The cast of “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” admit their characters are at varying crossroads at the start of Season 2 — some yearning for redemption, some grieving loss, and others seeking success, be it through a manner of good or evil.
Ismaël Cruz Córdova, Charles Edwards, Sophia Nomvete, Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Charlie Vickers and Morfydd Clark shared what’s possibly going through the minds of their Middle-earth characters ahead of the second season at the Variety Comic-Con Studio, Presented by Google TV.
Clark says for Galadriel, things are not the greatest, seeing as she’s just learned Halbrand (Vickers) is actually Sauron. “We find Galadriel having been proven right in the worst possible way. She’s been deceived by the great deceiver, which he must be pretty good at that, so we can’t be too cruel to her,” she said, turning to her cast for reassurance. “So, she’s got to redeem herself.”
Addai-Robinson shared that Queen Regent Míriel is also recovering from bleak events of the first season. “She’s really starting from a place of loss. She has lost her vision at the end of Season 1, lost her father, the king, and she has lost in a battle,” Addai-Robinson told Variety. “So really Season 2 for Míriel is going to be navigating and overcoming these losses but also trying to convince the people of Númenor that she is the one to lead them in the right direction.”
Vickers’ character spends most of Season 1 as a human named Halbrand, only for Galadriel to discover that he is Sauron. So hen asked what name the character should be called at the start of Season 2, Vickers slyly noted “depends who you ask.”
“At the start of Season 2, for all intents, he is Halbrand,” Vickers added. “We leave him at the end of Season 1 walking down a cliff into Mordor. He starts Season 2 with nothing. He’s lost his only friend!”
To that, Clark reminded Vickers that the Dark Lord “deserved that.”
“The Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power” debuts August 29 with its first three episodes; the following five episodes are set to be released weekly through October 3.