Payne, co-showrunner of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, described the task of adapting J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle Earth for the screen as intimidating. He framed the task as possibly impossible, like trying to "fill up a lake with a teacup" from a "rushing waterfall," capturing the huge, complicatedly designed world Tolkien created.
Co-created with Patrick McKay, the second season of a hugely ambitious project, the series premieres on Friday. "You always want your storytelling to just be getting better. I would say everything about it is hard. Middle Earth is so vast. JRR Tolkien's imagination is so huge. It's like going to a rushing waterfall with a teacup and then trying to fill up a lake with it."
It's about the appendices of his books, so it covers the Second Age of Middle Earth, featuring some of the key characters from The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, when they were younger. Payne and McKay were two especially challenged first-time showrunners, but they dove in due to love for the source material.
Costumes, props, and sets follow this without exception. "Every single costume that you see, every single prop, set, it's all bespokely created by our wonderful artists that we work with to bring Middle Earth to life. So all that is challenging," Payne said.
The first season divided opinions, praised for the scope and performances on one hand, and detested by being too far from the comics on the other hand. According to Payne, they didn't take that criticism in mind because when the first season launched, they were already working on the second season. "We had written all of season two before any of season one was released, we really didn't have much of an opportunity to take the world's reaction into account as we were telling our story."
As for the new season, Payne describes it as a psychological thriller anchoring on the interaction between Sauron (Charlie Vickers) and Celebrimbor (Charles Edward). Sauron, defeated and jealous to return to power, will ensnare Celebrimbor, who forges the Rings of Power. "What is scary about Sauron is that other villains see your weaknesses and exploit those. Sauron sees your strengths. He sees the things you want to do that are good, and he works them to his own evil."
Season two also stars Robert Aramayo, Owain Arthur, Ismael Cruz Cordova, Benjamin Walker, Peter Mullan, Sophia Nomvete, Lloyd Owen, Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Trystan Gravelle, Maxim Baldry, Markella Kavenagh, and Megan Richards.
Read also| Katy Perry Makes a Bold Fashion Statement with Her Latest Dress
Read also| Why Selena Gomez Was 'Nervous' About Joining the Cast of ‘Only Murders in the Building’
