The Rings of Power Season 1 had story and spectacle, but the show has yet to deliver sequences like the battles at Pelennor and Helm’s Deep. Showrunner Patrick McKay says Season 2 will finally deliver what The Lord of the Rings fans have been waiting for.
The Rings of Powerwrapped up Season 1 with a tease of Sauron and the creation of Mordor. Any fan of The Lord of the Rings knows those references as signs the show would encroach into more familiar lore in Season 2. Audiences also anticipate the narrative would now have large-scale battle sequences comparable to The Hobbit or The Lord of the Rings movies, or even to the set pieces of House of the Dragon or Game of Thrones. In an interview with Empire, The Rings of Power showrunner Patrick McKay says Season 2 will surpass audience expectations.
“We love a good battle,” he asserted. “The plan with Season 2 would be to do something much bigger, on a much grander scale that would take place not just overnight, but over multiple days, weeks, months and episodes,” McKay’s promise is a tall order compared to The Lord of the Rings’ fight scenes. The Battle of Helm’s Deep (The Two Towers) and The Battle of Pelennor Fields (The Return of the King) were resolved overnight, but the sequences were so visceral fans remember highlights in gritty detail. Still, The Rings of Power’s Season 2’s teased plot does make room for similar spectacles.
10x Bigger Battles In The Rings of Power Season 2
Producer Charlotte Brändström said Season 2 of The Rings of Power will have a battle sequence “ten times bigger” than the Orcs-Númenórean face-off in Season 1. “It’s really the battle of the darkness against the light,” she added, “with some very dark and quite violent moments.” McKay described the Season 1 set piece was “very consciously designed as an intimate, small-scale battle, more of a skirmish”; hinting at Middle Earth’s rally against Sauron’s escalating threat, executive producer Lindsey Weber teased how Sauron’s rise would impact Season 2’s scale.
“Things have taken a very intense turn since Sauron is back and moving the chess pieces around the board,” Weber said. “So we get to have a different kind of action and see Middle-earth in some more terrifying moments.” The Rings of Power has gradually revealed Sauron’s identity with subtle tells in Season 1. The Season 2 trailers teased The Dark Lord’s new look but it’s yet to resemble The Lord of the Rings movies’ Big Bad.
