The Rings of Power Season 2 Will Be "Dirty" and "Gritty"

Summary

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power
Season 2 will be “darker, edgier, and more character-driven,” according to director Charlotte Brändström.
Despite divisive reviews, the show gained a faithful following and had one of the biggest viewerships on Prime Video.
The new season will delve deeper into the characters and explore surprising twists and turns, aiming for a more gritty and authentic feel.

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is probably still Prime Video’s most ambitious endeavor to date, and its second season looks set to continue building the world of Tolkien in its own way. According to director Charlotte Brändström, Season 2 will also be “edgier” than the inaugural run. Despite receiving hugely divisive reviews, The Rings of Power scored one of the biggest viewerships of any show on Prime Video at that time, and for all the gripes, this version of Tolkien’s Middle Earth has already done enough to gain itself a faithful following.

The Rings of Power

Release Date: September 2, 2022
Seasons: 1
Studio: Amazon Studios, Harper Collins Publishers, New Line Cinema
Franchise: Lord of the Rings

Brändström is no stranger to the series, having directed two episodes of Season 1 and now set to helm 4 episodes of Season 2. In a conversation with MovieZine, she explained how the new season will delve much deeper into the characters and will bring a different tone to its predecessor. She said:

“What I know and what I can say for a fact is that it’s going to be darker, and it’s going to be edgier and more character-driven. I still think that we have some very interesting episodes coming up. I watched all of them over Christmas, just the cuts. I think it’s going to be a very good season. We tried to make it more gritty, a little bit more dirty I guess. And not in the image, but to make it as authentic as possible. We have some very surprising twists and turns in it as well.”

Can The Rings of Power Season 2 Dispel the Trolls?

A reflection reveals Galadriel standing next to Sauron in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power — Prime Video

On its arrival on Prime Video, The Rings of Power was immediately bombarded with 1-star reviews, mostly from those who only justified their rating with heartfelt comments such as “It’s trash,” “No, no, no,” or “Rubbish.” However, dipping a little deeper into the writhing pot of reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, there were many others that elaborated enough to suggest that many of the bad reviews were from people who seemed to forget that the show is an adaptation of what are essentially Tolkien’s notes on the Second Age that are found in The Lord of the Rings, and some other specific texts.

The bare bones of the story that Amazon Studios purchased means that they have the scope to weave some additional storylines into the narrative in order to fill in the gaps that, in the texts they have the rights to, were not explained by Tolkien, even though some of these did subsequently appear in other Middle Earth histories. The new season is expected to pick up following the conclusion of Season 1. The revelation of Sauron’s beginnings, the continued mystery of the stranger, and small moments like the emergence of the Balrog, are all now set up to be explored further in the next chapter.

How exactly these threads and more will evolve is something that will hopefully be revealed later this year, as The Rings of Power Season 2 is expected to arrive on Prime Video sometime toward the end of 2024.

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