The Rings of Power showrunners discuss, at length, that huge Sauron reveal
Warning: the following contains spoilers for The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power episode 8. Turn back if you haven't seen the new installment in Amazon's epic Tolkien adaptation.
The Rings of Power’s first season has come to a startling conclusion. Turns out, the theories were right: Halbrand is Sauron. Now, for many, the reveal will have come as a complete surprise, but for those who keenly analyzed Halbrand’s every word, the clues were there all along. "Appearances can be deceptive," he tells Galadriel as they float on the Sundering Seas in the show’s second episode.
The idea, the showrunners say, was not to pull the rug out from underneath viewers, but to lay the foundation for a reveal that rocks Middle-earth to the core. Total Film attended a Q&A with JD Payne and Patrick McKay in which they discussed the revelation and actor Charlie Vickers’ audition. Here’s the full transcription, edited for clarity, followed by some analysis of their words.
JD Payne: [Vickers] did eventually know. We kept it very close to the vest for a while. He read a monologue from Richard the Third. At certain points he suspected [Halbrand was Sauron], he was putting it all together like, ‘Okay, they're having me read deep English canon villains.’ We didn't tell him from moment one that this was what was happening. We let him discover it.
Patrick McKay: Charlie's amazing and enormously talented. And we were thrilled to get him. He actually read originally for Elrond. But this character was always Sauron. One of the initial sparks and ideas and, in our opinion, right or wrong, a reason to do the entire show, is that Galadriel talks about Sauron in the books in a way that indicates that she knew him really well.
JD Payne: [Quoting
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