Warning: SPOILERS lie ahead for The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 2!
Finally tired of being forced underground, the Uruk are going to war inThe Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Powerseason 2, with Barrie Gower leading the charge in bringing them to life. Gower is a five-time Emmy-winning prosthetics designer, best known for his work on HBO’sGame of Thrones, having designed the Night King’s appearance,Stranger Thingsseason 4, having designed the practical suit forthe terrifying Vecna, and HBO’sThe Last of Us, being part of designing the Cordyceps-infected populace. The designer shares his company with his wife, fellow Emmy winner and VFX producer Sarah Gower.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Powerseason 2 marks the Gowers' first proper outing on the Prime Video prequel to J.R.R. Tolkien’s beloved novel, having previously provided some assistance with creating the Uruk masks in season 1 and working closely with Weta Workshop for it. Season 2’s story sees the Uruk getting a bigger focus as Sam Hazeldine’s Adar begins planning to wage war onthe Elven land of Eregionin his quest to allow all orcs to be able to walk on the surface. The season also follows Adar in his quest to kill Sauron for good after the opening execution flashback.
10 Biggest Reveals In The Rings Of Power Season 2
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 2 told viewers some of its biggest season 1 secrets and unleashed more bombshells to boot.
In addition to the Uruk, Gower and his team were closely involved in expandingThe Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Powerseason 2’s Middle-earth creatures and characters. Some of theseinclude the Barrow-wights, the haunting wraith-like figures in the Old Forest near Mordor, which Morfydd Clark’s Galadriel and her Elven group of soldiers encounter while journeying to Eregion to investigate her vision of Celebrimbor’s death. The Gowers also worked on Sauron’s transformation into his Elven form Annatar, who introduces himself as a means to manipulate Celebrimbor into forging the rings of power.
A few weeks prior to the show’s recent finale,Screen Rantinterviewed Barrie Gower to discussThe Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Powerseason 2, how he and his team took over as the primary prosthetics designer for the Tolkien-based show, the intricate nature of expanding the Uruk population for the new season, getting to create the Barrow-wights, working on Annatar’s transformation and offering aStranger Thingsseason 5 update.
Gower Was “Super Excited” To Come Onboard ForRings Of PowerSeason 2
“…I don’t think anything could have prepared us…”
Screen Rant: I have just loved this show since it started, andRings of Powerseason 2 just continues to be such a bold vision of Tolkien’s work. As far as I can tell, you were not involved in season 1, so how did it feel to come on board the team this season?
Barrie Gower: I was super excited to get the call to join. And I think we joined prior to the first season airing. We’d actually been slightly involved in season 1, where we did some live casts and head casts of some of the performers here in the UK, and we shipped them over to Weta Workshop in New Zealand. So, we were slightly privy to who some of the cast were, but yeah, we weren’t involved really at all in season 1, but we were aware of, potentially, what the scale could be of this show.
As we started getting introduced to the scripts, the story arc and were fed the snippets about what season 1 entailed slowly, during that pre-production, my wife Sarah and I, we run our company together, we started to be more and more aware of how huge this show was. And it was interesting because we actually thought, coming from a background of doing things like Game of Thrones and The Last of Us, we had seasoning with The Last of Us, which was a huge prosthetics number, as well. We thought we were pretty a fey with numbers and scale, but I don’t think anything could have prepared us for what we were about to go into with season 2 of The Rings of Power.
We’re usually involved with projects where we will have key characters which would play for a number of days. We might do guest appearances on set, and we’d shoot with one or two characters here and there, and something like Thrones years ago, we would start off with various characters throughout the shoot, and towards the tail end, we would end on this huge climax and huge battle sequence where that’s where we would be putting all our effort into Rings of Power. Our first week on set, we had 60 performers in full prosthetic makeup, and that was unprecedented for us. It was in at the deep end, straight away, an incredible challenge, but so rewarding at the end of it.
Expanding The Uruk Required Some Of The Gowers' Largest Work To Date
His Team “Started Devising A Technique” To Help
So, I did also want to ask, then, in coming onboard this show, you said you and Sarah were getting ideas of what season 1 was going to entail, but what was it like coming on to the prosthetics, in particular, and making your stamp on them while still adhering to what the team on season 1 had done?
