Rings of Power CastThe director of the season finale of The Lord of The Rings: The Rings of Power, Charlotte Brändström said she and director of photography Alex Disenhof used a similar technique this season as they did in last season to film the confrontation between Adar (Sam Hazeldine) and Galadriel (Morfydd Clark). The pair shared the filming technique of the scene, which ultimately showed Adar’s demise, with Screen Rant in an interview.

Adar, a villain throughout most of Season 1 and 2 of The Rings of Power, was betrayed and brutally killed by his own “children,” the Orcs, after they fall for Sauron’s lies. Prior to his death, Adar, wearing Galadriel’s ring, appeared as though he may have had a change of heart from his evil ways, and returned the ring, Nenya, to her.

A Season 1 Scene Inspired Adar’s Final Scene With Galadriel

Brändström and Disenhof decided to go back to Season 1 for inspiration for the Season 2 finale. “We actually mirrored something that we had done in the first season. There is a scene in Episode 6, at the end of Episode 6, there is a confrontation between Adar and Galadriel in the barn,” Brändström said.

“It’s been quite a while, but we remember that, right? That day, we went Dutch, completely Dutch, the whole scene. So, Alex saying, ‘It would be cool to just redo the same thing and go Dutch again,” she added of the filming technique during which the camera has been rotated around the axis of the lens to convey disorientation or instability in a scene.

“Yeah, it’s kind of a remembering how their relationship is, and it’s off balance. We know that it was the final moment between them,” Disenhof said. “We knew he was going to die in that moment,” Brändström said. “Yeah, kind of a full-circle moment between them,” Disenhof added.

Adar (Sam Hazeldine) bargains with Galadriel in Rings of Power
Adar (actor Sam Hazeldine) stands lit by torchlight among the Orcs in The Rings of Power Season 2 Sam Hazeldine as Adar in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2
Adar (Sam Hazeldine) bargains with Galadriel in Rings of Power Adar (actor Sam Hazeldine) stands lit by torchlight among the Orcs in The Rings of Power Season 2 Sam Hazeldine as Adar in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2

Adar Was Recast for Season 2

One difference between the Season 2 scene with Galadriel and Adar was that Adar was played by a different actor in Season 2. In Season 1, Joseph Mawle portrayed the corrupted Elf who was turned into one of the first Uruk. Mawle posted on his X account that his reason for leaving the show was that he wanted to explore new characters and stories. He said there was no animosity associated with his leaving the show and gave his support to the cast and crew.

In a previous interview, when asked if taking over the role of Adar was a challenge, Hazeldine said, “No, it wasn’t actually. It was honestly a pleasure. I think that’s because it was such a rich character that’s been created by the writers and by Joseph in Season 1. “And so, it was a real privilege to take on that character and see where the story takes him from there. So, I really enjoyed it. I just loved every part of it, said Hazeldine, who has also appeared in Peaky Blinders and Slow Horses.

All episodes of The Rings of Power are now streaming on Prime Video.