Ismael Cruz Córdova in elven armor surrounded by his comradesRings of Power star Ismael Cruz Córdova recently spoke about the series’ epic fight between Arondir and Adar in its second season. He also teased that a third season of the popular Lord of the Rings series is already being developed.

During the fight scene, the character of Arondir saves the day by arriving just in time to free Galadriel (Morfydd Clark) from Adar’s (Sam Hazeldine) orc camp. Cruz Córdova spoke to Variety about Arondir’s carelessness in battle and how one small moment of weakness spelled trouble for the character. “As the battles go, he gets a little more reckless. That recklessness, that’s the mistake that I made. I get super emotional. That allows Adar to get me,” he said. “Otherwise, Arondir would have been able to face him in an equal way.”

“We needed to find the flaw. You see Arondir do all these great things; you just saw him help kill a troll. There’s no justification for him not to be able to have quite the equal battle with this baddie, other than he lets it go,” Cruz Córdova continued. “His posture completely changes, and in that tiny bit of weakness, Adar knows it exactly. He’s been breaking me down and breaking me down, and we had to find that moment.”

Arondir (Ismael Cruz Córdova) seen in profile holding up a sword in The Rings of Power
Ismael Cruz Córdova stands in a forest in armor as Arondir in The Rings of Power
Arondir draws his bow in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Ismael Cruz Córdova as Arondir in Prime Video's LOTR: The Rings of PowerArondir (Ismael Cruz Córdova) seen in profile holding up a sword in The Rings of Power
Ismael Cruz Córdova stands in a forest in armor as Arondir in The Rings of Power Arondir draws his bow in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Ismael Cruz Córdova as Arondir in Prime Video's LOTR: The Rings of Power

Cruz Córdova also revealed that almost all the action his character undergoes in the series is his own work and not that of a stunt double. “All the wire work and everything you see on the show, it’s me. I only have a tiny bit of a stunt that I have a double for, because it was supposed to be one take, and we had to split it — but the rest is me. I learned all of that in the first season,” he said.

While an official renewal for The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power has yet to be confirmed, Cruz Córdova appeared to be optimistic that a third season of the show would be coming and hinted that it’s already being worked on behind the scenes. “As far as I know, they did kind of confirm that we’re going for a third. I haven’t seen any scripts, though. I would love to. But I’m pretty sure we’re going for a third,” he said.

Cruz Córdova’s Arondir is one of the main characters in the Rings of Power series. Arondir is a Silvan Elf who is caught up in a forbidden love with the human healer Bronwyn (Nazanin Boniadi). The series is based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s history of Middle-Earth and is set thousands of years before the events of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.

Both seasons of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power are available for streaming on Prime Video.