Barrie Gower: That’s a really good question. I think, always, for a new team and a new production base joining a show that’s already established, it’s a fine line between, obviously, our point of view, we would be very interested in putting our own stamp on it. It’s something we would want to do, something quite fresh, but you have to adhere to the laws and the continuity from season 1, and make sure that there is a continuity when it’s already been established. Luckily for us, we have a very good relationship with Weta Workshop.
I worked for them several years ago on a couple of projects, and I know a lot of the guys there. I know Richard Taylor quite well, and a lot of the artists I’m friends with. So, I think the great thing for us was we were inheriting all this information, and all this imagery and footage from season 1 that we could use as a template and a springboard for what we were going to continue to do in season 2. But the showrunners, JD and Patrick, were very keen for us to put our own mark on it, as well, so we couldn’t go completely left field and do something completely off from what was already established. But we worked very closely with visual effects supervisor Jason Smith, who’s a big advocate and big fan of practical effects.
He wanted as much as possible in camera, which was great news for us. But he would tell us a lot of the scenarios from season 1, where there would be several hero orc makeups, for example, with people in bespoke silicone makeups. And then the majority of camera characters which are mid-to-background would be pull-over-the-head silicone masks. He was quite keen to see if we could extend that and create many more mid-to-hero makeups that we shot full up close. So, we started devising a technique, which is similar to what we’ve done before for big crowd days, where we sculpted about 10, 15, 20 different orcs, different shapes and sizes over different human head casts, and we split all the makeups up into a jigsaw puzzle of pieces, but they all had foreheads, face with nose, chin, a balaclava with ears.
We were able to take a forehead from him and nose from him, and cheeks from him, and construct like a plethora of different makeups, but they would all be foam latex rubber appliances that we could glue with medical adhesive onto people’s faces. They all had bespoke contact lenses, bespoke dentures. But on any day, they could throw any different amount of extras or supporting artists or stuntmen at us, and we could give them 20, 40, 60 makeups any one time. So, it was giving the directors more freedom in season 2, as yes, they had characters like Glûg, who is a henchman played by Robert Strange, and he has an awful lot of dialogue in the season, but they were also able to bring a lot of these other characters right up close and shoot drooling and growling in front, and be able to just pan across and have these glorious close-ups.
And you’d still have characters behind them, 2, 3, 4 guys back who were in these sort of beautiful makeups, but it just gave them the opportunity to get a lot more bang for their buck and be able to shoot these characters and get a lot more detail on them. So for us, that was probably one of the biggest challenges, was hitting those numbers and scale and to keep that constant throughout the season. On top of all these are the races that we had.
We had our Elves and our Dwarves and our Harfoots and our Barrow-wights. It was fascinating working on a production where every single day of the shoot, we had somebody in some form of prosthetics. We’ve never worked on a show where we had two main prosthetic busses on different units, and we usually had 6-8 principal cast in some form of prosthetics every single day. So, it’s been unprecedented for us, really.
Sauron’s Opening Coronation Flashback Required The Most Work From Gower’s Team
“…I think it was, in a sadistic, strange way, really good being thrown at the deep end right at the start of the shoot…”
Since we do seea lot more of the Urukthis season, which scene really required the most for them? There’s obviously the opening scene with Sauron’s initial defeat, where there’s that huge horde of them, but then, there’s something big that comes up in the final couple of episodes that involves a lot of them.
Barrie Gower: I think as far as hero make up, possibly that coronation at the start with Sauron. That was our first couple of weeks on set. I think we had 60 performers in makeups, and they were in the same sort of makeup over 5–10 days, and they kind of just rotated them and brought more front and central. We also had guys in pull-on silicone masks, as well, in a way that was a really good testing ground to see what we could achieve in a certain amount of time. And then, with the sequences coming in the further episodes, being able to plan and schedule quite well.
