For many Tolkien fans, one of the biggest selling points of a Lord of the Rings TV series was the prospect of exploring the character of Sauron in his "fair" Annatar form prior to the events of The Last Alliance. The shadow of The Dark Lord hangs heavy over The Rings of Power, but aside from a silhouetted glimpse in flashback, we have yet to meet the saga's big bad.
Early teasers led fans to believe that one of the white-clad Mystics must be Sauron, and there's ongoing speculation that he might be the mysterious Stranger, the seemingly benevolent Halbrand, or simply a character that hasn't been introduced yet.
Of course, it's a very clever marketing tactic to keep fans guessing, and during an interview with THR, co-showrunner Patrick McKay explained the decision to have Sauron remain in the shadows for as long as possible.
"It would be very tempting to make the first season of this show The Sauron Show, very villain-centric,” he says. “But we wanted that level of evil and complexity of evil to emerge out of a world that you’re invested in — not because evil is threatening it immediately. We wanted you to fall in love again with Middle-earth. We wanted you to understand and relate to the struggles that each of these characters are having before we test them in a way they’ve never been tested before.”
This Friday's episode is titled "The Eye," and after the explosive events of last week's installment, we'd say there's a decent chance the Evil One will finally make his presence felt.
Amazon Studios’ forthcoming series brings to screens for the very first time the heroic legends of the fabled Second Age of Middle-earth’s history. This epic drama is set thousands of years before the events of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, and will take viewers back to an era in which great powers were forged, kingdoms rose to glory and fell to ruin, unlikely heroes were tested, hope hung by the finest of threads, and the greatest villain that ever flowed from Tolkien’s pen threatened to cover all the world in darkness.
Beginning in a time of relative peace, the series follows an ensemble cast of characters, both familiar and new, as they confront the long-feared re-emergence of evil to Middle-earth. From the darkest depths of the Misty Mountains, to the majestic forests of the elf-capital of Lindon, to the breathtaking island kingdom of Númenor, to the furthest reaches of the map, these kingdoms and characters will carve out legacies that live on long after they are gone.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power stars Morfydd Clark, Benjamin Walker, Charles Edwards, Charlie Vickers, Markella Kavenagh, Nazanin Boniadi, Ismael Cruz Cordova, Tyroe Muhafidin, Maxim Baldry, Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Owain Arthur, Trystan Gravelle, Sir Lenny Henry, Ema Horvath, Sophia Nomvete, Megan Richards, Dylan Smith, Leon Wadham, Daniel Weyman, and Sara Zwangobani.