The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power: We Speak to Charles Edwards and Charlie Vickers

we had the chance to head down to Singapore for an in-person meeting with the cast and creators of Prime videos the rings of power check out our conversation with K bmbo and Sauron Charles Edwards and Charlie Vickers gentlemen this is an absolute pleasure uh congratulations on the show it is fantastic I loved season one and season 2 just has me jittery it's great where are you up to in season two uh I know I finished it you finished it they gave us all episodes and I binged it over the last two days wow you've seen a lot more than us oh really wow well I want to start by saying that the both of you have this absolutely fantastic teenage Sweet Valley High Gossip Girl Dynamic going on because half of the time that's the first time it's you going tell me and you're going oh I really shouldn't and it's great I love it but Charles I was wondering if you could speak to calab bmbo and and is that I couldn't work out if it was insecurity and the need for validation or that he just really wants to make these Rings it's all of those things and lots of other things too and they become it becomes thing upon thing upon thing as he as he muddles with my head more and more and more and as you've seen um I um ends How It Ends um but you're right it's a mixture of all those things it's primarily valid validation I think in season one he's looking for validation yeah like everyone's calling him great but he doesn't it's like it's like an actor who who still feels he's got one more great role in him and everyone's saying how wonderful he is no I'm not I'm not i' I've got to do that one last role yeah it's like that and even that will never satisfy him probably he's that just kind of chasing his tail nice uh Charlie I wanted to talk to you about the fair form thing and how it played into your portrayal because I'm not sure you're aware but you're a pretty good-looking man and I'm curious as to what it's like playing a villain without the autant of villainy like yeah how does that affect your performance I really liked that's a great question I really liked having the opportunity to do that I mean because I I tried not to color the character with villainy um from an external perspective that like any villainous elements of him and I know that's the role he plays in the story but I couldn't approach it like that I wanted to approach it as a um he is an individual trying to achieve he set out to heal Middle Earth and that's what he needs to do and He will stop at nothing to do that and he genuinely believes his heroism exactly and that is the thing that makes him interesting because like and tolken wrote about it like he had good intentions and I think that you know the good intentions just start to become eroded as time goes on as more more people get in the way and you just have like annoying little little bastards all the time sometimes I just there's collateral damage is what I'm going to say it's like I'm the Dark Lord why can't you just do as I say yeah exactly that's basically it yeah um but tell me this in your approach to Sauron because he is the ultimate Evil I'm curious as to whether you try and play him with a sense of posos and is he conflicted at all because at the beginning of episode one when we see a bit of that backstory when he runs into the Caravan of people for a moment I'm like oh is there a bit of there yeah that's a good observation he's definitely I think tolken wrote of him being um you know he toyed with this idea of sauron's redemption at the beginning of the second age and sar's repentance and I think it's ambiguous I like to leave it ambiguous but there is definitely a part of him that has toyed with the idea whether it's genuine or not um but or whether it's just to try and Achieve his goals for sure and I think the idea of the posos of the character is interesting I think it's much more interesting than him just being a a villain for villain's sake but there is the internal conflict we were chatting about this yesterday but I think that's what makes characters captivating on the screen and whether the conflict comes from like an external obstacle or an internal one yeah makes it more interesting viewing oh no yeah um Charles you guys get to do something fun with which is it's a bit of a two-handed play for most of the season did that change your approach because the scale of this thing is epic and huge historically speaking but then you have the both of you on this stage almost doing your thing did that change the performance in any way cuz you're not out there riding horses and killing things I think what what's a love what's a really nice it's was really nice to know that while we were doing that all that would be happening right um so that was taken care of um meanwhile we were able as you say it's we felt like that a lot while we were shooting it it did feel like a play and um but in the in the in a great way you know it was detailed um delicate work and um very very satisfying um to be dealing with all those momentous things going on in one's head um Parts like that and story lines like that are always a great Challenge and a great opportunity and you got to play on what I imagine is an incredible practical set or was it green screen or no it was practical no green screen it only goes green screen when I go out onto the balcony right and then you see the city other than that it's all there again a real luxury yeah is there a difference in playing characters like this when you know how they're going to end there's there's a joy there's a joy in it for the performer okay um I think yeah maybe you're spoiled because particularly like I was you know at drama school you're trained in you do plays right and that's like you know where your character begins and where the character ends and it's kind of like it's a it was a new challenge for me not knowing the ending or how like when I didn't know I was playing Sauron or you don't know how the character is going to get somewhere but it is I liked I think it's also in something like this it's just exciting because you know the story and you feel like it's such a cool opportunity to bring these characters to life life H H I'm running out of time I got one more question for you guys but what have things been like since season 1 so you guys finished season 1 it's this massive thing that Prime video is doing and what have your lives been like since season 1 going into season two and I'm hoping seven seasons in a movie but I think it's a lot of it is is I mean speaking for myself I knew going into this that story was going to go in the way that it's going and um I've I've done other jobs in the meantime but I've really been looking forward getting back and doing this oh nice and uh because it's always there in the background you always think oh maybe we should try that maybe you you know so it's been it's been a it's been all consuming since season one I kind of agree with that like you go off and you do another project but like I always a long Gap right there's 20 21 22 and then you normally have about 12 months in between and you if you go and do other things you kind of Sauron is always lurking in the back of my mind and I'll watch something that's come out and I'll be like yeah slip into there's a bit of saour on in that yeah yeah oh very good gentlemen thank you so much this has been an absolute pleasure and uh congratulations once again I was just telling um Charlotte and uh and Cynthia I'm watching every episode my hair is standing oh nice and it's hard to maintain that for like an hour at a time but it's really cool I'm just very excited I'm a huge La of the Rings fan so that's why thank you very much than so much guys congratulations byee he so the Lord of the Rings the rings of power is now streaming on Prime video check it out let us know what you think sound off in the comments and thank you so much for watching