Amazon Prime Video‘s The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power‘s antagonist will assume a new identity in the show’s second season – and it’s a name fans have been hoping to hear.
- READ MORE: ‘The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power’ review: epic fantasy franchise returns to rule them all
The villain Sauron (played by Charlie Vickers) has been confirmed to transform into Annatar, a “blond-locked elf”, according to official messaging from Prime Video.
“Sauron still has (counts fingers, runs out) 16 more rings to usher into being, not including the One that will in the darkness bind them. It’s taken him eight episodes just to get to three. He needs to get cracking. And that’s certainly what he does in Season 2, adopting a new identity as blond-locked elf Annatar and becoming besties with the worryingly pliant Celebrimbor.”
An interview with executive producer Lindsey Weber in Empire offered more insights as to what fans can expect from the Tolkein adaptation’s next season.
“The relationship between those two characters — and those two actors Charlie Vickers and Charles Edwards — is something we’re so proud of,” she said. “It is a spectacular performance from both of them and a really compelling story that’s very much at the heart of what we’re doing this season. Sauron wants to control all of Middle-earth, and he knows he needs rings to do it. And he needs the greatest of elven smiths to make those rings.”
Season two of The Rings Of Power wrapped last year during the SAG-AFTRA actors’ and WGA writers’ strike last year. It was reported in May of last year that season two had 19 days left of filming when the writers’ strike took effect.
The next run of episodes is expected to stream in 2024, though a confirmed release date has yet to be announced.
In a four-star review of the first season, NME wrote: “The Rings Of Power, for all its grand elf lords, biblical storytelling and cinematic scope, retains the wholesome heart that made the films feel so warm and cosy.”
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