The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power - Season Two - Cast Interview

hey how's it going hi hey s how you going I'm good Hi Sam nice to meet all you where are you Sam I'm from New Zealand yeah in New Zealand what city beautiful our old home a a place close to your heart I'm assuming very close um loveely to meet all of you I just want to say I've seen the first three episodes very very cool like just W Factor the end of episode two it's like wow and then you get to the end of episode three like where is this drone what is happening it's really exciting and just congratulations really enjoying it um I guess one question I want to ask first off is really La the the second season seems to be a lot about creativity and the power to both you know destroy and create and I just want to get your opinion on how do you see the idea of that theme of creativity playing out in the second season it's a great a it's really cool observation and not one I actually have made myself I think it's really good because the whole thing is about inspiration and creativity right Kell bmbo and Sauron making rings and from my perspective I come to Kell brimo because I need him and that's what's really cool about that aspect of the story it's not just like Sauron is pulling the strings and Kell brimo is um doing what he wants I think yeah Sauron needs Kell bmore as much as he um as Kell bmore needs sa and they kind of their creativity combines and their love of art and craft and they make these Rings which then in turn destroy the lives of everyone else yeah and um in terms of uh sort of the second season I think is really exploring that so the dark side you know like we in season one it was all about heroes and everything like that but I think in the second season we really exp dark side and that's a reing in fantasy worse you know it's or that Heroes and overcoming evil but how do you think you know audiences will react to the sort of dark side the exploration of that I mean I think that's really interesting Charlie said something in a previous interview which I hadn't quite thought about before of it's rare that you see kind of as you also just said like a villain's Journey or someone who we perceive to be a villain and uh in some ways something that surprised me watching the first couple of episodes is that I actually did feel a bit of empathy for out on even though he's even though he's a horrendous character and he's so awful uh character hang on horrendous like he's he's done some horrendous things and he and he will um right but uh but there is something that I think will Intrigue audiences and that's that you sometimes just you don't want to but you can't help but feel that there's there's more to what he's doing and you really see that yeah yeah it's cool because often the the big bad is locked away in a you know in a in a whatever kind of film or TV show they're locked away in a cave and you see them come out and be evil but this is quite interesting because you see a lot of the story from sauron's perspective in the same way that you see it from Nori's perspective even though she's a heroic character um yeah so I think that's a really cool way it's set up I think I also want to point out that the um there's also another kind of dark lord and which is um which is something that's really great to dive into because he's kind of one of those characters that's in the gray area you know he's um he can be seen as evil but I feel like at heart he's just trying to do what's best yeah and you see that towards the end of the season as well yeah yeah well you sort of got that where he's trying to do well by his people you know that which I thought was interesting because it you know Peter Jackson's work and even to him you never sort of get perspective of Yorks but from adar's point of view he's like well these are my people yeah want is he still trying to do right by him which I thought was very interesting interesting perspective and different in a fantasy setting because you know we normally don't get that um one thing I was really looking at is you know we've got the lovely Charlie here but I guess how did you guys think of seeing him as the most evil of evil of [Music] evil I mean it's easy to imagine no it's actually kind of like really weird because like Charlie's like the nicest guy like at heart but like when you see him on screen there's just something in his eyes that's like damn I don't want you to look at me like there's just I don't know what he does or what it is but I think it's just a testament to how great he is as a performer yeah it's cool it's cool no I was just going to say it's really yeah it's amazing seeing his uh what he's done with hellbrand in season one and then how he transforms in season 2 as well it's pretty special I mean it's got great VI you know oh beautiful blond hair great yeah great look very I like it and speaking of an like watching him I got this really kind of David B in kind of v and um and so I was wondering like if if NS had his own band like would he would he run like his own 80s middle you know here band or would he be more into the ID scene like what do you think he would no he would I mean I get the EDM thing but I think definitely 80s metal and it was actually a big you say it it's funny but it was a big problem developing the camera developing the character when we were doing it like every time I tried on a new wig and developing the hairstyles I just looked like I was in an 80s metal band and genuinely this was like we can't do this we would send photos to the showrunners of like the hair down and they were like we can't because he just looks like he's in a metal band it's the next role yeah yeah no it was it was very I really I really love to hear um also got to say Charlie as well with nsar he's a very seductive character and you know you think about sort of you know the designs of evil you know Char devilish characters and they're not normally 100% evil there's normally a seduction like if you say hanor or you know watching and Training Day there's this kind of subductive quality to them how do you really bring that tease that into the story because you see that with hel it's like this idea of forbidden knowledge and very sedu them just wonder if you could you know explore a little bit of that the the seduction has to be genuine and I think that's where I approached it is I understand that the character serves the serves the story by being evil but as an actor I think the only way I could approach it was to be 100% genuine with everything I do because that's almost scarier in in the sense that if you're being kind to someone you're listening to them you're being open that is where the real Deception comes in and that is Sauron Sauron is the ultimate deceiver that's him in a nutshell and it it all comes from he he genuinely thinks that he can the Middle Earth will be a better place if he could um be in charge he he wants to rehabilitate that's talken talked about this Rehabilitation that Sauron sought of Middle Earth and he thinks like everyone's at War there's you know people are scattered it's just in a bad way and if everyone just listened to me and did what I wanted it would be a very harmonious place to live and that's the way I approached the the character and and I think the seduction is a big