In just a couple days, we'll be watching the season 2 premiere of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power on Prime Video. Set during the Second Age of J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-earth, The Rings of Power tells the story of how the Dark Lord Sauron (Charlie Vickers) first got into the jewelry-making business and started corrupting Elves, dwarves and men with magical rings. The first season ended with Sauron's identity being revealed, after he masqueraded as a human named Halbrand and gained the trust of the Elf Galadriel (Morfydd Clark).
Galadriel may know Sauron's secret identity, but she also seems to be very drawn to those rings he helped create. Surely this won't lead to anything bad happening for the Elves.
The Rings of Power tends to play pretty fast and loose with Tolkien's source material. In some instances that works better than others, and one of the more interesting changes is that in The Rings of Power, Sauron and Galadriel have a very personal connection, since Galadriel was largely responsible for bringing Sauron back to Middle-earth and helping him get back on his feet in the first place. That will no doubt lead to all sorts of conflicted feelings in season 2, especially whenever these two reunite.
And reunite they will. The latest trailer for The Rings of Power season 2, which you can watch above, contains a brief scene where Sauron and Galadriel lock blades with his crown balanced between them:
This moment. Galadriel ⚔️ Sauron. pic.twitter.com/kDsRqQYCHf
— The Lord of the Rings on Prime (@TheRingsofPower) August 15, 2024
"It is a big moment because it's kind of a reconnecting," Sauron actor Charlie Vickers told GamesRadar+ about the fiery trailer scene. "It's like, you see someone that you've known in your past, and, particularly as I look different now so it's like, 'Oh so, this is where you've got to' and there's a huge amount at play for both of them, and at stake."
"You'll understand when we get to the scene, but it's incredibly high stakes, and there's a huge amount of urgency in each of them trying to obtain what they want in that situation, which leads to some, I think I can say, conflict because they're sword fighting in the trailer."Charlie Vickers
Vickers emphasized in an earlier interview from San Diego Comic-Con how he views Sauron and Galadriel as "connected," no matter the distance separating them. Season 2 will put that to the test. "I think they’re connected, if not by proximity then by their psyche," he explained. "They’re higher beings so I’m sure it runs deeper than being in the same place together. I think the fact that when she turns him down at the end of season 1, it pisses him off quite a bit. I’d be lying if I said there wasn’t a part of him that thinks, 'I can get her, I can get to join me.'"
GamesRadar+ had the opportunity to ask co-showrunner Patrick McKay about Vickers' take on Galadriel and Sauron. "Sauron would think that," he glibly replied, before expanding:
"I mean that's one of the places of real dramatic inquiry in season 2. Sauron perceives her as a threat, she obviously perceives him as a threat, but she's empowered him, and he needed her to get to power, and that creates this really interesting dynamic between them. Season two, she's on her back foot, she feels incredibly guilty. To earn back the respect of herself and her fellow Elves she's going to have to prove that she can transcend past the version of herself that was vulnerable to his temptation and vulnerable to his deception. "Patrick McKay
"And the real question is, given that Sauron is over in Eregion, and Galadriel is trying to stop him over here, they're on parallel tracks, what's gonna happen when they inevitably collide at the end of the season? We're really excited for people to see," McKay added.
All of that actually fills in a surprising number of blanks. When last we saw Sauron in The Rings of Power season 1, he was headed into the heart of Mordor. We've known that he'll be donning a blonde wig and spending time with the Elven smith Celebrimbor (Charles Edwards) this season, but it's still nice to have the confirmation that he'll be in Eregion, a bastion of Elven culture which is long gone by the time of The Lord of the Rings.
McKay's cryptic words also hint that we won't see Galadriel and Sauron reunited until near the end of the season. Presumably, that's when that scene with the blades and crown will happen. If the trailer's anything to go by, it could be a good one.
We'll know soon enough! The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power debuts the first three episodes of its second season on August 29. After that, it'll be one episode a week on Thursday nights for the rest of its eight-episode run.
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