The Dark Lord Sauron may have been depicted either as a guy in a hulking suit of armor or a flaming red eye in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, but the prequel The Rings of Power actually gives him a more ‘personable’ appearance before his rise to power.
With the second season incoming, it’s been revealed that Sauron will have multiple forms in the show, and a new featurette has been dropped highlighting the ‘Faces of Sauron’ in the incoming season of Rings of Power.
The Faces of Sauron in Season 2 of The Rings of Power
Besides Charlie Vickers who will be returning to play the part of Sauron, another actor has been revealed to be playing an earlier version of the Dark Lord in the story. Check out the featurette here:
As per the video, Jack Lowden is also going to be playing Sauron, but this will be a Sauron before he started looking like Vickers. Though fans have yet to see Sauron facing the orcs in the series, it’s been revealed that he’s actually talked to them before, and this is also the reason why Adar has a beef with him by the time Season 2 kicks in.
What about Charlie Vickers’ Sauron?
Though Lowden is playing one version of Sauron in the series, Vickers is still attached to play Sauron in the show—specifically the version that disguises himself for Celebrimbor, Annatar.
In the lore, Annatar is dubbed the ‘Lord of Gifts’ and was said to have helped Celebrimbor forge the Rings of Power. Too bad for Celembrimbor though, because, as the previews have confirmed, his work with Annatar will corrupt him, and it’s shown that he also falls into despair while forging the rings—not too different from how the One Ring’s power is depicted in the Peter Jackson movies.
Middle-earth Continues to Expand
With the first season doing a lot of exposition work for this era of Middle-earth, the second season is going to keep introducing more and more familiar elements from the original films. Not only are fans going to be seeing the return of the ents, but there will also be more dark creatures like trolls and giant spiders.
The series is also teasing a ‘Dark Wizard’ that is being played by Ciaran Hinds. It’s unclear which wizard he is, but a lot are guessing that he could be one of the blue wizards from the lore which were never really expounded on by J.R.R. Tolkien.
Not to mention the series will also be bringing to live-action the whimsical book character Tom Bombadil who looks to be crossing paths with the Stranger—who some fans are 99% sure is Gandalf. Then again, there’s still a lot of room for mystery and surprises when it comes to this series.
Catch The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power when the second season premieres on Amazon Prime Video on Aug. 29.