The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power ended its second season run early on in the fall, and since then, it has been confirmed that audiences will continue to experience more of the Second Age of Middle-earth as the show has since been renewed for a third season. In The Lord of the Rings trilogy of the 2000s, one of the most beloved characters was the wizard known as Gandalf. While the Peter Jackson films opened with the grey-cloaked wizard merrily making his way to the Shire for the birthday of Bilbo Baggins. It took The Rings of Power two seasons to confirm that Daniel Weyman’s Stranger is Gandalf, and now series showrunners JD Payne and Patrick McKay have explained why.

Throughout the show’s first season and early into the second, there prevailed several theories regarding the identity of the wizard. From theories about him being Sauron, or one of the other wizards in J.R.R. Tolkien‘s lore. The Rings of Power showrunners, while speaking to ScreenRant, explained that they sought to make the eventual reveal a journey for both character and audience alike. Payne explains:

“Yeah, so we wanted it to be a journey of discovery for the audience, the character, and for ourselves, and we truly left ourselves open. We said, “We’re bringing this to Middle Earth.” We had some suspicions from the beginning of who it might be, but I think, especially as the friendship between he and Nori and Poppy grew to be so rich, we said, “Gandalf loves halflings. Saruman doesn’t really love halflings, he speaks about them really dismissively. And Radagast doesn’t seem to feel much, one way or another, about them.” We felt like it really sort of made sense, if you were looking at canon, you know where this character would ultimately go.”

The Stranger’s fondness of the halflings was potentially the strongest hint regarding his true identity. Also key to Gandalf ultimately claiming his identity, were his interactions with the enigmatic, poem-loving figure, that is Tom Bombadil. Bombadil is played by Rory Kinnear in the Amazon epic series, bringing to life one of the most powerful individuals to ever walk Tolkien’s Middle-earth, so it made sense that he aided Gandalf in his quest. Payne adds:

“And then also, our wonderful actor, Daniel Weyman, brought to it felt like it also made sense, in terms of the decision to do it. Now, it’s been a journey of self discovery for the character, and we felt like season 1 is all about him figuring out, “What am I? Am I good, or am I evil? I don’t know.” Now that he figures out he’s on the side of the good, it’s like, “Well, who am I, and how do I harness my powers?” So, he goes on this journey to eventually reach Tom Bombadil, and it felt like that journey of the staff, and his name, and figuring out how to control his powers all felt like they sort of wanted to come together. We also didn’t want to tease it forever, of like, “Season 4 you’ll know!”

‘Rings of Power’ Offered Hints to the Maiar’s Identity All Along

While Season 1 had done a good job of shrouding the identity of the Maiar, Gandalf. There were many plausible hints at his true person, and the showrunners had mapped it out that way so as not to draw out the suspense for too long. McKay goes on to explain, saying:

“Yeah, in our minds, from the beginning of season 2, we’re showing you the hand of poker, right? There should be no doubt in most of the audience’s mind by those first couple episodes, we’re dropping all kinds of hints. Like, “Yes, that’s who he is. Don’t worry about that. It’s about what he’s learning, about who he’s going to be. That is more important than just a name.”

Stay tuned to Collider for more updates on Prime Video’s The Rings of Power. The first two seasons are available to stream now on Prime Video.