By The second season finale of Amazon Prime Video’s “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” is now available on the streamer and with it comes a number of answers to questions.
SPOILERS AHEAD FOR “RINGS OF POWER” S2 FINALE
The season finale finally confirmed the identity of Daniel Weyman’s mysterious wizard Stranger. After a clash with the Dark Wizard (Ciaran Hinds) and acquiring his staff, he’s revealed to be Gandalf.
That reveal is not unexpected with fans suspecting the actor was the character since day one. However, speaking with The Los Angeles Times, co-showrunner Patrick McKay says the original plan was for him to use a Tolkien deep-cut name – Olórin (the Valar’s name for Gandalf):
“No one will believe us, but this was a journey of discovery for the character and the characters around him, and it was a journey of discovery for the writers. We wanted this to be the origin story of a wizard coming to terms with who he is and what he has to do.
Deep in the history of Middle-earth, Volume 12, he confirms that Olórin had already visited Middle-earth. So Tolkien left it open that Gandalf may have come earlier than the Third Age. But there were also things that we discovered inside the story that really seemed to fit with the character as you meet him later on.”
McKay says the plan was neither Saruman nor the Blue Wizards were ever considered as they don’t fit the story. It wasn’t until the first season finale that McKay and Payne had decided on Gandalf:
“What we do on this show all the time is we look for ellipses in the mythology and then those become great opportunities to hopefully fill in the blanks. Gandalf the Grey falls to the Balrog and then is sent back as Gandalf the White, who’s not exactly the same guy but he is the same guy.
This is the idea that perhaps there was an even earlier iteration before he was the Grey. We have a destination and an arc and a journey for him that will hopefully tie into later stories in a way that is unexpected…You might also eventually see him get a hat”
In terms of how their five season plan is going, McKay says the “signposts that we’re hitting are holding to that plan” even as there are “discoveries along the way”.
“The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” season 2 is now streaming on Prime Video.
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