"Where the Stars are Strange" | |
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The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power episode | |
Episode no. | Season 2 Episode 2 |
Directed by |
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Written by | Jason Cahill |
Cinematography by |
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Editing by | Kate Baird |
Original release date | August 29, 2024 |
Running time | 63 minutes |
Cast | |
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"Where the Stars are Strange" is the second episode of the second season of the American fantasy television series The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power . Based on J. R. R. Tolkien's history of Middle-earth, primarily material from the appendices of the novel The Lord of the Rings , it is set thousands of years before the novel in the Second Age. The episode shows the beginning of more Rings of Power being forged. It was written by Jason Cahill and directed by Charlotte Brändström and Louise Hooper.
J. D. Payne and Patrick McKay were set to develop the series in July 2018, and a second season was ordered in November 2019. Filming began in the United Kingdom in October 2022, with Brändström returning from the first season and Hooper joining her. Production on the season wrapped in June 2023.
"Where the Stars are Strange" premiered on the streaming service Amazon Prime Video on August 29, 2024.
The ongoing eruption of Mount Doom causes seismic activity throughout Middle-earth, including an earthquake in the Dwarven realm of Khazad-dûm that destroys their infrastructure and leads to the withering of their crops. King Durin III and his son, Prince Durin IV, refuse to reconcile following Durin IV's choice to help Elrond mine for the rare ore mithril. Durin IV's wife, Disa, realizes that her ability to sing to the mountains cannot help them and attempts to convince the Durins to talk.
Galadriel has a vision of Celebrimbor reciting a poem about the Rings of Power while he is killed by vines that she planted. She expresses concern to High King Gil-galad that Sauron may be in Eregion and asks to go there. Gil-galad has also been having visions since putting on his Ring of Power, but refuses to send Galadriel alone due to her already having been deceived by Sauron. She asks Elrond to accompany her. He initially refuses due to her decision to wear one of the rings, but Círdan convinces Elrond that it would be better for him to help guide his friends rather than abandon them. He is made the leader of Galadriel's company, to her chagrin.
At Caras Gaer in western Rhûn, a Dark Wizard expresses displeasure with the Dweller, one of his acolytes who failed to capture the Stranger. He sends a group of riders after the Stranger instead. Learning this, the Stranger, Nori Brandyfoot, and Poppy Proudfellow travel through a desert to avoid detection. They run out of food and water, and the Stranger collapses from dehydration. The Harfoots find a well and are able to revive him, but accidentally alert the riders to their location. Finding a staff that he recognizes from his dreams, the Stranger summons a sandstorm which drives the riders off. He loses control, the staff disintegrates, and the storm sweeps Nori and Poppy away.
Sauron poses as Halbrand at the gates of Eregion and refuses to leave. Celebrimbor awaits news from Lindon, not knowing that Gil-galad's messengers were killed on their way to Eregion. Despite promising Galadriel that he would never talk to Halbrand again, Celebrimbor eventually decides to turn Halbrand away personally. Halbrand convinces Celebrimbor that he is Annatar, the "Lord of Gifts", an emissary from the Valar who has come to help make Rings of Power for Dwarves and Men.
Amazon acquired the global television rights for J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings in November 2017. The company's streaming service, Amazon Prime Video, ordered a series based on the novel and its appendices to be produced by Amazon Studios in association with New Line Cinema. [1] It was later titled The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power . [2] Amazon hired J. D. Payne and Patrick McKay to develop the series and serve as showrunners in July 2018, [3] [4] and Jason Cahill joined as a writer by the following July. [4] The series was originally expected to be a continuation of Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit film trilogies, but Amazon later clarified that their deal with the Tolkien Estate required them to keep the series distinct from Jackson's films. [5] Despite this, the showrunners intended for it to be visually consistent with the films. [6] A second season was ordered in November 2019, [7] and Amazon announced in August 2021 that it was moving production of the series from New Zealand, where Jackson's films were made, to the United Kingdom starting with the second season. [8] The season's all-female directing team was revealed in December 2022: Charlotte Brändström, returning from the first season; Sanaa Hamri; and Louise Hooper. [9]
