Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power spoilers follow.
With the revelation that Halbrand is in fact the Dark Lord, Sauron, actor Charlie Vickers has said he didn’t initially realise he was playing the iconic villain.
Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Vickers revealed that he wasn’t told he was playing the character by showrunners JD Payne and Patrick McKay until the third episode.
“The guys [Payne and McKay] sat me down right before we started filming the third episode, and they said to me, ‘There's more to this. You're playing Sauron’.”
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Despite not being told, the actor suspected his role might lead to something greater due to his audition process.
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“They [the showrunners] gave me a monologue from Richard III and one from Paradise Lost,” said Vickers. “So, I had an inkling when I was doing those speeches that the character had some kind of a dark arc.”
Vickers, who also starred in Medici, said he managed to keep the big news a secret on set; with the exception of one cast-member.
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“No one knew [apart from] Morfydd [Clark], but that was because she was my scene partner,” he said. “That's an interesting thing about Halbrand, that you really only see him through the eyes of other characters. They play a very important role in how the audience sees him and how the audience sees Sauron.”
Vickers, who is due to reprise his role in the second season of Amazon Prime Video’s fantasy series, offered his own interpretation of the villain, referring to Halbrand’s redemptive journey.
“It's interesting because Tolkien speaks of Sauron as repentant. He quite clearly says that he is repentant, and he is ashamed,” said Vickers. “I think fear can lead one to genuine repentance, and I think he fears the gods and he fears retribution.”
Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power streams on Prime Video.
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Reporter, Digital Spy George is a freelance writer who specialises in Movies and TV. After graduating with a degree in Film Studies and Journalism from De Montfort University, in which he analysed the early works of Richard Linklater for his dissertation, he wrote for several websites for GRV Media. His film tastes vary from blockbusters like Mission: Impossible and John Wick to international directors such as Paolo Sorrentino and Hirokazu Kore-eda, and has attended both the London and Berlin film festivals.
