The Rings of Power Patrick McKay & Lindsey Weber on New Middle-earth locations

War comes to Middle-earth as Sauron rises to power The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2. Co-created and co-showrun by JD Payne and Patrick McKay, the Prime Video show is set in the second age of JRR Tolkien’s iconic fantasy universe, exploring the likes of Khazad-dûm and Númenor in their full glory, while Also saw the elves of Lyndon nearing the end of their peaceful existence as their tree of life was dying. The show also sees Galadriel and various other characters grappling with the rising darkness of the world, with the former believing it to be the return of Sauron.

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2 finds many of its Middle-earth characters in precarious situations, with Gil-galad and Lyndon debating using the titular artifacts to revive their Tree of Life, while Khazad-dûm begins to see his fall from a difference of opinion. Between King Durin III and Prince Durin IV, the Southlands grapple with the emergence of Mordor and Pharazôn scheming to take power from Míriel in Númenor. Sauron, meanwhile, comes to Celebrimbor in both his Halbrand and Annatar forms in the hopes of manipulating him into making the One Ring to rule them all.

Most of the ensemble season 1 stars return to the Rings of power Season 2 Cast Some of them include Morfydd Clark, Sam Hazeldine, Charlie Vickers, Charles Edwards, Ismael Cruz Córdova, Robert Aramayo, Owain Arthur, Maxim Baldry, Daniel Weyman, Markella Kavenagh, Megan Richards, Sophia Nomvete and Benjamin Walker. The new season also introduces the likes of Ciarán Hinds as the Dark Wizard, Rory Kinnear as Tom Bombadil and sees Sam Hazeldine take over the role of ​​Adar.

In honor of the show’s return, Screen Rant Interviewed co-showrunner Patrick McKay and executive producer Lindsey Weber to discuss The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2, what to expect from the Stranger’s journey this season, why they cut Sauron’s origin story from season 1, and the new Middle-earth locations to come.

Many questions about the stranger will be answered in Season 2

Screen Rant: Patrick, if you’d like to start and then Lindsay, I’d love to hear about the Stranger’s journey this season, as he starts to come into his own, find a bigger personality after being quiet for most From season 1.

Patrick McKay: First of all, thank you. Screen Rant writes about the show all the time. We appreciate it. The stranger, God, what is his journey about this season?

Lindsay Webber: The veil of his memories was lifted a little at the end of season 1, and he’s much more articulate this season, which I’m sure our handsome actor, Daniel Wayman, appreciated. [Chuckles] So we get to see him express himself much more clearly with Nori, his partner in crime. But he has many questions that are still unanswered.

Patrick McKay: Yeah, at the end of the first season, he figures out that he’s a wizard and that he’s a wizard for good, and now this season is very much a wizard’s origin story. How does he become the adolescent version of himself along the way of his journey? We love the idea of ​​an origin story for a wizard, which is one of the core storylines in the show, and this is a really big step in his journey.

I don’t want to spoil anything, but of course, you know, he’ll need a name someday. Wizards typically have a hat and a staff, and wizards need to learn how to control their powers. At the beginning of the season, he is able to carry power, but not yet control it, and really, his journey will be about looking inside and figuring out what he needs to do to be able to do that.

Lindsey Weber: And I think grappling with his place in the world.

Sauron’s Origin Story was nearly part of The rings of power Season 1

Speaking of origin stories, I found it so interesting that we actually took a step back in time and saw Sauron trying and failing to bring the Orcs together and now his journey to regain power. Can you talk about when you decided to explore that story, and whether that was supposed to be part of season 1, or if you at least knew in season 1 that you were going to explore that in the future?

Patrick McKay: Yes, at one point we wanted to include some of this material in season 1, but we felt that the storyline benefited even more if we kept it for the top of season 2. So yes, we know that backstory, and we’ve always had a plan for the general, high-level trajectory of characters and storylines. But one of the first ideas, in terms of scene work and the kind of beat and rhythm of the season 2 piece was that we would start with Sauron’s origin story in the show, like the first season starts with Galadriel’s origin story Show. So yes, quite early. I would say we have been working on this for four years now. This particular season, we started writing in the middle of the pandemic when we were still making season 1. So long way.

The map of Middle-earth is “Unending& will be explored a lot in Season 2

So, you’ve introduced a lot of great new locations this season, and one of my favorites is the Black Forest. This is such a place full of dark secrets and monsters. I would love to hear from you both the creative side, as well as the production side, of bringing this iconic place to life.

Patrick McKay: Where does Shelub live, the Black Forest? [Laughs] Well, Mardor has a lot of scary places, and especially now that the sun’s gone, the evil just creeps in, damn, where did we even shoot that? I can’t remember, we’ve been shooting in forests all over the UK for – we’ve been shooting for eight months, nine months.

Lindsey Weber: 33 weeks.

Patrick McKay: So I can’t even remember exactly where our horse rides through. [Laughs]

Lindsey Weber: But to be here with these amazing, old, ancient forests was very inspiring. Our characters walk a lot in the forest this season, at night, just like in the books, they meet many scary creatures. So, we got to experience them in the woods at night with them, which was a thrill, and our actors were real troopers about it.

Patrick McKay: There are more spots we want to. We go to the barrow-downs a little later in the season. Obviously, they travel in Rhûn. God, where else are we going? We find a community of stores over in the desert that is yet to come. The map of Middle-earth is unending, and hopefully, around every corner there is a new, strange and wonderful place.

About The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2

In Season Two of The Rings of Power, Sauron has returned. Cast out by Galadriel, without army or ally, the rising Dark Lord must now rely on his own cunning to rebuild his strength and oversee the creation of the Rings of Power, which will allow him to bind all the nations of Middle-earth to his Evil will. Building on the epic scope and ambition of Season One, the new season plunges even its most beloved and vulnerable characters into a rising tide of darkness, challenging each to find their place in a world increasingly on the brink of Disaster. Elves and dwarves, orcs and men, wizards and harefoots… As friendships are strained and kingdoms begin to crumble, the forces of good will fight ever more valiantly to hold on to what matters to them most of all… each other.

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The first three episodes of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2 premieres on August 29, followed by new episodes on Thursdays on Prime Video.

Source: Screen Rant Plus