The highly anticipated second season ofThe Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Poweris among us, and so are new characters generating big buzz for their distant ties toJ.R.R. Tolkien’s beloved Hobbits. Co-showrunnerPatrick McKayand Executive ProducerLindsey Weberhave confirmed that theStoors are appearing in Season 2. Like the Season 1 Harfoot characters, the Stoors factor into the lineage of the Hobbits and will come in direct contact this season with Harfoot fan favorites Nori Brandyfoot (Markella Kavenagh) and Poppy Proudfellow (Megan Richards), and The Stranger (Daniel Weyman), as their nomadic journey through the Rhûn desert of East Middle-earth plays out.
In an exclusive MovieWeb interview,McKay admitted that one of the overarching story ideas running through the entireLord of the Ringsprequel series is that in “a very small way,”the creative team was going to tell the story of where Hobbits came from. “[Season 2] is the second leg of that journey,” he said. “Tolkien writes about how in the eldest elder days, way, way back before history was even recorded,there were several different branches of what would become Hobbits. Now we’re meeting another one. We know there’s at least a third out there. And that doesn’t even get you close to the Shire and the name Hobbit and so many other things.” He added:
“What we liked was the idea that along her journey, Nori might be encountering things that echoes backwards, that we might recognize in the Shire later. And theStoors are desert dwellers at this point in their history, and they live in holes in the rock walls of their canyon, which is like a tiny distant cousin ancestor of what might become Hobbit holes in some future age.”
Watch the Trailer for Rings of Power Season 2 Below:
Tension and Drama Intensify in Season 2
The Rings of Power
This epic drama is set thousands of years before the events of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, and takes viewers back to an era in which great powers were forged, kingdoms rose to glory and fell to ruin, unlikely heroes were tested, hope hung by the finest of threads, and the greatest villain that ever flowed from Tolkien’s pen threatened to cover all the world in darkness. Beginning in a time of relative peace, the series follows an ensemble cast of characters, both familiar and new, as they confront the long-feared re-emergence of evil to Middle-earth. From the darkest depths of the Misty Mountains, to the majestic forests of the elf-capital of Lindon, to the breathtaking island kingdom of Númenor, to the furthest reaches of the map, these kingdoms and characters will carve out legacies that live on long after they are gone.
The intensity heats up in this second season ofThe Rings of Power, helmed by showrunners and executive producers J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay with executive producer Lindsey Weber. Sauron (Charlie Vickers) has returned in yet another form after being cast out byGaladriel (Morfydd Clark)at the end of Season 1. The rising Dark Lord is relying on his own cunning to rebuild strength and oversee the creation of the Rings of Power, which will ultimately bind all the peoples of Middle-earth to his evil and corruption.
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Look for Galadriel to hunt down Sauron and the elves to rally together, all while other seemingly tight alliances fracture. You can expect a riveting series of events that will lead to the siege of the city of Eregion, teased to be one of the series’ mostelaborately produced epic battle scenes.
When asked if they feel as if they live and breathe everything Tolkien andThe Lord of the Ringsat this point,McKay and Weber were candid. “Yes,” McKay was quick to answer. “It’s a 24/7 job. Some days, you actually do live in it.The Stoor Canyon, as we call it, is a massive set that fills a whole stage. And when you’re shooting there, you’re living in it the same as they are.” Weber added:
You do see people and you think, “Oh, you’d make a really good elf, or you’d be a good dwarf, or look at that guy, he’s got a great dwarven beard. You do have Middle-earth vision as you walk around.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Powerdebuts on August 29 on Prime Video. Watch it through the link below:
Watch Rings of Power
