The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power has always been one of Prime Video's biggest streaming series on the entire platform. Now, Season 3 is here, and with it, the show is finally diving into one of the stories audiences have been waiting to see: Sauron not only gets his iconic crown, but he's finally going to craft the infamous One Ring.
One thing The Rings of Power has always been known for is its tendency to condense the timeline of J.R.R. Tolkien’s original mythology. The creatives behind the show have always felt that condensing was necessary in order to tell a cohesive, engaging, and continuous narrative over the course of a television series.
In Season 3 of what Prime Video hopes will be a five-season story, that condensing continues with the introduction of Sauron’s right-hand men and servant lieutenants, the Nazgûl, or the Nazgnagôl as the show refers to them. When compared to J.R.R. Tolkien’s original lore, the Nazgûl first appeared centuries later than when the show roughly takes place on the timeline.
The Direct sat down with The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power showrunner Patrick McKay, where he revealed why he felt introducing the Nazgûl in this condensed timeline was so important for the story they were telling.
We also interviewed stars Robert Aramayo (Elrond) and Danielle Wayman (Gandalf), who spoke about Elrond reconnecting with his brother, Elros, and how Gandalf is finally embracing his immortal nature.
Introducing the Nazgûl, or Nazgnagôl, Centuries Early
Their Descent Into Madness and Servitude Makes For an Intriguing Journey
- The Direct: "This show has always obviously played around with the timeline and condensing events, and this season introduces the Nazgûl, but quite early compared to where they come into the original lore. Can you talk about why that was something that you felt was necessary to condense for the show, and why you felt it was such a pivotal thing that you needed to have within your take on this?"
Patrick McKay: Well, so to go to sort of Loreland for a moment, you know, one of the central questions in the text, and that we are interested in exploring in the show, is the idea that these rings were initially seductive. People wanted rings of power before they became a curse, right? They were a solution to a problem, or they offered power or wealth, and so that means that if you're a man, one of the nine men who is chosen and recruited to wear one of the rings for men, that it has to be doing a good thing for you, right?
McKay went on to explain that the simple idea of these men putting on the ring and immediately hating everything and becoming a slave was a boring one. Instead, he wanted to explore the journey of their desperation for power, and that slow fall into Sauron's undying servitude.
McKay: The idea that it clamps on your finger and now you hate everything and you're a slave. There's no journey to that, but the idea that it would actually be something that men would be desperate to have because it would give them power, it would make them strong, right? It would make them fearsome on a battlefield and make them important in Sauron's army and all of these things. You want to see that, you want to feel that. That means we're a long way away from being enslaved to Sauron's will.
"It seems like they won the lottery ticket," he noted about the men's mindset at the start:
McKay: At first, it seems like they won the lottery ticket. You know, you want to know and see why someone would be taken in by this offer. And you know, in some cases, we're dramatizing that moment, and in other cases, you're meeting a character who has already accepted that deal, but you want to see both sides of it. What is the power that gives you, and why is that so appealing?
Robert Aramayo on Elrond Reconnecting With His Dead Brother Elros
"It's a Deep Wound for Him..."
- The Direct: "Robert, Season 3 sees Elron, in a way, reconnecting with his twin brother Elros as he's kind of thrown into a collision course with Númenor and their storyline. Can you talk a little bit about what that relationship used to look like, and also how that sort of reconnection between the two of them, you know, even if the brother isn't alive at the moment, kind of affects Elrond moving forward this season?"
Robert Aramayo: It's a deep wound for him, losing his brother. It's a really unique experience for an elf to go through. Somebody who is related to you in that way, withering and dying. It's a really unique experience that he's gone through. I think I've always thought that his sort of connection with mortality is why he has such a strong relationship with Durin. Because he sort of understands it in a different sort of way, so yeah. So and in this season, he's sort of— I think a lot of the time with Elrond, he's sort of forced to reckon with it for the greater good. Something needs to be done. So yeah, it's sort of, I like moments like that with him because it feels right when he's having to sacrifice in that way.
Daniel Weyman on Finally Getting to Embrace His Gandalf Identity
For Two Seasons He Was The Stranger, and Now We Know His Name.
- The Direct: "This is the first season that you finally get to embrace your character's identity as Gandalf. You're no longer shrouded in this big secret. How has being able to embrace that affected not only your personal experience on the show but also your performance and just bringing the character to life with this Season 3 story?"
Daniel Weyman: I think what's always been fun for me is that the outside, you know, the audience world has always been thinking, who is he? What's he going to become? Is it something we recognize? But from inside the journey, that hasn't been my experience at all. My experience has really been learning about my character, scene-by-scene, over the first two seasons, so that when eventually we recognize Gandalf somewhere, I already feel like I'm playing him, so there wasn't a huge gap really between The Stranger and Gandalf.
Weyman went on to reveal that "there was definitely something that happened in this five-year time jump" that saw Gandalf "fully embrace his eternal being."
Weyman: I think there was definitely something that happened in this five-year time jump between [Seasons 2 and 3], where we see him fully embrace his eternal being. You know, the fact that he has always been around and he always will be in some form. Maybe not as Gandalf on Middle-earth, but definitely in the universe, and what has that done? Well, I think it's opened up my journey. It's relaxed the idea of needing to control things, and it's given space to listen to other people, be with them, be with other beings, and see the best in them. You know, being a champion for their goodness.
The Direct's full interviews with the cast and filmmakers behind The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 3 can be seen below.
