New Photos and Details for the Orc Leader Adar in THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RINGS OF POWER Season 2

We’ve got some new photos and details to share with you for Prime Video’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2. They specifically focus on the Orc leader Adar, who will be played by Sam Hazeldine this time around.

The fallen elf was previously played by Joseph Mawle in the first season. Adar is a leader that is looking to protect the Orcs from both Sauron and the elves. They do not recognize Sauron as their leader.

Adar has led his orc armies in an epic battle against both elves and Numenoreans, and also transformed the Southlands into the dark land known as Mordor. 

Hazeldine opened up about Adar in an interview with EW, sharing some new details, saying: “For me, the appeal was that he's a dark character, but he doesn't see himself as a villain.

He added: “He's just trying to protect his children, the Uruk. So he's doing what he feels he has to do to save them from the genocide, whether that would be from Sauron, who sees them as cannon fodder, or from the elves.” 

Hazeldine continues: “At the beginning of the season, Adar is kind of in an existential crisis because he doesn't really know what to do next. Sure, they're going to have to deal with various attacks, but he's finished what he set out to do.

“He took on the responsibility of caring for these children of his and finding them a home, and now he’s done that. This sets up his call to adventure in season 2.” 

The actor went on to talk about replacing Mawie in the role, who he knows, and explains the transition: “I know Joseph, I worked with him years ago. I think he's a fantastic actor, and I really loved what he did in the first season.

“So it was actually a pleasure to take the baton from him.” He shared, “Obviously we don't look the same, but the character is instantly recognizable.”

Speaking of the look of the character, it initially took seven hours to apply all of that makeup to transform the actor into that character. The makeup VFX team managed to get that down to five hours, which is still a long time!

But, that wasn’t the hardest thing for him. The actor went on to explain what the hardest thing was for him while working on the series: “The hardest thing was I had to go straight into speaking Black Speech on day one.

“It is hard on your throat, and it is hard to remember because it doesn’t really follow the elvish languages, which have roots in real languages like Welsh and Finnish. But he just didn’t write that many words in Black Speech.” 

The show has some Tolkien lore experts one hand to rewrite some of his lines from English into Black Speech, “in order to give Adar the proper gravitas.”

Hazeldine talked about his experience shooting the scenes for the series, saying: “There were like 200 orcs in the room there, and they were all kind of grunting. It’s quite unnerving to see that many all in one place, it’s quite intimidating. It was helpful to remind myself that I'm not insane, and they are just people.” 

It’s also revealed that Season 2 will show audiences where the Orcs came from and how the were turns from Elves to Orc.

Hazeldine said: “There was an offer for power and for something else, which you'll find out later on in the show, and Adar willingly took the deal. It's kind of like he took a red pill and was duped. He was horrifically tortured and maimed.” 

He went on to tease: “Season 2 starts with a bang, and I was even surprised at how kind of bloodthirsty and violent it is.”

The series is based on the appendices from J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of Rings books, and the story is set in the Second Age of Middle-Earth.

The series takes place “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.”

In Season 2, “Sauron has returned. Cast out by Galadriel, without army or ally, the rising Dark Lord must now rely on his own cunning to rebuild his strength and oversee the creation of the Rings of Power, which will allow him to bind all the peoples of Middle-earth to his sinister will.

“Building on Season 1’s epic scope and ambition, Season 2 of Amazon’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power plunges even its most beloved and vulnerable characters into a rising tide of darkness, challenging each to find their place in a world that is increasingly on the brink of calamity.

“Elves and dwarves, orcs and men, wizards and Harfoots… as friendships are strained and kingdoms begin to fracture, the forces of good will struggle ever more valiantly to hold on to what matters to them most of all… each other.”

The series is being developed by showrunners J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay. The Rings of Power Season 2 premieres August 29th on Prime Video.