What would J R R Tolkien have made of modern Singapore? The island city-state, with its feats of urban greenification, would have certainly struck the dreamer of Middle-earth. He would have also paused, one imagines, below those tall, scraggly ‘supertrees’ that loom in the bayfront area — but do not of course walk, unlike the Ents of Tolkien’s imaginings. Such thoughts flickered through my mind on a recent trip to the garden city, while covering the premiere of the second season of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power , streaming episodically on Prime Video from August 29.
Sauron rises in ‘Rings of Power’ season 2| Photo Credit:Twitter/The Lord of the Rings on Prime Between frequent detours to Chinatown and other food-and-culture hubs across the city, we catch up with the show’s cast and crew. The first season , released in 2022 and culled from Tolkien’s appendices in his epic novel, confidently stacked up multiple dramatic pieces. But now the Jenga tower sways precariously, and all eyes are on Sauron (Charlie Vickers).
Initially introduced as a castaway named Halbrand, the supposed king of the Southlands, his revelation as the uber-villain of epic high fantasy left observers reeling. It lurches the show into a darker, twistier terrain. “In the new season, we see Sauron going to Eregion to meet Celebrimbor (Charles Edwards), who is the Leonardo da Vinci of the elves,” says showrunner JD Payne, who has created the series with Patrick McKay.
“We get t.