Find out Who's Joined the Cast of 'The Rings of Power' Season 2

Morfydd Clark as Galadriel in 'Rings of Power'

The Rings of Power scored an early renewal at Amazon, with a second season confirmed in the fall of 2019—Before Season 1 had even gone into production. And although the show hasn’t yet been officially renewed for Season 3, showrunners Patrick McKay and JD Payne had already started breaking the initial story for a third season back in February, per The Hollywood Reporter.

It’s a good time to be a fan of J.R.R. Tolkien, and the sprawling, detailed mythology he created in The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion. In May, Warner Bros. announced that it was developing a brand new Lord of the Rings movie, marking its first return to the world of Middle Earth since the final installment in The Hobbit movie trilogy came out in 2014. The new series will reportedly focus on fleshing out the character of Gollum, famously played by Andy Serkis in a groundbreaking motion-capture performance.

Although that project won’t reach theater screens until 2026, fans have plenty to look forward to in the meantime, with new episodes of Amazon’s prequel series The Rings of Power due to premiere this summer.

Keep reading for everything to know about The Rings of Power Season 2, including release date, cast and storylines.

Related: 'The Lord of the Rings' Cast: Where Are They Now?

What is the Rings of Power Season 2 release date?

The Rings of Power Season 2 will premiere on Aug. 29, 2024, with new episodes dropping weekly on Amazon Prime Video.

How many episodes are in Rings of Power Season 2?

Season 2 will be 10 episodes long, with the finale airing on Oct. 31.

Who is cast in Rings of Power Season 2?

Amazon has announced several new cast members for Season 2. None of the new actors’ roles have been confirmed as yet, but they include:

Ciarán Hinds

Ciarán Hinds is a veteran Irish character actor, best known for playing Mance Rayder in three seasons of Game of Thrones. He has a variety of other screen and stage credits, appearing in movies including There Will Be Blood, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. He also played Julius Caesar in the HBO series Rome, and more recently Captain Sir John Franklin in AMC’s The Terror.

Rory Kinnear

Rory Kinnear has worked extensively on stage in Britain, and has won two Olivier awards for his work at London’s National Theatre. On screen, his most prominent roles include the prime minister in the very first episode of Black Mirror, MI6 chief of staff Bill Tanner in the James Bond series, and multiple roles in Alex Garland’s 2022 horror film Men.

Tanya Moodie

Tanya Moodie is a Canadian actress who’s appeared in a number of British projects, including the BBC comedy Motherland and the hit Sherlock Holmes adaptation Sherlock. She also has a long track record on stage, primarily with the Royal Shakespeare Company, and had a minor role in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.

Gabriel Akuwudike

Gabriel Akuwudike is a British-Nigerian actor whose TV credits include Amazon’s Hanna, FX’s War of the Worlds and HBO’s Brexit. He also appeared in Sam Mendes’ Oscar-nominated war movie 1917.

Ben Daniels

Ben Daniels will probably be familiar to any fans of Netflix prestige dramas, having appeared in House of Cards as Adam Galloway (on-off lover to Robin Wright’s Claire Underwood) and as The Crown’s second incarnation of infamous playboy Anthony Armstrong-Jones.

Yasen 'Zates' Atour

Yasen “Zates” Atour is best known for playing Coen in Season 2 of The Witcher on Netflix, and also appeared in the streamer’s series Young Wallander.

Sam Hazeldine

Sam Hazeldine has had recurring roles in the BBC series Peaky Blinders and Netflix’s The Sandman. According to Nerdist, Hazeldine will be replacing Joseph Mawle in the role of Elf-turned-orc Adar.

Calam Lynch

Calam Lynch is best known for playing Theo Sharpe in Season 2 of Bridgerton, and has also appeared in Derry Girls and in Christopher Nolan’s Oscar-winning WW2 epic Dunkirk.

Nia Towle

Nia Towle, who’s still relatively fresh out of drama school having graduated in 2021, will make her television debut in The Rings of Power Season 2. Despite being relatively new to the industry, she’s already made appearances in some notable movies including Rocketman and Persuasion.