The series is set in the Second Age of Middle-earth, thousands of years before Tolkien's The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. [10] Because Amazon did not acquire the rights to Tolkien's other works where the First and Second Ages are primarily explored, the writers had to identify references to the Second Age in The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and its appendices, and create a story that bridged those passages. [6] After introducing the series' setting and major heroic characters in the first season, the showrunners said the second would focus on the villains and go deeper into the "lore and the stories people have been waiting to hear". [6] [11] The season's second episode, titled "Where the Stars are Strange", was written by Cahill and directed by Brändström and Hooper. [12]
The series' cast includes Robert Aramayo as Elrond, [13] Owain Arthur as Durin IV, [14] Morfydd Clark as Galadriel, [15] Charles Edwards as Celebrimbor, [16] Markella Kavenagh as Elanor "Nori" Brandyfoot, [17] Sophia Nomvete as Disa, [18] Megan Richards as Poppy Proudfellow, [19] Charlie Vickers as Sauron, [20] Benjamin Walker as Gil-galad, [21] and Daniel Weyman as the Stranger. [17] Also starring in the episode are Ciarán Hinds as the Dark Wizard, Peter Mullan as Durin III, Amelia Kenworthy as Mirdania, Kevin Eldon as Narvi, Ben Daniels as Círdan, Akshay Khanna as the Commander of the West, Freddie Bowerman as the Commander of the East, Jeany Spark as the Commander of the South, Jamie Bisping as Calenwë, Zates Atour as Brânk, Bridie Sisson as the Dweller, Arkie Reece as Kilta, Laura Jane Matthewson as Revna, Rachel Payne as Brenna, and Stuart Bowman as Barduk. [22]
Filming for the season began on October 3, 2022, [23] under the working title LBP. [24] Episodes were shot simultaneously based on the availability of locations and sets. [25] Alex Disenhof returned from the first season to work with Brändström as director of photography, [26] alongside Laurie Rose. [27] The production wrapped in early June 2023. [26]
Visual effects for the episode were created by Outpost VFX, Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), The Yard VFX, DNEG, Rodeo FX, Midas VFX, Monsters Aliens Robots Zombies, Untold Studios, Atomic Arts, and Cantina Creative. [22] [28] The different vendors were overseen by visual effects supervisor Jason Smith. [28]
A soundtrack album featuring composer Bear McCreary's score for the episode was released digitally on the streaming service Amazon Music on August 29, 2024. [29] McCreary said the series' episodic albums contained "virtually every second of score" from their respective episodes. [30] It will be added to other music streaming services after the full second season is released. [31]
All music is composed by Bear McCreary:
No. | Title | Length |
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1. | "Catastrophe at Khazad-dûm" | 2:14 |
2. | "Glimpses of the Unseen World" | 5:33 |
3. | "Caras Gaer" (featuring the Mystery of the Bulgarian Voices) | 4:38 |
4. | "The Gaudrim" | 3:44 |
5. | "Despair Under the Mountain" (featuring Sophia Nomvete) | 4:41 |
6. | "Before Darkness Blinds Us All" | 8:05 |
7. | "My Name Is Not Halbrand" | 9:34 |
8. | "Invitation to Eregion" | 1:39 |
Total length: | 40:08 |
"Where the Stars are Strange" premiered on Prime Video in the United States on August 29, 2024. [32] It was released at the same time around the world, [33] in more than 240 countries and territories. [34]
The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes calculated that 92% of 12 critics reviews were positive and the average rating for the episode was 7.6 out of 10. [35]
Keith Phipps at Vulture gave the episode three stars out of five. He said it is more set-up for the season but "the plot also thickened" with more details on Sauron's plans and the Rhûn storyline. Phipps highlighted the Khazad-dûm scenes, saying they struck "a nice balance between high seriousness and earthiness" and particularly praising the performances of Arthur and Nomvete. He added that the series was finding interesting ways to tell its stories despite their endings being known to the audience. [36] Arezou Amin of Collider gave the episode 7 out of 10 and said its character dynamics overcame some unbalanced pacing. She said the relationship between Galadriel and Elrond was one of the strongest in the series, but the focus on the Elves meant the other storylines did not have enough time to "flourish". Amin also praised the relationship between Durin IV and Disa. [37]
Writing for Gizmodo , James Whitbrook said the episode did a "noble job" catching up the audience on key plotlines from the first season, and highlighted the relationship between the Durins. He said their family drama was where the series "really finds heart". Whitbrook said Sauron's transformation into Annatar was both horrifying and awesome, and said it was fun to watch him begin to manipulate Celebrimbor even though it was not yet clear "how much Rings of Power can really wring out" of that storyline. [38] Leon Miller at Polygon felt the episode was "more of the same" from the first season, with some changes from Tolkien's lore that worked in context and others that did not. He welcomed the addition of Ciarán Hinds as the Dark Wizard but felt the Stranger's story continued to be uninteresting. Miller also had negative thoughts about the Khazad-dûm storyline, feeling its "toothless father-son feud" was beneath the works of Tolkien. Despite this, he found the episode to be "inexplicably watchable" and thought the same would hold true for all but the "most die-hard Tolkien truthers". [39]
