The highly anticipated second season of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is among us, and so are new characters generating big buzz for their distant ties to J.R.R. Tolkien’s beloved Hobbits. Co-showrunner Patrick McKay and Executive Producer Lindsey Weber have confirmed that the Stoors are appearing in Season 2. Like the Season 1 Harfoot characters, the Stoors factor into the lineage of the Hobbits and will come in direct contact this season with Harfoot fan favorites Nori Brandyfoot (Markella Kavenagh) and Poppy Proudfellow (Megan Richards), and The Stranger (Daniel Weyman), as their nomadic journey through the Rhûn desert of East Middle-earth plays out.
In an exclusive MovieWeb interview, McKay admitted that one of the overarching story ideas running through the entire Lord of the Rings prequel series is that in “a very small way,” the creative team was going to tell the story of where Hobbits came from. “[Season 2] is the second leg of that journey,” he said. “Tolkien writes about how in the eldest elder days, way, way back before history was even recorded, there were several different branches of what would become Hobbits. Now we’re meeting another one. We know there’s at least a third out there. And that doesn’t even get you close to the Shire and the name Hobbit and so many other things.” He added:
“What we liked was the idea that along her journey, Nori might be encountering things that echoes backwards, that we might recognize in the Shire later. And the
Stoors are desert dwellers at this point in their history, and they live in holes in the rock walls of their canyon
, which is like a tiny distant cousin ancestor of what might become Hobbit holes in some future age.”
Watch the Trailer for Rings of Power Season 2 Below:
Tension and Drama Intensify in Season 2
The intensity heats up in this second season of The Rings of Power, helmed by showrunners and executive producers J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay with executive producer Lindsey Weber. Sauron (Charlie Vickers) has returned in yet another form after being cast out by Galadriel (Morfydd Clark) at the end of Season 1. The rising Dark Lord is relying on his own cunning to rebuild strength and oversee the creation of the Rings of Power, which will ultimately bind all the peoples of Middle-earth to his evil and corruption.
Look for Galadriel to hunt down Sauron and the elves to rally together, all while other seemingly tight alliances fracture. You can expect a riveting series of events that will lead to the siege of the city of Eregion, teased to be one of the series’ most elaborately produced epic battle scenes.
When asked if they feel as if they live and breathe everything Tolkien and The L ord of the Rings at this point, McKay and Weber were candid. “Yes,” McKay was quick to answer. “It’s a 24/7 job. Some days, you actually do live in it. The Stoor Canyon, as we call it, is a massive set that fills a whole stage. And when you’re shooting there, you’re living in it the same as they are.” Weber added:
You do see people and you think, “Oh, you’d make a really good elf, or you’d be a good dwarf, or look at that guy, he’s got a great dwarven beard. You do have Middle-earth vision as you walk around.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power debuts on August 29 on Prime Video. Watch it through the link below:
Watch Rings of Power
