THE RINGS OF POWER Showrunner Talks About The Dark Wizard and His Role in Season 2
The Lord of The Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2 sees some new threats rising up in the East of Middle-earth, one of them is the Dark Lord Sauron and the other is The Dark Wizard, who is amassing power in the realm of Rhûn.
We’ve seen a bit of footage of Ciarán Hinds as The Dark Wizard in the series, but we still don’t know what his role in the story will be, but showrunner Patrick McKay is teasing the villain in a recent interview with CB.
When talking about The Dark Wizard’s role in the series, McKay said: "I don't know that it's that new of a concept. We have seen throughout Tolkien that powerful beings are tempted to evil.
“Gandalf will not carry the Ring for he fears the evil it could do through him. Saruman turns to evil believing that that's the best way to save the world, in whatever twisted logic he's come up with.
“So we know that good characters can turn to evil and we know that even wizards can turn to the dark side, so to speak, and watching how that's gonna play out with Ciarán Hinds is gonna be hopefully a real thrill for people."
McKay is comparing The Dark Wizard to Gandalf (whom many fans believe the Stranger to be) and Saruman, who allies with Sauron during the War of the Ring in the Third Age.
Some fans are speculating that The Dark Wizard could turn out to be Saruman in the Second Age, but we’ll just have to wait and see how his story arc will play out.
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 Rings of Power Season 2 premieres August 29th on Prime Video.