We knew when we were getting to later episodes, obviously, as you mentioned, without spoilers, huge sequences that we knew that we would be getting into mass numbers of characters, you know, 100, 150, 200-plus or whatever, which a great number might be VFX. And we may have shopped plates with various amounts of characters which Jason and the team could duplicate, but on any given day, we averaged about between 20 -40 people in prosthetic makeup, about 70 guys with pull-over masks. And then, we had these deep background guys, which had what we call party masks, and they were these almost like plastic masks, but they could be very deep, 100 feet away, and they kind of look like orcs.
So, at any given day, we could generate a huge number of characters to be there, present on screen. And then, at the same time, we were filming sequences with Elves, sequences with Dwarves, sequences with Harfoots in the Grand Canary Island. So, yeah, scale was the challenge, really, but I think it was, in a sadistic, strange way, really good being thrown at the deep end right at the start of the shoot, so we could then preempt, “How are we going to make these numbers up for these bigger, greater scenes?”
Gower Was Surprised How Practical The Barrow-Wights' Development Turned Out
“…a great example of that perfect marriage between practical and digital…”
You mentioned the Barrow-wights a minute ago, and I did want to ask about them, because they are such a haunting design. You, obviously, are no stranger to creating haunting designs, whether it’sThe Last of UsorStranger Things' Vecna, but this is the first time we’ve seen them in the show, and I love how they feel both practical and having a layer of VFX to them. What was it like designing them, especially for that fight sequence?
Barrie Gower: It was a really fun process. It’s something, originally, when we read the script, we thought, “These are gonna be great characters to work on,” and then, as we had our meetings, it was being battered across the table, and it sounded like it would be predominantly visual effects, and we may not even provide anything at all. And then, Jason Smith from VFX came to us and said, “Really, we could do with as much in camera as possible, and we should design these guys together.”
They had loose sketches, some concept art, originally, which they pitched to JD and Patrick, the showrunners, but Jason was like, “We should work on these together. I’m not going to lie that it may end up being predominantly visual effects and digital, but I want practical presence, and we want a performance that we can use on the evening, as well.” So, we both did concept art, and we worked on images for a few weeks together. And then, we sculpted and did a makeup test on one of the performers, and they were able to shoot a little bit of that and start to figure out the sequence itself. And we ended up doing full prosthetic makeups, head and shoulders, arms, some chest pieces for five characters in the end.
We shot southwest of London in a forest over a series of about two weeks of night shoots. They had these incredible mechanisms, I think that they coined one “The Seesaw”, and it was this huge platform that a performer could be on, and they’d wave him up and down, and in and out in front of camera. It was incredibly fluid. And to see — one of which was Robert Strange — him doing these movements, it looked like CGI in a way. But they were able to take the performances, the shots and performance against green screen, as well, and then they layered with visual effects over the top.
They removed the performers' bodies from below the waist, and had that lovely kind of stringy, sinewy costume and chains. And they created negative space of holes through the performers, as well. It wasn’t until I watched the episode a few weeks ago, I was thinking, “I imagine there’ll be predominantly CGI,” but I could see the makeups and see the performances in there, as well. It’s a great example of that perfect marriage between practical and digital, I think. The whole season’s just been a joy to work with visual effects, actually. It’s one great umbrella, so it’s been a fantastic opportunity.
Sauron’s Transformation Into Annatar Was Meant To Look Slightly Different From Other Elves
“… this kind of otherworldly, godly presence…”
So, you mentioned the Elves, and I did want to ask, because one of the big Elves we meet this season is obviouslyAnnatar, Sauron’s Elven form. I’d love to hear about designing that character, because obviously Charlie is still playing that role, but yet he looks not only very different from Halbrand, but also just very unlike Charlie, in a way. What was it like crafting that look in order to really exemplify this power of a man who is posing as a god, essentially, to Celebrimbor?
Barrie Gower: Absolutely, it’s transforming Charlie into another being, which looks almost perfect, in a way. His Elven form, we worked very closely with the makeup and hair designers, Chrissy Blundell and Flora Moody, and it was developing down to his anatomy of his ears. The challenge for us, us is we always have the canvas beneath whatever we’re doing with prosthetics. So, we are dictated, primarily, to giving somebody elf ears that would suit them, but we’re covering their own ears basically, or extending. Fortunately, Charlie has very nice ears, so we were able to give them these beautiful, slightly upturned angular ears.