Oliver Alvin-Wilson

Oliver Alvin-Wilson is another relative newcomer, but he’s had roles in series including Netflix’s Lovesick and Amazon’s Murder in Provence.

Nicholas Woodeson

Woodeson has been working for many decades across film, television and theatre. His most notable movie credits include Paddington 2, Skyfall and The Danish Girl.

On top of these new additions, most of the Season 1 ensemble will reprise their roles, including Morfydd Clark as Galadriel, Robert Aramayo as Elrond, Ismael Cruz Córdova as Arondir, Charles Edwards as Celebrimbor and Nazanin Boniadi as Bronwyn.

Related: The Best Quotes from The Lord of the Rings Movies!

Which book is Rings of Power Season 2 based on?

The Rings of Power is set during the Second Age of Middle-earth, thousands of years before the events of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. The bulk of its source material is therefore taken not from the main Lord of the Rings novels, but from the appendices to the final book The Return of the King, which detail the history of Middle Earth and the backstory leading up to the events of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.

Speaking at the Television Critics Association press tour ahead of the first season, Payne discussed how he and the writers’ room approached the source material, explaining that in addition to the appendices, they drew from "poems and songs and stories and half-whispered rumors and histories” that are scattered throughout the LOTR trilogy. “Tolkien is sort of a treasure hunt—there are some places where he’ll give sort of little summaries, and you’ll get bits, but often it’s a whispered thing, and you get a little nugget here, and a little nugget there,” he added. “Our job as storytellers has been to really excavate that.”

How did Rings of Power Season 1 end?

Season 1 of The Rings of Power ended on a double whammy of identity twists, revealing that the mysterious figure of The Stranger is in fact Gandalf, as many fans had speculated throughout the season. Viewers also discovered (alongside a stunned Galadriel) that Halbrand (Charlie Vickers), seemingly a human ranger running from his past, is in fact the dark lord Sauron. After Galadriel discovers the truth, Sauron tries to persuade her to join forces with him to rule Middle Earth, which she unsurprisingly refuses. The season ends with a cinematic shot of Sauron, now unmasked, walking into Mordor.

What happens in Rings of Power Season 2?

It sounds like Season 2 will focus heavily on fleshing out the character of Sauron following his return. The Amazon synopsis reads: “In Season 2 of The Rings of Power, Sauron has returned. Cast out by Galadriel, without army or ally, the rising Dark Lord must now rely on his own cunning to rebuild his strength and oversee the creation of the Rings of Power, which will allow him to bind all the peoples of Middle-earth to his sinister will.”

Per ScreenRant, the Season 2 trailer also suggests that Sauron will take on an Elf form, in order to trick the Elves of Eregion into helping him on his dark quest. In Tolkien’s book The Silmarillion, Sauron’s elf name was Annatar, but since The Rings of Power team don’t have the rights to that book, it’s likely he’ll go by a different name in the show.

In terms of emotional dynamics, Season 2 will find Galadriel reeling from the discovery that she’s been played for a fool by Sauron. “I think there has to be a reckoning," showrunner J.D. Payne said in a post-finale interview with Esquire. "Even knowing that Sauron was partially involved in the science behind the making of the rings, we see her give the go-ahead to make the rings anyway. She also has to bear some responsibility; 'I empowered the Dark Lord. I saved his life on a raft. I was party to him coming from obscurity to head an army.' That's a lot she has to wrestle with and be accountable for.”

How many seasons is Rings of Power going to be?

According to an interview with Empire, the show’s creators have five seasons mapped out, and Amazon bought the show on the basis.

“The rights that Amazon bought were for a 50-hour show,” showrunner JD Payne told the magazine. “They knew from the beginning that was the size of the canvas—this was a big story with a clear beginning, middle and end. There are things in the first season that don’t pay off until Season 5.” Payne also revealed that the series is so mapped out that he and co-showrunner Patrick McKay already know what the finale’s final shot will be.

How to watch Rings of Power

The Rings of Power is an Amazon original, meaning you’ll need an Amazon Prime subscription to watch the new episodes.

Is there a trailer for Rings of Power Season 2?

Yes! You can watch it below.

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