There and back again, etc. etc.

It’s not everyday that you get the opportunity to follow your feet and step into a real-life fantasy land, but myself and a small group of other journalists had the chance to do just that last year during the production of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2. I’ll tell ya, a visit to Middle-earth involves a lot more mud than you’d expect, but it’s worth it to walk the hallowed halls of Numenor’s throne room. (Ok, Numenor is next to Middle-earth, but you get the idea!)

On our visit, we met with makeup artists, costumers, stunt coordinators, and location scouts, (and more!) as well as showrunners Patrick McKay and JD Payne, to get you the scoop on what’s to come in Season 2 of Prime Video’s fantasy epic. Here’s everything I learned going there and back again. Oh, and an exclusive look at Galadriel in Season 2, while we’re at it!

Courtesy of Prime Video

A Word From Showrunners Patrick McKay and JD Payne on Rings of Power Season 2

Ok, it’s many words. We chatted with the showrunners Patrick McKay and JD Payne at length while on set for Season 2. A lot was said during that chat (much of which we will get into very shortly) but what stood out to me most was a comment about the darkness of Season 2, and our current era of Bleak TV™.

“There’s an earnestness to Middle-earth and its stories, and we happily embrace that,” explains McKay. “You know, it’s really hip to be cynical and roll your eyes and, you know, be postmodern and winky, winky, winky. And we’re just not gonna play that game.”

Every time I think back to this specific moment in the conversation, I can’t help but smile. There’s something so refreshing about knowing how dark things are about to become but having no interest in playing along with the cynicism of so many other contemporary stories. I can tell they mean it, too. I’ve chatted with a lot of showrunners in my time, and I can’t think of any as excited to talk about their upcoming season as McKay and Payne are about Rings of Power Season 2. I have no issue believing that their story will be earnest because they, themselves, are so earnest in this moment. There is no “Hollywood cool kid” facade to be seen here.

But you’re not here for vibes, you’re here for details! Here are some other tidbits dropped by the showrunners.

Season 2 will open at the same fortress that Galadriel took her soldiers to in Season 1, and there’s good reason she sensed evil in that ice cave.
We will get a more intimate look at Adar early on, and understand his relationship with the orcs better.
Speaking of Adar, he’s stronger than ever in Season 2, but now he has a lot more of his children (the orcs) to protect, and a lot more to lose.
Season 2 will give us a glimpse of just how hard Sauron is to kill, even before the one ring.
Speaking of understanding people better, we will get a much stronger understanding of Sauron and his motives now that he’s out in the open. All he has this season is his own cunning, and we’ll start to learn just how that cunning resulted in him becoming the most powerful being in Middle-earth. “This [season] is just about sort of understanding his psychology and how he works,” Payne notes.
The darkness in Season 2 isn’t just about Sauron. We will also see several characters reckon with the evil that’s inside them.
Galadriel remains alone in Season 2. In Season 1 her friends didn’t believe that the darkness was back, and now in the upcoming season they don’t trust her because of what happened with Sauron.
She (Galadriel) will also be tested in a big way in Season 2.
Season 2 will go to a desert, which is a first for Middle-earth.
The Wizard Who Cannot Be Named And Is Most Definitely Not Gandalf But Drops Hints About Maybe Being Gandalf was talked about quite a bit. Obviously, they gave us no spoilers on the matter, but McKay did note: “Going through the experience the character himself is having, the wizard doesn’t know who they are. If they did, then it might feel a little cheap because it was just like we’re withholding just for the purpose of the holding. But the wizard is on a journey of discovery […] We are on that journey of self discovery with him.”
In further explaining Peak Bleak™ TV, Payne noted that “It’s more about its core ethos at the center [of the story]. It’s nihilistic, bleak or cynical, where people are just screwing each other over for their own self gain.” But the key nugget from this section of our chat was the note that “Even Sauron in his own twisted way thinks he’s healing Middle-earth […] It’s not darkness for the sake of darkness.” So it sounds like we might see a little more self righteousness from ol’ Sauron this season!
There will be new creatures! We’re not allowed to talk specifics yet, but I promise it’s worth the wait! “One of the things we felt we could do more of after Season 1 was critters!” (They’re so excited about this part, you guys. And it, in turn, made me really excited for it.)
Of those new creatures, some will be ones that we have seen on screen before, but were not previously aware had existed during the Second Age.
McKay offered a delightful update on the state of Mordor in Season 2, saying “Well, I wouldn’t want to live there.” Same, Patrick! But seriously, the Southlands are gone, and Mordor is a lawless place where humans probably don’t want to venture.
It was also noted that “Scragglers throughout the countryside who haven’t been killed or escaped […] probably have pretty hard choices ahead of them.” We left quite a few Southlanders in the ash of Mordor in Season 1, along with Arondir and the plot-armored Isildur. So, it feels safe to assume that we’re not starting with them in a great place this year!

The Making of the Orcs

One of the things that I love most about Rings of Power is how much it focuses on practical effects — a theme you will see come up frequently in this entry. The Rings of Power team takes attention to detail very, very seriously. Prosthetics Artist Sarah Gower took us through the makeup tents, outlining the details of the orcs and noting that Senior Visual Effects Supervisor Jason Smith is very pro prosthetic and practical, and only uses greenscreen when necessary. (All practical makeup jobs you see in big-budget sci-fi and fantasy media use VFX in the final edit for a myriad of reasons, so whenever someone says their makeup is 100% practical, it’s typically a misnomer.)

