mad as a villain in Khazad-dum in season 2?' The whole idea of doing a show in the Second Age was that it's not a fixed target, there's an enormous amount of room for creation and improv within a loose framework. The dwarven rings are a great example where it's like, 'What exactly did they do? How might that play on a father-son relationship?'"

The dwarven rings create confusion and chaos even for the steadfast Princess Disa (Sophia Nomvete), who wants to see her husband on the throne, but not at the cost of his soul. "It's ambition meets fear meets love meets pain and worry," Nomvete says. "She's trying to figure out which of those emotions are useful or need to be listened to. So she's quite up and down in her views. One minute she's like, 'Yes, we need the rings!' Then she's like, 'Oh no, but the ring!' She's really working it out in real time. But her mission is: 'By any means necessary, your bottom needs to be on that chair.'"

Across the sea

The island kingdom of Númenor should, in theory, be a bastion of stability and strength compared to the chaotic landscape of Middle-earth. But the Númenoreans are divided about their obligations to the mainland and the elves that helped found their kingdom. One faction, led by the scheming consigliere Ar-Pharazôn (Trystan Gravelle), believes that they should stand apart and grow their own power without elvish interference. The other, embodied by Addai-Robinson's Queen Regent Míriel, wants to use Númenorean strength to protect Middle-earth and honor their old alliance with the elves.

In season 1, Míriel led a military expedition to protect the people of the Southlands from an orc army. The consequences of that epic battle were disastrous: Míriel was blinded, and the brave young sailor Isildur (Maxim Baldry) was left for dead. As a cherry on top, Míriel returned home to learn that their aged father died in her absence. Now there's a power vacuum in Númenor, and Míriel's position is weak.

"My view of her blindness was that it is definitely something that turns you inward," Addai-Robinson says. "You're almost existing within your own mind. It's a very isolated state, I would say. And yet my goal was always to make sure that she never appeared diminished, because she still has to project strength and leadership. But she knows that she is on very shaky ground."

Míriel's greatest ally now is Elendil (Lloyd Owen), and they'll bond in season 2 over their shared wounds from the Southlands battle. We know from Tolkien that Elendil is destined to be a great king of men, but so far we've only seen him as a sailor and warrior. Now, his political education begins. "Once she becomes blind, Elendil has to be her eyes," Owen says. "So he sees and informs, she interprets what he sees, and thus Elendil learns. This is a leader in training for where we ultimately have to get him."

Isildur, meanwhile, is left to fend for himself. Surviving on his own in a region that has transformed into literal Mordor overnight won't be easy, and involves some familiar faces from Tolkien's mythology. "I'm awoken in a cave and I have to fight my way through Shelob to get to safety, which is an obscene way to start a season," Baldry says, referring to the iconic spider that dwells in the Black Land. "It's a story of survival and it's a story about 'be careful what you wish for.' He grows from a boy into a man and has to learn who to trust and who not to trust."

Even viewers who are only familiar with The Lord of the Rings' main story and not the extensive lore know that Númenor is doomed. In season 1, Isildur wanted more than anything to see the world. In season 2, he'll do anything to get back home. Without spoiling the details, it feels like he'll learn to miss Númenor just in time to lose it. That adds a tragic resonance to the island kingdom's predetermined fate.

"In order for everyone to not just feel overwhelmed by the darkness, there still has to be that kernel of light that people are moving toward and fighting for," Addai-Robinson says. "If you know the tale of Númenor, it doesn't end well. I don't think it's a spoiler to say that, but certainly we're going to do it justice by making sure that you still have a sense of what people are ultimately fighting to preserve within that world."

Hidden in the sand

While Isildur is finding familiar faces, season 2 of The Rings of Power is also set to introduce Tolkien creations that we haven’t seen before on screen. The singing nature spirit Tom Bombadil was famously left out of Jackson's movie adaptations, but will be played by Rory Kinnear (Men) in season 2. The same goes for the monstrous barrow-wights, who Galadriel encounters on a dark night in a haunted forest.

"They were so scary in real life," Clark says of the ghoulish monsters. “So much of that was practical and they were just terrifying. We had amazing physical actors, but also dancers who could do body locking and contortion, so it was really freaky."

The new episodes also explore an area that Tolkien didn't write much about: the desert region of Rhûn, farther east than even Mordor. The switch from filming season 1 in New Zealand to the U.K. in season 2 provided the production with access to the Canary Islands, which they used to define this new landscape of Middle-earth.

"We were filming in Tenerife, which was a beautiful and incredible landscape in its own way. We really got to feel as if we were in completely new territory," Kavenagh says. "Nori's excitement about being somewhere new was mirroring our own excitement to be in Tenerife. It was really helpful for me in channeling that energy of being in a new place."

As they travel across Rhûn, Kavenagh's Nori and the Stranger (the towering Daniel Weyman) encounter a new tribe of hobbit-like creatures called stoors. Just as Nori's own harfoots are a predecessor to the Shire-dwellers we know and love from Lord of the Rings, these stoors predate the riverfolk that will one day produce Gollum. But there are also dangerous new acquaintances, like the Dark Wizard portrayed by Ciarán Hinds. Even this far from Sauron, villains are on the rise.

"Even if Sauron is not in every single area, every single story has very strong feelings about Sauron as an antagonist, which is motivating a lot of the action," McKay says. "The Dark Wizard has a point of view on Sauron. Ar-Pharazôn out in Númenor has a point of view about Sauron. The elves obviously have a point of view about Sauron, as do Adar and his army of orcs. Some of the storylines are directly set in motion by what Sauron is doing, but some of them are people shadowboxing their own fears — which is also set in motion by Sauron. Those are some of the ways that our different worlds are connecting, all centered around our main villain."

That's as true at EW's photo shoot (which took place at Windsor Great Park outside London) as it is for season 2 in general. While Kavenagh stands alongside Clark, Edwards, Addai-Robinson, and the rest on the forest set, another costar looms above them all. There, off to the side, stands Vickers' Sauron, slowly unfolding his plan to cover them all in shadow — and, in the darkness, bind them.

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Directed by Kristen Harding + Alison Wild

Photography by Sophy Holland

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Grooming/Glam - (Clark) Hair: Davide Barbie/A-Frame; Makeup: Lucy Patchett; (Nomvete) Hair: Dionne Smith; Makeup: Joy Adenuga; (Addai-Robinson) Hair: Deborah Lola/Melanin Agency; Makeup: Kenneth Soh/The Wall Group; (Kavenagh) Hair: Ross Kwan/A-Frame; Makeup: Florrie White/ C/O Management; (Baldry) Grooming: Petra Sellge/The Wall Group; Assistant: Francesca Leach; (Edwards) Grooming: Sam Cooper/Carol Hayes Management; (Owen) Grooming: Sven Bayerbach/Carol Hayes Management; (Arthur) Grooming: Tarik Bennafla/Stella Creative Artists

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