The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power announced that actor Ciarán Hinds will play a character called the Dark Wizard and revealed some details about what viewers can expect from him.
Charles Edwards as Celebrimbor and Amelia Kenworhty as Mirdania in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (2024), Amazon MGM Studios
In an exclusive report for The Irish Times, Prime Video revealed: “The mysterious being known as the Stranger is not the only wizard to have come to Middle-earth. For in the mysterious lands of Rhûn, another wizard awaits him.”
They added: “A dark and powerful wizard whose origins and intentions are shrouded in mystery, with a legion of magically gifted followers who obey his every command, including the three travelers who sought out the Stranger at the end of the first season on the Dark Wizard’s orders.”
Tanya Moodie as Gundabel in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (2024), Amazon MGM Studios
READ: Patrick McKay, showrunner of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, admits they chose the Second Age so they could “improvise within a loose framework”.
Showrunner Patrick McKay also spoke to ComicBook.com about the character. He was asked, “What does Dark Wizard mean? Like the fallen Maia? What are we dealing with?”
McKay replied, “I don’t know if that’s such a new concept. We’ve seen time and time again in Tolkien that powerful beings are seduced to evil. Gandalf doesn’t want to wear the Ring because he fears the evil he could do through it. Saruman turns to evil because he believes that’s the best way to save the world, you know, whatever twisted logic he’s come up with.”
“So we know that good characters can turn evil, and we know that even wizards can turn to the dark side, so to speak, and watching that unfold with Ciarán Hinds will hopefully be a real thrill for people,” he added.
Morfydd Clark as Galadriel in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (2024), Amazon MGM Studios
The revelation that another wizard will appear in the series suggests that the series will double down on its attempt to erase JRR Tolkien from The Lord of the Rings.
In fact, McKay recently admitted to Entertainment Weekly that he, fellow showrunner JD Payne, and Amazon MGM Studios chose the Second Age only so they could do whatever they wanted with it.
He said: “The whole idea of doing a show in the Second Age was that there is no set goal, but within a loose framework there is enormous room for creativity and improvisation.”
Gavi Singh Chera as Merimac in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (2024), Amazon MGM Studios
READ: The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power showrunner explains how the show will change Sauron, declaring he is ‘the hero of his own story’
This strategy is unlikely to work, as it failed in the first season. Kim Masters of the Hollywood Reporter reported in April 2023 that 63% of people who watched part of the first episode did not finish the series.
She wrote: “Although Amazon, like other streamers, provides only limited data – and keeps even more stringent information about the series internally than usual – sources confirm that The Rings of Power had a domestic conversion rate of 37 percent (customers who watched the entire series).”
Outside the U.S., the graduation rate was higher. Masters reported, “Overseas, it was 45 percent. (A graduation rate of 50 percent would be a solid but not spectacular result, insiders say.)”
Cynthia Addai-Robinson as Queen Regent Míriel in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (2024), Amazon MGM Studios
According to Nielsen, the show was watched for 1.253 billion minutes during its two-episode premiere in early September. However, that number quickly dropped. In its second week, viewership dropped to 1.203 billion minutes watched. In its third week, that number dropped to just 988 million minutes watched.
This downward trend continued in the series’ fourth week, when it reached just 977 million minutes. In the fifth week, it dropped to 966 million minutes. There was a slight increase in the series finale, when viewers were able to watch the entire series in one go, which brought in 1.137 billion minutes.
In the week following the finale, however, the show only had 570 million minutes of viewing. The following week, it was no longer in the Nielsen Top 10 charts with less than 354 million minutes of viewing.
Owain Arthur as Durin IV; Sophia Nomvete as Disa in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (2024), Amazon MGM Studios
What do you think about the introduction of this dark wizard and how he is portrayed in the series?
NEXT: Trailer for Season 2 of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power reaches over 139,000 dislikes as actors denigrate Tolkien fans
