‘The Rings of Power’ Stars Talk Dangerous Alliances Between Heroes & Villains (VIDEO)
The Dark Lord returns in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2. The Prime Video fantasy series brings good and evil together in two unexpected alliances in the new episodes as the bad guys take over the narrative. Fighting against Sauron (Charlie Vickers) will oddly bring Galadriel (Morfydd Clark) and Adar (Sam Hazeldine) together, but Celebrimbor (Charles Edwards) will have the hardest time defending himself against the ultimate force of evil as his ambition blinds him to the Dark Lord’s new disguise. TV Insider connected with the show’s stars to get a glimpse of the dangerous action to come.
Premiering Thursday, August 29 with three episodes, The Rings of Power Season 2 shows Sauron ditching his Halbrand cover early on and adopting his new deceptive persona as Annatar, Lord of Gifts. His goal: make rings of power for Dwarves and Men with the help of master craftsman Celebrimbor. The Elf will “descend into madness” because of his connection to Annatar, according to co-showrunner JD Payne tells us, and his home city of Eregion faces potential destruction because of this as well.
It’s not all fear and terror in this installment, even if it is all about the villains. Galadriel, Elrond (Robert Aramayo), High King Gil-galad (Benjamin Walker), and more are committed to keeping the light alive in Middle-earth, but it will take all walks of life coming together to save their beloved land from the forces of evil. As Clark explains in the video above, Galadriel is still haunted by her connection to Sauron but is determined to fight the darkness with light. She’ll have the chance to work with Adar (Sam Hazeldine) to stop their shared enemy, but Hazeldine says not to expect their alliance to last very long.
Adar will do anything to protect his “children,” the Orcs, and doesn’t particularly care if he lives or dies so long as he knows that his followers are free of enslavement under Sauron. Celebrimbor will have a harder time distancing himself from the master manipulator.
As Edwards and Vickers share above, the Celebrimbor and Annatar scenes are “meaty” and were a delight to film. The vibe was great on set, but the stakes of their scenes couldn’t be higher. “Ambition” blinds Celebrimbor to Sauron’s trickery, Edwards says, and Vickers says the villain is more determined than ever to succeed in his quest for world domination. He’s angered by his failed pitch to Galadriel at the end of Season 1 and doesn’t care if Celebrimbor suffers because of him. All’s fair in his pursuit to “save” Middle-earth, Vickers says, although no one but Sauron would think his intentions are pure.
The one line of defense against the darkness are the three Elven rings, to be worn by Galadriel, Gil-galad, and Círdan (Ben Daniels). But Clark warns that the rings are characters of their own and that it’s impossible to predict how they will affect the ring-bearers. The bands are a true hail Mary to keep the light in Middle-earth alive. Let’s hope Sauron doesn’t snuff it out.
Learn more about the new episodes in the full video interview above.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, Season 2 Premiere, Thursday, August 29, Prime Video
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