Melbourne-born actor Charlie Vickers, 31 (Palm Beach, Masters of Florence), played the enigmatic Halbrand in the first season of Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, though it was discovered during the finale that he is, in fact, the evil shape-shifting Sauron. Now in Season Two he returns as the self-proclaimed Dark Lord, who is on a mission to reign over Middle Earth. Vickers said of last season’s big reveal, “I watched the finale with friends, which was really fun. None of them knew the twist because I managed to keep it secret, so it was very satisfying to see it with them.”
Vickers is speaking via Zoom, sitting alongside his costar Morfydd Clark. The Swedish-born, Welsh-raised Clark, 35, (Dracula, His Dark Materials), who plays elven warrior Galadriel, she says, “A few of my friends became very attached to Charlie’s Halbrand and I knew that they were going to be heartbroken – and they were! But it was so much fun and so satisfying to pull off a twist.” She laughs. “It’s been amazing for me to watch Charlie in this role because he is nothing like Sauron, thank God.”
Now in Season Two, Galadriel is remorseful for the part she played in empowering Sauron and letting him escape. Ashamed to have been fooled by him, Galadriel is determined to right her wrongs and enlists her reluctant friend and comrade, half-elf Elrond (Robert Aramayo), to assist her in finding her cunning and sinister nemesis before he unleashes untold mayhem on Middle-earth. All the while, Elves, dwarfs, humans, and orcs make it easier for Sauron to make good on his bad deeds while they are distracted by their own power plays within their community.
Season One (made for US$465 million) was seen by an audience of over 100 million viewers worldwide, and this upcoming eight-episode series (budgeted at a whopping US$700 million) delves deeper into their most challenging and darkest times yet.
The production relocating from New Zealand to London brought about day-to-day changes besides the obvious geographical ones, and offered a sense of normality for the mostly British cast. Vickers says, “We loved filming in New Zealand, and we felt so embraced by everyone there. It was quite a different experience to filming in London and we were super lucky as a cast to build a foundation where we all became really close, whereas quite often you never know [your fellow cast members] unless you’re in a scene with them.”
Vickers moved to London over 10 years ago where he lives with his British wife, actress Georgie Outlon (North Shore, The Crown, Grantchester), with whom he is raising their baby. The couple met while both studying at London’s Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, graduating in 2017. “Shooting in England felt more like a job,” Vickers explains. “You’d go to work and most of us are based there, so you go home at night. So, that’s also nice.”
Clark says of her new skill set since returning to Season 2, “It’s really fun getting into all the stunts because it feels as close as I can to being an elf because they are vastly superior to us. I really enjoyed the archery, and as it’s been around for many years, it makes me feel more connected with the elf,” she smiles. “It’s very meditative.” As for how different cinematic archery is compared to real archery, she laughs,“Well, when I watched the Olympics, I was like, ‘Gosh! That target is very far away!’ It was quite different from the archery I was doing.”
Clark has immersed herself in all aspects of finding her inner elf. “When I was at school and obviously meant to be learning, I had no interest in learning at all,” she admits. “And now, I find myself in this position where I am learning all these skills with the most incredible teachers, and that just seems like the most incredible gift. It’s been wonderful to find such joy in learning,” she says. “It’s somewhat of a second childhood doing a job like this.” On the downside, though, she must endure some physically gruelling scenes. Clark nods. “I always seem to be underwater and wearing leather trousers in this show, I am sure they will find a way to put it in the next season too.”
For Vickers, it’s not the physical demands he finds daunting as much as linguistic requirements. “Speaking Elvish is the bit I struggle with,” he admits. “I was terrible at learning languages, so I find it quite difficult.” Conversely, Clark adds, “I love exploring language. I’m bilingual and I do feel that different parts of me live in Welsh and live in English. When Galadriel is speaking Sindarin or Quenya Elvish, that’s a deep, ancient part of her and that was really fun to play. And we have the most amazing teacher who has worked on The Hobbit films and has been in Middle Earth for the last fifteen years, so she is a fluent Elvish speaker.”
Now that the series is finally on air, the actors can enjoy it like other audience members. Clark says, “I have my friends come over, I have screenings and we watch it together. It’s especially nice because we shot in quite weird circumstances during COVID, and so it was nice to share what I’d been up to with them.”
As for Vickers, his home life looks quite different. “Well, I have a young baby, and once he goes to bed, I have to clean the house, so I have no chance to watch anything. But I’m sure I will get to do a watch party with friends when it gets to the season finale. There’s some equally jaw-dropping moments in the seventh and eighth episodes,” he offers. “They are really good at those a-ha moments, and there’s a lot of them in this season when you are like, ‘Oh!’”
Being a part of one of the most beloved series in the world must also bring some pressure to the actors to live up to their characters. “To see how much people care for this world and these characters and that they have cared about them for decades, makes us feel very privileged as custodians of this time period and this adaptation of Tolkien’s work,” says Vickers. “Something that really strikes me every day when I go to work, is just how much people really care about what they’re making which is inherent in the world of Tolkien. It sounds cliche, but there’s so much love poured into this by so many people and that makes the whole process of making it and seeing it come to fruition a very emotional one.”
Clark concurs. “I find really good for the soul being in Tolkien’s world. It keeps my cynicism at bay.”