We were looking at all the anatomy of the Elven ears that have been created in the past. But it’s creating something which would work well with his facial makeup, and complement the hairstyle, as well. He has that slight widow’s peak, and the costume piece he has in his hair, as well. It’s having lots of elements that need to work together, and any one of those things could throw everything else off. Even down to Charlie’s complexion, as well, the foundation that’s used on his face that has a slight sheer to it. It’s creating this kind of otherworldly, godly presence that, in a way, he’s quite separate to the other Elves that we’ve created.
We know it’s Sauron at heart, but we need to create something that almost looks perfect and beautiful. So, I wouldn’t necessarily say he was a challenge. He was a really interesting character to develop, because we have somebody like Annatar, and then we have somebody like Sam Hazeldine’s character, Adar, who, even though Sam was inheriting that role from Joseph Mawle from season 1, we had to create Sam’s Adar to, again, have enough continuity from season 1. But he’s, in theory, sort of a part-orc, part-Elven character. So you have the two ends of the spectrum, really. It’s creating shapes for Sam which aren’t necessarily grotesque, but they are.
They’re different in design to what we put on Charlie. So, it’s trying to tick all the boxes, from beauty to grotesque, somewhere in between. But Charlie was a dream to put his ears on, as were all the cast. We’ve never been blessed with such a beautiful cast before. So, all these young cast are just really lovely human beings who were really into it, and really enthused and really excited to have rubber stuck on the face. We’ve never had that before, so it’s just been a truly wonderful experience.
Gower Can’t Share Much AboutStranger ThingsSeason 5 (Beyond His Excitement)
“…without giving any spoilers away, it’s an incredible story.”
I see I’m almost out of time, so I did want to ask really quickly. I mentioned it a moment ago,Stranger Things' Vecnais a terrifying design. We’re coming up on the final season, and he’s expected to come back. Are you involved with bringing him back? And if so, what can you tease about how different he may be or look this season in comparison to season 4?
Barrie Gower: We are involved, and have been involved. It’s a very long shoot, I can say that, and I can’t really say anything about, obviously, the design or the look of Vecna. All I can say is that it’s a joy to come back. It’s only the second time we’ve worked on Stranger Things. We started on season 4, but we’re huge fans of the Duffer Brothers. We’re huge fans of the cast, as well, and crew on Stranger Things. But Jamie Campbell Bower, as always, is just a delight to work with. So, it’s been lovely that we’re returning to a character that we spent many hours working with Jamie on season 4, and it just never gets tired. All I can say is, without giving any spoilers away, it’s an incredible story. It’s an incredible season, the Duffers, I think, are definitely going to give what the fans are after. I think it’s going to be exciting.
AboutThe Lord of the Rings: The Rings of PowerSeason 2
In Season Two of The Rings of Power, Sauron has returned. Cast out by Galadriel, without army or ally, the rising Dark Lord must now rely on his own cunning to rebuild his strength and oversee the creation of the Rings of Power, which will allow him to bind all the peoples of Middle-earth to his sinister will. Building on Season One’s epic scope and ambition, the new season plunges even its most beloved and vulnerable characters into a rising tide of darkness, challenging each to find their place in a world that is increasingly on the brink of calamity. Elves and dwarves, orcs and men, wizards and Harfoots… as friendships are strained and kingdoms begin to fracture, the forces of good will struggle ever more valiantly to hold on to what matters to them most of all… each other.
Check out our previous and upcomingLord of the Rings: The Rings of Powerseason 2 interviews with:
All episodes ofThe Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Powerseason 2 are streaming on Prime Video.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power
Cast
Set in the Second Age of Middle-earth, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power explores the forging of the iconic rings, the rise of the Dark Lord Sauron, and the epic events leading up to the stories in J.R.R. Tolkien’s classic novels. The series chronicles the creation of legendary characters and the historic alliances and rivalries that shape the fate of Middle-earth.
