The Rings Of Power: Halbrand's Finale Reveal Was The First Time Charlie Vickers Went 'Full Sauron' On Set
Season 1 of "The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power" had to cover a lot of ground. It needed to introduce the audience to the largely unknown and underdeveloped Second Age of Middle-earth history. In a matter of eight one-hour episodes, the season did just that, exploring a cast of dozens of characters scattered across various locations both on and beyond J. R. R. Tolkien's famous continent.
In the midst of building the narrative and introducing its important players, the show also had one primary question to answer: Where is Sauron? Showrunners JD Payne and Patrick McKay saved the answer for the final moments of the Season 1 finale, where the supposedly new king of the Southlands and president of the Galadriel fan club, Halbrand, is revealed as the Dark Lord Sauron in disguise.
Some fans guessed the ruse from the get-go. Others were caught flat-footed. Morfydd Clark and Charlie Vickers, who play Galadriel and Halbrand/Sauron, respectively, knew about the impending reveal long beforehand, but even so, it still caught Clark off guard when it finally happened.
"We talked about everything a lot ..." Clark told Collider during an interview where she was asked if they prepared for the final reveal before filming it. "So no, we discussed it loads, and we were so excited for it finally to happen." Even so, there was one aspect of the scene that they didn't practice. "We kind of rehearsed," Clark adds, "but Charlie had never really gone full Sauron until we were on set. So that first time when he actually was like, 'I've had many names,' I was like, [gasps] I've never seen Charlie like that. It's kind of frightening."
Clark felt she and Vickers had earned the moment of the reveal
After explaining the shock of seeing her co-star go "full Sauron" for the first time on set, Morfydd Clark explained, "I felt like we'd earned that moment, as well. Charlie is a wonderful actor and also a wonderful man who made me feel super comfortable, and I think that meant we could really push ourselves and create this chemistry between these characters. But then it ultimately was really satisfying when we saw it crumble. So it was really fun."
When asked how much time they had to capture that crucial sequence, in which Sauron reveals himself and then tempts Galadriel to join him in his bid to rule the world, Clark answered, "We had three days to shoot the first reveal and then the bit on the raft."
The Welsh actress also explained that, while the scene of the two actors screaming at one another is an instantly memorable moment, it was by no means predetermined when the cameras started rolling. "The bit on the raft," she said, "was really fun because we explored loads of different things and then ended up with that screaming of two kind of forces against each other."
Now that Sauron is revealed, fans can expect a lot more "full Sauron" in Season 2, which can't get here fast enough.