The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Director Teases "Edgier" Season 2

With The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power largely exploring an entirely fresh storyline for Middle-earth, the filmmakers had more freedom to deliver audiences anything they wanted, which included offering up sequences and themes that were a bit more intense than what was seen in previous J.R.R. Tolkien adaptations. Director on Season 2 Charlotte Brändström recently confirmed that the Prime Video series will continue to lean into more boundary-pushing themes, delivering audiences more "gritty" and "edgier" takes on the world than seen in Season 1. While we don't expect the series to go into R-rated territory, it sounds as though the new episodes will continue to balance the more whimsical and fantastical elements with gripping intensity. Season 2 of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power doesn't yet have a release date, though is expected later this year.

"What I know and what I can say for a fact is that it's going to be darker, and it's going to be edgier and more character-driven," Brändström shared with MovieZine. "I still think that we have some very interesting episodes coming up. I watched all of them over Christmas, just the cuts. I think it's going to be a very good season. We tried to make it more gritty, a little bit more dirty I guess. And not in the image, but to make it as authentic as possible. We have some very surprising twists and turns in it as well."

With Brändström having directed two episodes of Season 1 and four episodes of Season 2, these comments come on good authority of how the tone of the new season compares to the debut episodes. Given that the first season concluded with the reveal that Charlie Vickers' character was Sauron and the treacherous realm of Mordor was created, Brändström's remarks also make good on the darkness teased in the season finale being more fully explored in Season 2.

Prime Video's The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power brings to screens for the very first time the heroic legends of the fabled Second Age of Middle-earth's history. This epic drama is set thousands of years before the events of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, and takes viewers back to an era in which great powers were forged, kingdoms rose to glory, and fell to ruin, unlikely heroes were tested, hope hung by the finest of threads, and the greatest villain that ever flowed from Tolkien's pen threatened to cover all the world in darkness. Beginning in a time of relative peace, the series follows an ensemble cast of characters, both familiar and new, as they confront the long-feared re-emergence of evil to Middle-earth. From the darkest depths of the Misty Mountains, to the majestic forests of the elf-capital of Lindon, to the breathtaking island kingdom of Númenor, to the furthest reaches of the map, these kingdoms and characters will carve out legacies that live on long after they are gone.  

Stay tuned for updates on Season 2 of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power before it premieres later this year.

Are you looking forward to Season 2 of the series? Let us know in the comments!