Charlie Vickers was named an honorable mention for TVLine 's "Performer of the Week" for the week of August 26, 2024, for his performance in this episode. The site highlighted the scenes where Sauron is in disguise, saying "it was the gleam in his eyes, the small smiles and the casual way he held himself that took his performance to another level. Here, Vickers again proved he's the right man to bring Sauron to life." [40]
An episode of the aftershow Inside The Rings of Power for "Where the Stars are Strange" was released on August 29, 2024. It features actress Felicia Day, the host of The Official The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Podcast, interviewing the showrunners and cast members Edwards, Nomvete, and Arthur about the making of the episode, with some behind-the-scenes footage. [41] [42]
The Rings of Power are magical artefacts in J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium, most prominently in his high fantasy novel The Lord of the Rings. The One Ring first appeared as a plot device, a magic ring in Tolkien's children's fantasy novel, The Hobbit; Tolkien later gave it a backstory and much greater power. He added nineteen other Great Rings, also conferring powers such as invisibility, that it could control, including the Three Rings of the Elves, Seven Rings for the Dwarves, and Nine for Men. He stated that there were in addition many lesser rings with minor powers. A key story element in The Lord of the Rings is the addictive power of the One Ring, made secretly by the Dark Lord Sauron; the Nine Rings enslave their bearers as the Nazgûl (Ringwraiths), Sauron's most deadly servants.
Celebrimbor is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium. His name means "silver fist" or "hand of silver" in Tolkien's invented language of Sindarin. In Tolkien's stories, Celebrimbor was an elven-smith who was manipulated into forging the Rings of Power by the Dark Lord Sauron, in fair disguise and named Annatar. Sauron then secretly made the One Ring to gain control over all the other Rings and dominate Middle-earth, setting in motion the events of The Lord of the Rings.
Elrond Half-elven is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium. Both of his parents, Eärendil and Elwing, were half-elven, having both Men and Elves as ancestors. He is the bearer of the elven-ring Vilya, the Ring of Air, and master of Rivendell, where he has lived for thousands of years through the Second and Third Ages of Middle-earth. He was the Elf-king Gil-galad's herald at the end of the Second Age, saw Gil-galad and king Elendil fight the dark lord Sauron for the One Ring, and Elendil's son Isildur take it rather than destroy it.
Sauron is the title character and the primary antagonist, through the forging of the One Ring, of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, where he rules the land of Mordor and has the ambition of ruling the whole of Middle-earth. In the same work, he is identified as the "Necromancer" of Tolkien's earlier novel The Hobbit. The Silmarillion describes him as the chief lieutenant of the first Dark Lord, Morgoth. Tolkien noted that the Ainur, the "angelic" powers of his constructed myth, "were capable of many degrees of error and failing", but by far the worst was "the absolute Satanic rebellion and evil of Morgoth and his satellite Sauron". Sauron appears most often as "the Eye", as if disembodied.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is an American fantasy television series developed by J. D. Payne and Patrick McKay for the streaming service Amazon Prime Video. Based on J. R. R. Tolkien's history of Middle-earth, primarily material from the appendices of the novel The Lord of the Rings, the series is set thousands of years before the novel and depicts the major events of Middle-earth's Second Age. It is produced by Amazon MGM Studios in association with New Line Cinema.
The first season of the American fantasy television series The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is based on J. R. R. Tolkien's history of Middle-earth, primarily material from the appendices of the novel The Lord of the Rings. Set thousands of years before the novel in the Second Age of Middle-earth, the season depicts the emergence of the Dark Lord Sauron and the forging of the first Rings of Power. It was produced by Amazon Studios in association with New Line Cinema and with J. D. Payne and Patrick McKay as showrunners.
The second season of the American fantasy television series The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is based on J. R. R. Tolkien's history of Middle-earth, primarily material from the appendices of the novel The Lord of the Rings. Set thousands of years before the novel in the Second Age of Middle-earth, the season depicts the rise of the Dark Lord Sauron and the creation of more Rings of Power. It is produced by Amazon MGM Studios in association with New Line Cinema and with J. D. Payne and Patrick McKay as showrunners.
"A Shadow of the Past" is the first episode of the first season and series premiere of the American fantasy television series The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. Based on J. R. R. Tolkien's history of Middle-earth, primarily material from the appendices of the novel The Lord of the Rings, it is set thousands of years before the novel in the Second Age of Middle-earth and depicts a time of relative peace. The episode was written by showrunners J. D. Payne and Patrick McKay, and directed by J. A. Bayona.
