The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 1 may have revealed much about the origins of Mordor, but it left a great deal untold about Sauron’s own backstory. Picking up in the Second Age of Middle-earth, season 1 of Prime Video’s hit fantasy show saw the future Dark Lord of Middle-earth spending centuries on the run following the defeat of his original master, the Dark Lord Morgoth. Hiding in plain sight as Charlie Vickers’ Halbrand, Morgoth’s treacherous lieutenant was able to fool everyone around him, including Morfydd Clark’s Galadriel.

Speaking with Screen Rant ahead of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power’s season 2 debut, McKay revealed why much of Sauron’s backstory had to be cut from season 1. Explaining that while they had intended to introduce more detail about Sauron, it was decided that the story would benefit more by withholding that information until season 2. Instead, The Rings of Power season 1 began with Galadriel’s backstory, in much the same way season 2 will now begin with Sauron’s. Check out his comments below:

Yeah, at one point we wanted to include some of that material in season 1, but we felt that the storyline benefited even more if we kept it for the top of season 2. So yeah, we did know this backstory, and we’ve always had a plan for the general, high-level trajectory of characters and storylines. But one of the first ideas, in terms of scene work and the kind of beat and rhythm of the piece of season 2 was that we would start with Sauron’s origin story within the show, the way that first season starts with Galadriel’s origin story within the show.

So yeah, quite early. I would say we’ve been working on this for four years now. This particular season, we started writing in the middle of the pandemic when we were still making season 1. So long way.

Sauron’s Backstory Will Likely Shine A Light On Middle-earth’s First Dark Lord

Sauron’s Reign Of Terror Paled In Comparison To His Master’s

While most audiences probably know Sauron best as the all-seeing, lidless eye from The Lord of the Rings movie trilogy, The Rings of Power season 1 was able to shed a light on his time in corporal form before he rose to become the second Dark Lord of Middle-earth. Yet long before the coming of the Second Age, the being that would eventually become known as Sauron once lived a blessed life as the angelic spirit Mairon. However, Mairon would eventually fall under the influence of Middle-earth’s first Dark Lord, Morgoth.

With much of Sauron’s cruel nature shaped by his former master, it is likely that any backstory will also center on Morgoth’s terrifying reign.

As a fallen Valar, the god-like beings of Tolkien’s lore, Morgoth’s terrifying power dwarfed even that which would come to be wielded by his lieutenant and eventual successor. With his name literally translated as “Dark Enemy” or “Black Foe”, Morgoth was the original source of Middle-earth’s woes, and the one responsible for giving form to many ancient terrors that would continue to persist right up until the time of Frodo and his quest to Mount Doom. With much of Sauron’s cruel nature shaped by his former master, it is likely that any backstory will also center on Morgoth’s terrifying reign.

With The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 2 now set to reveal Sauron’s more complete backstory, viewers will probably also come to learn much about the god-like being who first twisted and corrupted him. If audiences somehow think that Sauron is Middle-earth’s ultimate evil, delving into his own dark history will quickly reveal a far more potent and malignant entity than even he could aspire to be.

The first three episodes of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 2 begin streaming on August 29, followed by new episodes weekly on Thursdays.