The marketing train for Season Two of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is now at full throttle, and this week we got a cover story in Entertainment Weekly that sheds light on what we’ll see in the upcoming episodes, including the impetus behind why Charles Vickers’ Sauron is showing up in a new elven form.
In the second season, Sauron is all about making more rings. To do so, he needs to get the elven master craftsman Celebrimbor (Charles Edwards) on board, and being the great deceiver that he is, he comes up with a new persona: Annatar, the Lord of Gifts. With his new ears and long blond locks, Sauron convinces Celebrimbor that he’s an envoy of the vaulted and mysterious Valar. (Spoiler: he is, in fact, the Valar’s sworn enemy.)
“In terms of his physicality and appearance, we designed everything from the perspective of: What would best sway Celebrimbor?” Vickers told EW about his sexy new look. “The character had to have a weight and power about him, so that someone like Celebrimbor, who is the great smith, would be persuaded.”
The two actors were also able to shoot their scenes chronologically, something that’s not usually the norm, and got to organically delve into their characters’ burgeoning and complicated relationship.
“Celebrimbor has the ability, and Sauron has the vision,” Edwards told EW. “It’s an interesting give-and-take, which often happens in these kinds of relationships where they both need each other badly. As you’ll see, it plays out in a very interesting way. It’s something so personal and psychological that is playing out against the backdrop of Middle-earth and the epic scale that you would expect from The Lord of the Rings.”
Co-showrunner J.D. Payne also added that Sauron brings down his enemies by seeing the best in them. “The image of the eye is really appropriate, because Sauron sees you,” he said. “He sees the best version of who you want to be, and then he’s able to take your own desires for good and twist them to bring about his own evil ends.”
Season Two of The Rings of Power premieres on Prime Video on August 29, 2024.
