Charlie Vickers, who plays the iconic J.R.R. Tolkien character Sauron in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, had a curious reaction upon discovering that he was going to ultimately be Sauron in the hit Prime Video prequel series. In an exclusive MovieWeb interview, Vickers spoke candidly about his feelings, noting: “It was more of a relief when I found out that Halbrand was Sauron [in Season 1],” Vickers said, adding:
“It was probably the third episode [of last season], I’d kind of heard whisperings that I might have been Sauron, and a couple of my audition monologues made me slightly suspicious, because I auditioned as [the characters of] Satan and Richard III. So, it was more of a relief to be like, ‘Okay, now I can really sink my teeth into this character.’”
“I’d done a bit of Sauron research,” he went on to tell us. “But now I can just go wholehearted. And to be honest, there was something extra nice about playing a character from the canon, because you have a lot of stuff to inspire you in Tolkien’s work.”
Suaron’s New Season 2 Look
Season 2 of the series, which has garnered more positive reviews, finds showrunners and executive producers J.D. Payne & Patrick McKay once again at the helm. Returning cast members include: Morfydd Clark, Robert Aramayo, Daniel Weyman, Markella Kavenagh, Megan Richards, Benjamin Walker, Ismael Cruz Cordova, Sam Hazeldine, Patrick McKay, and Lindsey Weber.
At the end of Season 1, the elfin master forger Celebrimbor, with Halbrand’s (really Sauron) help, transforms the dwarves’ magical metal into three additional, powerful rings — to join the three elven rings — that would allow the bearer to exert power over other living creatures. Always good in a pinch, eh? This season, Charlie Vickers’s Sauron emerges as a mysterious elf who manipulates Celebrimbor.
One of the actor’s biggest adjustments to his new look? Major prosthetics. In this case, elven ears. “The elf [ears] adds an hour and a half to the morning, which is a whole new thing,” Vickers quipped. “But I’ve made some really close friends who are actually my prosthetic artists, which has been one of the joys of the job.” Season 2 of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is streaming on Prime Video through the link below:
Watch on Prime Video