byproduct of trying to be genuine with it so he's almost like I'm going to create new growth but and even if I'm going to wipe everything out there'll be new growth coming from that exactly it's like short-term pain long-term game yeah um I get that interesting point of view Maybe maybe not good for the halfs but yeah no definitely not well and and and going on to the half so MAA um I I really like where we're going in season two especially with r and you know very something very different what we've seen and all the RS you know when you think of all of the RS and the poter you think of you know a very um you know European style sitting but you know we're in the desert I'm just wondering how that sort of landscape you think is going to impact audiences and their response to you know season two going forward because you're like oh wow here there's you know it's quite in the couple of episodes yeah I mean I think it was really amazing we filmed that in tenie um and it were it truly it was a new experience for me I'd never been there before and also for Nori she's never been that exposed before just geographically she's always been with her family and and and they've always had to be quite discreet about where they are so I think I was just channeling this kind of curiosity that I had when I was in tenie and and tried to channel that what's that over there yeah um and so um I think that hopefully audiences will feel that cuz we were you know I think at one point a a news crew thought we were like Star Wars or something Star Wars um and so we were alone and people didn't really know we were there and so we were kind of isolated and um in certain parts of tenie that that uh no one else was filming it at the time so I hope that audiences do feel that and do feel uh the the Heat and the dust and and you know the sand and everything I I hope that they feel as immersed uh in that world as we did at the time yeah and in terms of obviously she's a traveler and you know you need get playl so we're talking with magic if you could magically send a M3 fire back into the middle of Earth somehow I'm sure there's a way to do it um you know talk to the stranger but what would your sort of Cs for Nori be like what would you get through to help I mean I do have a playlist for Nori but I'm going to kind of keep that a little secret but um there was some a song that I did listen to every single morning without fail in season one for whatever reason was you ought to know by Alanis Moret I don't know why but I would also just I would just blast that 247 um so yeah that I also listened to a lot of All By Myself by Seline Dion wow I Have Nothing by when I was just was a very dramatic season very dramatic that's nice like that um and so obviously Theo went through quite a lot last season it was a bit of a a bit of a journey and this is made my perspective having watched the first three episodes but I'm sort of seeing him developing a real James Dean you know rebellious kind of he's off to sort of do his own thing and just wonder if you could comment on that I know we can't s of get dis here every but I thought it was quite a apart from season one he's a bit you know he's been through a lot and he's not sort of doesn't want to follow others so if you could just sort of talk about I mean do you see him as a bit of a season or how do you see him shaking up I think it's more or less I wouldn't say he's a rebel but I feel because I feel like there's nothing for him to go against because I feel like he has nothing this season this season for Theo is exploring the idea of grief and what is grief it's not linear there's no real pattern to it some days are worse than others and um I feel like I think the thing with Theo is is I think it kind of explores the idea of like life is always moving no matter what's going on what's happened to you you can't stop time and things are always moving and I think he's just trying to push on and and live um and I think those scenes with gadriel in the at the end of last season kind of gave him an Insight of like this is someone who's gone through so much and so much pain and yet she's still fighting and I think he draws on that and that's something that um inspires him to to become the man I think he hopes to be yeah just keep pushing through and obviously you're a bit of a stunt man you got thrown around and I know there is some stuff that sort of won't talk about J spoilers but you've got more stunts for you this season you're going like I know there some very B characters shall we say but you know more more of that for you and just curious to learn more about that um I can definitely say there's there's quite a bit of wire work um lot of lot of swinging around and flying around in not actual flying but um yeah I I think the kind of action this season with Theo is is very different to the first season but he uh he always ends up in some sort of trouble and he just has to wait fora to save him so that's what he might do well then my 's C down so just one last thing I want to ask obviously you had this special Sydney uh Premier streaming last night it looked amazing just how do you think sort of you know down the Souther spere really embraced the show and what do you hope they can get out of it yeah I mean I think it was quite I did not expect the amount of people that were there to start with I think it was a very uh something I'm so grateful for and obviously yeah this is what Australia is where I grew up so it's always really lovely to see people embracing a series or getting excited about a series that we're part of so uh it was a really incredible experience and obviously people had some like family and friends so uh yeah lovely rallying together and supporting each other yeah it's kind of like we're all from Australia the three of us so it means yeah all all the fan support means a lot but like there is something extra special when it's your home and we because we've made it I mean we made the first season in New Zealand and felt so embraced by everyone the crews but also just the people of New Zealand Lord of the Rings is in the blood of everyone there and it gave us an amazing foundation and we've filmed this second season so far away so to then come back and be like and there's all these fans here is like it's it's it's mindblowing to think that the show travels that far so I mean this part of the world will always mean the most to us I would imagine of any part of the world well my time is sort of coming to an end I just want to say thank you so much for talking me I really enjoyed the second season from what I've seen it's looking amazing I can't wait to see what happens next than thank you for your questions your questions were so interesting thank you really great awesome all the best thank cheers sooner or later sauron's eye BS a hole the rest of him slit Us in you sought peace I gave it to you this is hardly a gift what have you done to me what have you done to me who are you truly I am the one keeping the Storm at Bay shaon is my enemy as much as yours I can help you destroy him I will not stop until is put right every soul in the seen or Unseen World will know that it was you who was the architect of their demise C at this moment the great tale of our age is being written you think it was only you who put yourself in my power griel [Music] oh