The music of the American fantasy television series The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is composed by Bear McCreary, with additional music by Howard Shore and other artists. The Amazon Prime Video series is based on J. R. R. Tolkien's history of Middle-earth, primarily material from the appendices of the novel The Lord of the Rings, and is set thousands of years before the novel in the Second Age of Middle-earth. It covers all the major events of the Second Age from Tolkien's writings.
"Adrift" is the second episode of the first season of the American fantasy television series The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. Based on J. R. R. Tolkien's history of Middle-earth, primarily material from the appendices of the novel The Lord of the Rings, it is set thousands of years before the novel in the Second Age of Middle-earth during a time of relative peace and introduces the Dwarven kingdom of Khazad-dûm. The episode was written by Gennifer Hutchison and directed by J. A. Bayona.
"The Great Wave" is the fourth episode of the first season of the American fantasy television series The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. Based on J. R. R. Tolkien's history of Middle-earth, primarily material from the appendices of the novel The Lord of the Rings, it is set thousands of years before the novel in the Second Age of Middle-earth. The episode was written by Stephany Folsom and showrunners J. D. Payne and Patrick McKay, and directed by Wayne Che Yip.
"Partings" is the fifth episode of the first season of the American fantasy television series The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. Based on J. R. R. Tolkien's history of Middle-earth, primarily material from the appendices of the novel The Lord of the Rings, it is set thousands of years before the novel in the Second Age of Middle-earth and shows several groups preparing for conflict with emerging evil forces. The episode was written by Justin Doble and directed by Wayne Che Yip.
"Udûn" is the sixth episode of the first season of the American fantasy television series The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. Based on J. R. R. Tolkien's history of Middle-earth, primarily material from the appendices of the novel The Lord of the Rings, it is set thousands of years before the novel in the Second Age of Middle-earth and depicts a battle in the Southlands. The episode was written by Nicholas Adams, Justin Doble, and showrunners J. D. Payne and Patrick McKay, and directed by Charlotte Brändström.
"The Eye" is the seventh episode of the first season of the American fantasy television series The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. Based on J. R. R. Tolkien's history of Middle-earth, primarily material from the appendices of the novel The Lord of the Rings, it is set thousands of years before the novel in the Second Age of Middle-earth and explores the aftermath of the battle and volcanic eruption from the previous episode. "The Eye" was written by Jason Cahill and directed by Charlotte Brändström.
"Alloyed" is the eighth and final episode of the first season of the American fantasy television series The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. Based on J. R. R. Tolkien's history of Middle-earth, primarily material from the appendices of the novel The Lord of the Rings, it is set thousands of years before the novel in the Second Age of Middle-earth and introduces the first Rings of Power. The episode was written by Gennifer Hutchison and showrunners J. D. Payne and Patrick McKay, and directed by Wayne Che Yip.
"Elven Kings Under the Sky" is the first episode of the second season of the American fantasy television series The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. Based on J. R. R. Tolkien's history of Middle-earth, primarily material from the appendices of the novel The Lord of the Rings, it is set thousands of years before the novel in the Second Age. The episode explores the reactions of the Elves to the first Rings of Power. It was written by Gennifer Hutchison and directed by Charlotte Brändström.
"The Eagle and the Sceptre" is the third episode of the second season of the American fantasy television series The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. Based on J. R. R. Tolkien's history of Middle-earth, primarily material from the appendices of the novel The Lord of the Rings, it is set thousands of years before the novel in the Second Age. The episode primarily follows characters from the island kingdom of Númenor. It was written by Helen Shang and directed by Louise Hooper and Charlotte Brändström.
"Eldest" is the fourth episode of the second season of the American fantasy television series The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. Based on J. R. R. Tolkien's history of Middle-earth, primarily material from the appendices of the novel The Lord of the Rings, it is set thousands of years before the novel in the Second Age. The episode introduces the mysterious character Tom Bombadil to the series. It was written by Glenise Mullins and directed by Louise Hooper and Sanaa Hamri.
"Halls of Stone" is the fifth episode of the second season of the American fantasy television series The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. Based on J. R. R. Tolkien's history of Middle-earth, primarily material from the appendices of the novel The Lord of the Rings, it is set thousands of years before the novel in the Second Age. The episode explores the reactions of the Dwarves to their Rings of Power. It was written by Nicholas Adams and directed by Louise Hooper and Sanaa Hamri.