In The Rings of Power, Sauron becomes the driving force (and central conflict) of the new season. The Rings of Power has always been about Sauron , even if the Dark Lord didn’t actually reveal himself until the final minutes of Season 1. “We knew Sauron was such a powerful spice in the soup,” co-showrunner Patrick McKay tells Inverse .
“We wanted a season to be about heroes and Middle-earth and have Middle-earth be beautiful. Meanwhile, along the way you’re learning who Sauron is. You just don’t know it yet.
And that gives you the opportunity to be deceived by him.” But mere minutes into The Rings of Power Season 2, it’s clear McKay and his co-conspirer J.D.
Payne were working with one ring-covered hand tied behind their backs. Played by Charlie Vickers (now tasked with portraying two of Sauron’s disguises as both the human Halbrand and the Elf Annatar), Sauron plays a pivotal role in the show’s second season, driving the plot forward while everyone else does their best to respond to his terrifying presence. “Sauron affects everything,” says Morfydd Clark, who plays Galadriel, one of the few Rings of Power characters to also exist thousands of years later in The Lord of the Rings .
The Dark Lord casts a dark shadow over Rings of Power Season 2, and it extends from the island nation Númenor where Men rule to the dwarven mines of Khazad-dûm. Ahead of the show’s long-awaited return, Inverse spoke to the cast and creators — including the villain hi.