Rings of Power Showrunners Reveal Sauron’s Masterplan for Season 2

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power showrunner Patrick McKay has revealed that season 2 of the series will focus extensively on the story of Sauron. The Amazon Prime series gathered much anticipation when it premiered on the streaming service in 2022 because of its premise, which takes us back in time to the Second Age of Middle-earth, thousands of years before the events of The Lord of the Rings, and follows several plotlines including how the Rings of Power are forged.

In a recent interview with Empire, McKay teased that the upcoming season will potentially dive deeper into Sauron’s origin. For a Tolkienian tale that has been sought after to adapt on screen, the idea is quite enchanting and described by the showrunner as “the great untold story on the screen.”

McKay further describes how, over the course of the first season, while Sauron was operated in Middle-earth under the guise of the mysterious stranger Halbrand, the finale revealed something darker. He added:

“The opportunity now with Season 2 is: the audience is in on the con. We know who he is. We have a pretty good sense of what he wants. The fun is watching other people get ensnared in the web. As the season unfolds, the plan starts. One hammer after another starts to fall until, by the last couple of episodes, you realise the level and extent of how evil he is and how deeply he’s strategised this whole thing out… All our stories start to become one story, and the one story is the way the re-emergence of Sauron touches everybody and threatens the whole world.”

The Reveal of Sauron’s True Identity Could Take The Show To New Heights

The reveal that Halbrand is truly Sauron sets up an intriguing narrative for the upcoming season. As one of the most sinister villains in fantasy, Sauron’s identity, the formation of Mordor, and his rise to power could change Middle-earth. Plus, his role in the forging of the Rings of Power will have pivotal consequences as well.

Related

LotR: 10 Book Characters Who Could Be Included in Rings of Power Season 2

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power returns for season two this summer, and it could bring major characters like Celeborn and the Witch King.

Actor Charlie Vickers, who plays Sauron/Halbrand, has also discussed his iconic role and teased that viewers will see the self-proclaimed Lord of the Earth operating under the guise of Annatar; he will also seek to deceive the elven-smith Celebrimbor into helping him create a bunch of rungs.

“I was so excited to get to this point of the story, because this is the canon of this time period. You have Sauron and Celebrimbor working together, making rings. Everything Sauron does is to serve other people, to appeal to someone else. In the same way the whole Halbrand thing was for Galadriel, this new look is for Celebrimbor.”

While McKay thinks that Sauron was always “hiding amongst our story,” his true identity is only now out in the open for the audiences. Either way, he will now perform and manipulate others unimpeded. As the primary antagonist of the Lord of the Rings storyline, his schemes are only going to intensify. Season 2 promises to turn him into the dark tyrant known to fans from J.R.R. Tolkien’s books and the film trilogy.

Conflict seems inevitable in the upcoming season, as Sauron’s existence will redouble Galadriel’s efforts to oppose him, and it might lead to a confrontation. Fans can expect the series to feature Sauron’s twisted brilliance prominently through Charlie Vickers’ phenomenal lead, which makes Season 2 of The Rings of Power more exciting.