Since Season 2 will feature the darkness spreading across Middle-earth, we will be seeing way more orcs than we did in Season 1. There are about 1500 orc makeups for Season 2.
Each individual orc takes about two and a half hours to get ready.
Because of the sheer volume of actors they have to makeup, and the time it takes to do so, the actors come in two waves early in the morning to be worked on by a team of about 100 makeup artists.
Season 2 has moved away from most latex pieces (with the exception of the ears), and shifted to a foam application. This makes the prosthetics both lighter and more flexible.
That ease of motion is important because the orcs have way more stunts this season.
Each orc makeup is made up of a cowl, chest piece, full head piece, and a chin piece that can be mixed and matched between background actors.
While some pieces can be swapped or mixed and matched from day to day, some primary orcs have their own bespoke costumes.
Many of the prosthetics can be shared, but each orc has their own teeth. That’s about 1500 sets of teefs for Season 2!

Stunts

With the darkness set to engulf Middle-earth and everything around it, one might assume that Season 2 will have more action than the first. And they’d be right! We chatted with Stunt Coordinator Ben Cooke about what went into ensuring the fight and stunt scenes in the upcoming season were up to snuff.

Stunt rehearsals kicked off about four months before shooting started. (No Season 1 of Iron Fist-level learning the choreography the day of shooting nonsense here!)
Many actors on Rings of Power do their own stunts solely because they want to. Stunt doubles are only brought in at high skill/high impact moments.

Morfyyd Clark (Galadriel), Charlie Vickers (Sauron) and Robert Aramayo (Elrond) all see way more battle this season, with Cooke noting that Morfyyd in particular “is a badass.”
Cooke also mentioned a specific stunt for Aramayo where Elrond is cornered and jumps from a 50 ft. waterfall. What’s he running from?!
Because elves’ fighting styles have more flourish and are all about establishing a certain grace, those actors and stunt teams have more training. For example, even though Ismael Cruz Cordova (Arondir) and some of the other actors have an established base work for stunts, they’ll still have a month or so of specific training for the big stuff.
There is also a considerable amount of thought that goes into the stunts of the older elves, as they’re more experienced.
Obviously, orcs play a major role in Season 2. About 20 actors are stunt orcs, with another 40-50 background orcs that cycle in and out as needed.
Yes, that means there will be at least one major orc battle. The one we know of will be against the elves! 

Setting the Scene (and the Set)

It wouldn’t have been a set visit without, y’know… sets. Executive Producer Lindsey Weber, Supervising Art Director Martin Foley, and production team designer Christian Mistead dished on The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power’s remarkable sets, and how the conflict of Season 2 is illustrated through their team’s decisions and designs.

Weber made sure to note that Season 2 of Rings of Power will be going to areas of the map that we’ve never seen before, which played a part in their decision to move from New Zealand to the UK.
70 shipping containers were transported from New Zealand to the UK in the move between Seasons 1 and 2.
This season is more about villains, conflict, and intrigue, and that will play into what locations we see.
Remember my practical note from above? Well, two thirds of the sets in Season 2 are brand new, and even some things from Season 1 were adjusted to rely less on blue and green screens.
The art department is involved in way more than just sets and their dressings. The titular Rings of Power will play a much bigger role in Season 2, and they’ve gotten a little bit of a facelift since Season 1. The elven rings we see in Season 1 were refinished to pop more on camera.
Season 2 has a whopping 120 physical sets.
Many aspects of the sets are inspired by history. The scallops in the Numenor Shrine are inspired by a brutalist church in Romania.
Khaza Dum is bigger in Season 2!
Speaking of the dwarves, we will get to see their civilization at a point where it’s thriving. It was important to the Rings of Power team to show a softer side of Dwarven society, especially given what we know to happen to the mountain.
King Durin’s throne was also remade in Season 2, so keep your eyes peeled for little differences in the design!

Relying on practical sets means that a whole lot of building is involved in the lead-in to a season. Several existing sets got an upgrade after being shipped over to the UK, while others had to be built from the ground up. Whether it’s brand new or new and improved, a facade (the camera-facing side of a physical structure built solely for filming vs. an existing structure) process has to be implemented by the art team.

For Rings of Power Season 2, that process starts with a steel rig (because it can be resold/repurposed after shooting is complete), then a layer of plywood, plaster sheets come after that, and then the fine details are finished off with polystyrene or silicon molds.
Season 2 used about 140 molds for its various sets and facades.
The throne room in Numenor got an upgrade for this season. It’s one of the first sets they built, and it has more gilding and even bigger lights to make all that gold really shimmer. They also redesigned the stand and scepter.
For all the horse girlies (and guys) out there, you should know that each horse in Season 2 has their own specific look for new characters.

Location, Location, Location

While we’ve known the production shifted from New Zealand to the UK in Season 2 for some time now, Supervising Location Manager Finley Bradbury had some tidbits to share with us about Buttersteep Rise, their location in Windsor Great Park.

Windsor Great Park ended up being the ideal location for them because of flexibility, specifically that of Buttersteep Rise. There is both heavily wooded area and open fields on location.
The build at Buttersteep — which will feature a battle that I cannot give you the details on just yet — started all the way back in 2022.
The area they built in is waiting to be recropped, so they aren’t destroying the land.
This was of particular importance to Bradbury and his team because a big part of his job as a location manager is protecting the natural environment.
There are 12 sets built on the Buttersteep location, including a castle, trebuchets and forest locations.

And that’s all I’m allowed to share, for now. In the meantime, I feel comfortable saying that there are a whole host of new adventures waiting for us in Middle-earth this season! Stay tuned for the next one, and check out Rings of Power Season 2 when it hits Prime Video on August 29.