Warning! SPOILERS for The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 1.After a stunning season-finale twist, The Rings of Power is the most expensive television series of all time, making its inevitable success or failure a top priority for producer Amazon Studios. But despite the financial risk, due to the legacy of J.R.R. Tolkien's classic source material and the vision of showrunners J. D. Payne and Patrick McKay, Prime Video preemptively greenlit the show for five ambitious seasons.
This fall, The Rings of Power went head-to-head with House of the Dragon, HBO's epic Game of Thrones spinoff, performing remarkably well for Prime Video and setting up a compelling story throughout season 1. As with Tolkien's work and the popular Peter Jackson adaptations, The Rings of Power features several concurrent storylines with various characters working toward the salvation or destruction of Middle-earth within the Second Age. In particular, the threat of Sauron looms over the show's universe, but the infamous Dark Lord is nowhere to be seen—until a twist revelation in the season 1 finale.
Following the surprise reveal of Sauron in season 1, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 2 will reportedly feature even more dramatic twists and turns. Variety reports that Amazon Studios head Jennifer Salke teases these surprises during her keynote address at Mipcom on October 18. Leading up to the tease, she mentions how exciting the Sauron reveal was for Prime Video and the Rings of Power fanbase and suggests that season 2 will dive deeper into existing storylines. Read the full quote below:
"Obviously the reveal of [spoiler alert] was a huge moment for the show and for fans. We were excited about that reveal and thrilled to see all the conversation around it. What's really exciting about Season 2 is you no longer need to set the table and with characters and settings. You have really done a lot of the heavy lifting as far as what is this show is about (in Season 1). And so you're able to get deeper into the storylines. And there's a lot of great dramatic twists and turns (). It's going to be a really exciting season that brings even more viewers to the franchise."
Possible Rings Of Power Season 2 Surprises
Salke's comments cleverly fail to reveal anything substantial regarding The Rings of Power season 2, which is typical but should drum up excitement ahead of the show's eventual continuation. Primarily, the show must capitalize on the big season 1 reveal of Halbrand as Sauron, which the studio head mentions explicitly. That moment in the season finale is the culmination of all the deceiver's machinations up to this point, which will have rippling effects in the future. Additional twists and turns will likely come from other essential storylines, such as the Stranger's journey to Rhûn and the Elves' forging of the titular Rings of Power.
While Salke's teases are impossible to predict at this time, the established Second Age timeline of Arda in Tolkien's legendarium can point to some potential surprises. Namely, Sauron's corruption of Ar-Pharazôn led to the Númenóreans attack on Valinor and the subsequent drowning of Númenor, and Sauron's siege of Minas Ithil. Depending on how quickly the events of The Rings of Power season 2 advance, audiences could feasibly see either of these two shocking events play out or something entirely new, which could lead to the most unforeseen twist of all.
Source: Variety