The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season one just ended and if you’ve seen the finale, it’s no surprise the Amazon Prime Video original series will have a second season. Well, actually five seasons. One of the details with Amazon’s deal with the J.R.R. Tolkien estate is, it could only purchase these adaptation rights if Amazon committed to five seasons. So far, here’s what we know about The Rings of Power Season 2 and what Sauron may be up to next.
“They knew from the beginning that was the size of the canvas,” co-showrunner J.D. Payne said of the estate to Indiewire this past summer. “There are things in the first season that don’t pay off until Season Five. We even know what our final shot of the last episode is going to be.”
With season one officially ending last Friday, fans are already looking ahead to The Rings of Power Season 2. Fortunately, filming on the eight-episode season began in London this October. Here’s everything we know about what’s next for The Rings of Power. Warning. Article contains season one spoilers.
What’s In Store for Rings of Power Season 2?
One detail is confirmed. Amazon Prime Video announced that Círdan, one of the oldest and wisest of the elves, will join Rings of Power Season 2. No actor is attached to play the role yet, but Círdan has an important part to play in Middle-Earth’s history.
Círdan and his people founded the Grey Havens during the Second Age. Grey Havens is where they built the ships that carried elves to the Undying Lands. Círdan has the gift of foresight and wears the Elven ring Narya. He fought alongside High King Gil-galad in the Last Alliance of Elves and Men. Círdan was the Lord of the Falathrim during the First Age, and Master of the Grey Havens through the Second, Third, and Fourth Age.
As for further details on Rings of Power Season 2, the showrunners gave some clues during a recent interview with Esquire. Particularly with Galadriel (Morfydd Clark).
“I think there has to be a reckoning,” Payne told Esquire. “Even knowing that Sauron was partially involved in the science behind the making of the rings, we see her give the go-ahead to make the rings anyway. She also has to bear some responsibility; ‘I empowered the Dark Lord. I saved his life on a raft. I was party to him coming from obscurity to head an army.’ That’s a lot she has to wrestle with and be accountable for. I think we can expect to see her having to pick up those threads and see how those decisions impact her various relationships.” McKay noted that Elrond has discovered Galadriel hasn’t been fully honest with him, adding, “Her facing the consequences of that has not ended yet.”
Galadriel also spoke about being married once. This will come into play sometime in Rings of Power Season 2. “As far as Celeborn goes, we wanted to let people know that this is a part of her that could become important later on,” Payne told Esquire. “We didn’t take him off the board and say he’s dead. She says, ‘I never saw him again’ and we leave it as an ellipsis. But if and when that comes back, that would be like a freight train crashing into her, if the love of her life is still around. Now that we’ve spread the foundation of her relationships with Sauron, Elrond, and even Gil-Galad, we have the opportunity in future seasons to see how other relationships, maybe including Celeborn, will continue to show other sides of her.”
Payne and McKay also shared some details about Sauron and the rings now that they are both officially revealed.
“Obviously Sauron is now a chess piece on the board,” McKay told Esquire. “Now that he’s a chess piece on the board, there are a lot of dominoes that start to fall. The ring poem is in a song at the end of the eighth episode sung by Fiona Apple and composed by Bear McCreary. Seven rings, nine rings, one ring—each batch could potentially be a new turn in the story and a new turn in Sauron’s development through the Second Age. Right there in the eighth episode, there’s some hints as to where we might go next.” Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Payne teased a new focus on Sauron in The Rings of Power Season 2. “Season One opens with: Who is Galadriel? Where did she come from? What did she suffer? Why is she driven?” he said. “We’re doing the same thing with Sauron in Season Two. We’ll fill in all the missing pieces.”
Season 2 Will Focus On Sauron
Charlie Vickers, who plays Halbrand, has just been revealed to be Sauron. The actor teased what lies ahead for Sauron.
“We know Sauron takes on different shapes in this era,” Vickers said in an interview with Collider. “All I can say is maybe to that. Maybe we’re going to do those things. I’m incredibly excited to explore him doing these things that we know he does. He has a shitload of rings to make, and he gets to go to Númenor, and he orchestrates the downfall of Númenor. Then he has to take another form and go and fight in the Battle of the Last Alliance. [But] the showrunners have a really specific plan, and I don’t know their plans as to how it’ll unfold, but I loved playing him in this repentance stage. Whether the repentance is genuine or not is open to interpretation.”
The Rings of Power Season 2 will see a lot of Sauron and everything he’ll have to do to rise to power. He’ll confront Adar, the corrupted elf who thinks he killed Sauron, in a battle for Mordor. I think we know how that will turn out. Sauron will face Galadriel, who is now even more determined in stopping him after deceiving her. There’s a lot in question, it seems that there will be a lot of action and blood spilled in the Rings of Power Season 2.
When Will The Rings Of Power Season 2 Come Out?
There is no official release date for Rings of Power Season 2 yet, but it seems that the production team is hard at work. Jennifer Salke, the head of Amazon Studios said, “The production team is working on Season Two now.” She also added that the goal is to not have too much time in between seasons but to also keep the bar just as high.
“We’re going to get that out into the world as soon as we can. We want the shortest time possible between seasons, but we want to keep the bar just as high. So it’ll take what it takes. But there’s been some urgency around moving quickly, which is why these guys have been writing all through their hiatus. We’re moving fast.”
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season One episodes are now streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
