‘Tricky’ tactic behind Aussie star Charlie Vickers’ transformation in The Rings of Power

Melbourne-born actor Charlie Vickers’ big secret has finally been unmasked in the long-awaited next chapter of a blockbuster TV series.

As the curtains fell on the debut season of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, the secret was finally out.

(In case it’s not been made clear by the above sentence, there are season one spoilers – with some peeks into season two – ahead. You’ve been warned.)

Middle-earth’s infamous villain Sauron, previously immortalised on our screens in Peter Jackson’s film trilogy as only a giant, burning eye resting atop a tower, was inhabiting a human-like body for the first time.

Specifically, that of 31-year-old Melbourne-born actor Charlie Vickers, whose character kept his true and evil identity concealed until the finale by appearing as the ruggedly attractive, charismatic Halbrand, the stranger accompanying elven warrior Galadriel on her noble quests.

But as the Prime Video fantasy series makes its highly-anticipated return this week, the facade has finally been destroyed (along with fans’ hopes of a romance between the two).

As dedicated fans of J.R.R. Tolkien would already know, the cornerstone of Sauron’s success in the villain game is his ability to shapeshift, influencing even the wisest minds by appearing in different forms.

For an actor, that presents plenty of challenges – along with scope for practically unbridled creativity.

“I loved doing the Halbrand thing … but there was this element where I had been thinking about playing Annatar [Sauron’s elven-like form] for ages – I knew exactly what I wanted to do,” Vickers told news.com.au ahead of season two’s premiere.

“So it was really fun for me getting a chance to put these ideas that have been in my mind for so long into practice.”

Charlie Vickers at the Rings of Power world premiere in London last week. Picture: Lia Toby/Getty Images

He appears in season two as the elven-like form of Sauron. Picture: Prime Video

Going from resembling a human form to that of an elegant, ethereal elf was a pretty significant swing, and as Vickers described, came with some very “tricky” logistics to navigate.

“Internally, [Sauron] is the same, but on the surface, I had to do a lot differently, changing the way I moved and the way I talked,” he said.

“When you become an elf, you have to live by the rules of an elf: you can’t look down, you can’t lean, you have to have these elf-like movements … Coming downstairs as an elf is really tricky, [I’d be] falling over my robes all the time.”

In this next instalment of the fantasy tale, Vickers spends a lot of his time sharing the screen with Charles Edwards, who plays elven smith Celebrimbor, with their characters entwined in a form of psychological warfare during the creation of the Rings of Power.

On a practical level, both also had the same robe-tripping issue.

“We were falling over all the time, we were both counting before each take, we’d go, ‘how many steps – 1, 2, 3, 4?’ et cetera … There’s this screen where I come out of the forge and I’m up on a big platform and I have to walk all the way down a bunch of steps and a ramp, and I can’t look down once. I was just counting the whole time,” Vickers recalled.

Speaking of Middle-earth’s most evil characters, a familiar, multi-eyed face is set to make her big, and horrifying, return in the coming episodes.

Former Númenor resident Isildur (played by British actor Maxim Baldry) has hit the mainland – and may soon come to regret it, as he is set to grapple with Frodo Baggins’ future nemesis: Shelob, the monstrously large spider.

Frodo with the infamous spider in the original trilogy. Picture: Prime Video

As an arachnophobe, Baldry had some reasonable concerns when he realised what was in store for his character in season two.

“The set was insanely claustrophobic and dark and wet and gross and muddy, and there were these little spiderlings hatching from the wall – these puppeteers working their magic,” he explained to news.com.au.

“It was actually really gross, so with the actual spider [Shelob] herself, I was like, ‘how are we going to do this?’”

Baldry as Isildur. Picture: Prime Video

However, Baldry’s fears were swiftly alleviated when he spotted the “spider” he’d be working with.

“I just suddenly saw this rugby ball with sticks come up, and was like, ‘oh, this is actually how we’re going to do this? It’s 2024!’” he laughed.

In season two of The Rings of Power, we once again return to J.R.R. Tolkien’s Second Age, thousands of years before the events of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings books.

The big-budget series will lift the stakes in the unfolding battle to save Middle-earth from being covered in darkness.

“In Season Two 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,” reads the official description.

“Building on Season One’s epic scope and ambition, the new season plunges even its most beloved and vulnerable characters into a rising tide of darkness, challenging each to find their place in a world that is increasingly on the brink of calamity.

“Elves and dwarfs, orcs and men, wizards and Harfoots … as friendships are strained and kingdoms begin to fracture, the forces of good will struggle ever more valiantly to hold on to what matters to them most of all … each other.”

The first three episodes of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 2 will be available on Prime Video from August 29, with the remaining five released weekly.

Originally published as ‘Tricky’ tactic behind Aussie star Charlie Vickers’ transformation in The Rings of Power