Rings of Power star was terrified that his costume would ruin the birth of his child – and you would have felt the same

The second season of the Lord of the Rings series starts next week on Amazon Prime. The big fantasy return will this time have a strong focus on the revealed villain Sauron who is now doing everything he can to conquer Middle Earth with the eponymous Rings of Power. As a shapeshifter, the villain has already shown his new look in trailers. However, this optical change caused by the elf ears became a problem for his actor. (Warning, Spoilers for Season 1.)

Birth panic and elf ears: Lord of the Rings fear of Sauron star is completely understandable

Sauron is blond, blue-eyed and has pointy ears in season 2 of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. Galadriel’s companion, fake King Halbrand, now becomes JRR Tolkien’s seductive shapeshifter Annatar. His new look, including elf ears, made villain actor Charlie Vickers, as a prospective father, sweat a lot during filming of season 2, as he revealed to Jimmy Fallon (via Fandomwire):

It’s a different experience to play an elf. Each ear needs 45 minutes in the maskso that’s an extra hour and a half spent on make-up. The whole process in the make-up room took me three hours and actors always talk about how long it takes to put on such elements. But nobody talks about how long it takes to drop off. – For me it was an hour! It was quite scary because my wife was nine months pregnant. And I dressed up like that every day. So I had Panic that I [zur Geburt meines Kindes] as an elf would have to go to the hospital. As Sauron.

Fortunately, this did not happen and Charlie Vickers was able to become a father without elf ears. He neither frightened his doctors, nor embarrassed himself with his fantasy look in the real world, nor spoiled his Sauron 2.0 with blond Annatar before the first trailer was released.

When exactly does season 2 of the Lord of the Rings series start?

On Thursday, 29 August 2024the Lord of the Rings series returns to Amazon Prime. Season 2 will start with 3 episodes at once at 9 a.m. The rest of the 8 episodes will then be released weekly.

Podcast: What to expect in season 2 of Amazon’s Lord of the Rings series

Amazon’s big fantasy series The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is returning and wants to take a closer look at more than just Sauron in a season of villains. We discuss what is known about Season 2 so far.

In addition to a slightly changed cast, legendary Tolkien characters such as Tom Bombadil and probably also the giant spider Shelob await us in Middle Earth in Season 2. We classify the rumors and theories that promise a dark return.