‘The Rings of Power’ showrunners claim Sauron will be like Walter White in season two
Following the big twist at the end of The Rings of Power with Sauron’s identity finally being revealed, fans are hotly anticipating the second season as it promises to become a riveting thriller whilst also following Tolkien’s coveted canon.
Now, speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, the showrunners of the series, J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay, discussed introducing the Dark Lord as a “low man” whilst revealing that he will become a Walter White type of character in the second season.
“What’s in the [The Lord of the Rings books] is an all encompassing evil that everyone is afraid of, and is so powerful, it doesn’t even have to be manifested physically,” McKay explained. “He’s an image of an eye in [Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings] films, he’s the eye on the tower. We felt Sauron should be a character in his own right. We wanted to study the currents running within him in a way that hopefully would reward audiences as they follow him moving forward as he becomes The Dark Lord. You now know him as a person outside the name ‘Sauron.’ In some ways, we wanted to do an origin story for Sauron. We didn’t want to make a show that was about the hunt for Sauron, but we love the idea of Sauron as a deceiver who could, hopefully, deceive some of the audience.”
Payne added: “There’s something that Milton does in Paradise Lost that we talked about a lot. Where he makes Satan a really compelling character. In some ways, he’s the first antihero where he’s compelling and you can’t take your eyes off of him. Milton did that on purpose because he wants you to fall along with Adam and Eve. He wants Satan to be so persuasive that he also seduces [the reader] and you’re unconsciously won over, so that you perceive your own fallenness and your need for redemption.”
He continued: “In Tolkien, Sauron is a deceiver and we know that in Second Age he appears in ‘fair form.’ So what if he sneaks up on you and is able to get you to sympathize with him and get you to be on board with him so that once you actually realize who he is, that he’s already got his hooks in you? So it’s not just as easy as, ‘This person is evil, I’m going to back away,’ because you’ve already formed some level attachment to him. What if we could get the audience to go through a similar journey?”
With many online guessing Sauron’s identity, the showrunners expressed that they didn’t want to fool everybody with a huge twist. Now, however, they can let Sauron get on with what he does best, being pure evil, much like a pair of other classic TV villains that they namechecked.
“Sauron can now just be Sauron,” McKay said. “Like Tony Soprano or Walter White. He’s evil, but complexly evil. We felt like if we did that in season one, he’d overshadow everything else. So the first season is like Batman Begins, and the The Dark Knight is the next movie, with Sauron maneuvering out in the open. We’re really excited. Season two has a canonical story. There may well be viewers who are like, ‘This is the story we were hoping to get in season one!’ In season two, we’re giving it to them.”
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