Daniel Weyman, Charles Edwards, Charlie Vickers Interview

Entrenched in a world of elves, dwarves, orcs, ordained men, wizards and Harfoots, the three leading men of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2 couldn’t be more down to Middle-earth if they tried. 

Actors Charlie Vickers, Charles Edwards and Daniel Weyman sat down for a chat at the Deadline Studio at Prime Experience to talk about their experience filming the epic fantasy series.

Check out the conversation in the video, and scroll down for photos from the event.

Created by J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, set thousands of years before the events of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy, unearths the fabled history during the Second Age of Middle-earth. In Season 2, Sauron (Vickers) is shunned by Galadriel (Morfydd Clark). Without loyal followers or an army, the Dark Lord is forced to rely on his own cunning to rebuild his strength and oversee the creation of the Rings of Power with the aid of the elven blacksmith Celebrimbor (Edwards), which will allow him to bind all the peoples of Middle-earth to his twisted will.

Meanwhile, as friendships across the kingdoms are strained by the ripple effects of the Dark Lord’s actions, the forces of good — elves, dwarves, men, Harfoots and a wizard named Gandalf (Weyman) — try to valiantly hold on to what matters to them most of all: each other. 

The central theme of Season 2 revolves tightly around how well Sauron can narcissistically charm his way into the hearts of those around him, until, like a frog in a slow-boiling pot, the objects of his desires realize they’ve been manipulated the entire time. As a result, Celebrimbor meets his untimely demise in the finale.

“The storyline this season was tough,” Edwards said as he talked about what it was like filming the intense torture scenes between Celebrimbor and Sauron. “But we got through it by having a great sense of fun on set. When we weren’t working — and when we were working too — there was a really friendly, happy atmosphere. It was felt by not only us, but everyone who was working on that storyline. It was just Charlie and I in that story. It did feel like a bubble from the rest of the show in a way. So, everyone was very focused on it for the months that we were in shooting, and the mood off set really sustained and informed what we were doing in front of the camera.” 

Edwards also explained his approach to his character’s final moments on screen: “I appeared very little in Season 1, but the moments I was there, I was trying to set him up for the fall that I knew was coming. So, I tried to show his vanity, his pride and his ambition. He’s a good being, essentially. He wants to do good. However, he has a little devil on his shoulder, which is the spirit of his grandfather, who has achieved wonderful things, and he’s always trying to achieve something that he will never quite be able to do. And then [Sauron] shows up and says, ‘No, I can help you with that.’ So, his fall is through his own hubris, his own ambition.”

Another thorn in the Dark Lord’s side is the royal warrior elf Galadriel. The pair share a complicated relationship from the early episodes of Season 1, where Sauron, disguised as a helpless traveler, wormed his way into her heart and good graces. Upon discovering his true identity, Galadriel has to resist his strong pulls of power and corruption on behalf of her kingdom and Middle-earth. 

In the final moments of the heated battle between Galadriel and Sauron that nearly kills her, Sauron offers her a peace treaty in the form of a marriage agreement. It’s an offer that she refuses, but an offer that Sauron claims is open to her any time she’d like to give in. What does this complicated dynamic mean for the upcoming Season 3? 

“When it comes down to it, I think he sees her as a useful tool to achieve a means to an end,” Vickers said. “We called it a ‘cosmic connection’ in the first season. And that’s a good way to describe it because she’s one of the wisest, most powerful beings in all of Middle-earth. And he has spent, when he first sees her again, a lot of time by himself hanging out with himself. So, he sees this being that he connects to on another level. And I think they have this connection that will endure for as long as time will go on in Middle-earth. In that final scene, he’s trying to reopen the door a crack to see if she’ll join him, but ultimately, I think that joining [would be a mistake]. He says, ‘You could be my queen,’ right? But I think she would [become] more of his assistant.”

After months of hiding his official role as Gandalf, originally dubbed The Stranger, from Season 1 until the Season 2 finale, Weyman is happy he can talk about taking on the iconic character openly. Does he feel pressured to emulate Ian McKellen’s portrayal in the Peter Jackson trilogy?  

“No, I think the joy of the piece is that I was given a character who knew nothing at the beginning when he landed in Middle-earth. All I had to do was play each scene as it came,” Weyman said. “I didn’t need to worry about what was coming later. [He’s] not the same character, it’s thousands of years before he’ll get there, I’m not playing that part. So, the joy has been just to work with great actors who I’m put on set with in these amazing locations, work with a fantastic crew who are uber talented, wear the costume, hair and makeup and listen to the directors [and] showrunners’ story, and just be on set and trust that it’ll all come out. I’m really pleased to do it.” 

Though Season 3 has no official release date yet, Weyman and Vickers tease what they are excited most for fans to experience with their upcoming story arcs. 

“Tears,” Weyman joked. “I’m excited for this plethora of possible pitfalls, errors and failings that young Gandalf can learn from. Literally anything could happen because the only way we’re going to see a wise being later on is if he does some pretty horrendous accidental things and puts his foot in the wrong places and has to pick it up and learn again. So I’m hoping for lots of that kind of action just so that we can see him develop and learn how he gets to be the wizard that we all love.”

Vickers continued: “I’m incredibly lucky that Sauron in this time period is very specific to what he does. We get to go through so many exciting beats that I think fans will be really excited to see. I mean, he has made nearly all the rings now, but there’s one more that he [needs] to finish the collection, which he’s determined and has had in his mind for centuries. So, I’m super excited to see him go on the journey and hopefully take over Middle-earth…I’m sure everything will be great for everyone else.”