The eighth and final episode of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power has premiered on Amazon, and now all eyes are on what the future holds for the franchise.
Without spoiling anything, the explosive finale gave us more details on the mysterious Stranger (Daniel Weyman) and the forging of the first three titular Rings of Power by Celebrimbor (Charles Edwards). Earlier this month, it was confirmed Season 2 of The Rings of Power had already started filming in the UK.
Hot off the heels of the finale, a new interview from The Hollywood Reporter gives us a glimpse at what the next season might hold.
“We felt Sauron should be a character in his own right. We wanted to study the currents running within him in a way that hopefully would reward audiences as they follow him moving forward as he becomes the Dark Lord. You now know him as a person outside the name Sauron.” says showrunner Patrick McKay says “We didn’t want to make a show that was about the hunt for Sauron, but we love the idea of Sauron as a deceiver who could, hopefully, deceive some of the audience.”
It seems like Sauron’s role will expand even further in the next season and beyond, “Season one opens with: Who is Galadriel? Where did she come from? What did she suffer? Why is she driven? We’re doing the same thing with Sauron in season two. We’ll fill in all the missing pieces,” says showrunner J.D. Payne, who goes onto describe Sauron as a “complexly evil” characters like Tony Soprano or Walter White.
“Season two has a canonical story. There may well be viewers who are like, ‘This is the story we were hoping to get in season one!’ In season two, we’re giving it to them,” says Payne.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is currently available to stream exclusively on Amazon Prime. Unfortunately, no current date or timeframe is set for season 2, and McKay has previously stated he expects to be working on it for “another couple years.”
