The Rings of Power series kept audiences hooked for the entire duration of its 8 episodes with one single question: who is Sauron? And in the spectacular finale, all was finally revealed. Charlie Vickers character Halbrand, self-professed king of the Southlands, finally disclosed his secret identity by telling Galadriel that he had been awake since before the breaking of the first silence.
Having managed to manipulate his way into her trust and confidence, he managed to be in just the right place at the right time to influence Celebrimbor and the forging of the elven rings, before Galadriel confronted him about the broken lineage on the scroll, at which point he took Galadriel back to her memory of Finrod to try to convince her that he wasn’t truly evil, and that she should join forces with him so that they could pave a world for themselves where neither of them had to be outcasts.
However, she saw right through his wiles and saw him for what he is: a deceiver. Upon waking in the river, she held Finrod’s dagger to Elrond’s throat, unable to trust that he was who he said he was, until he recounted the first time that they had met when he was just a child. This is because, according to The Silmarillion, Sauron was able to change shape and take on different appearances at this time. He could make himself look like anyone, including her worst enemy or her dearest friend, and after having already been betrayed by him once, she was no longer taking any chances. But this led fans to begin wondering whether Sauron would be played by a different actor as a part of their character predictions for season 2, in order to highlight this ever-changing image in his master plan.
In the original story, the kingdoms only accept the rings from Sauron in the first place because he disguised himself as an elf named Annatar, and ingratiated himself among them, presenting the powerful objects as gifts from a trusted ally. When the 9 rings given to men, and the 7 given to dwarves began to corrupt almost instantly, Celebrimbor the craft smith knew that they had been deceived, and managed to smuggle the three elven rings away into hiding before they could be tainted by Sauron’s greed and malice.
But as none of this has yet happened in the rings of power, there must be another way in which the other 17 rings will be forged. Perhaps the second series will indeed explore the story of Annatar, and will divert to the original events in The Silmarillion by having another actor play Sauron alongside Charlie Vickers. In this way, they would be able to keep the human appearance of Halbrand, but also incorporate an elf version played by someone new, and cut back and forth between them as a way to show Sauron’s ever-changing treachery.
Although Galadriel didn’t tell the others Halbrand’s secret, she did warn them not to treat with him ever again, and said that he would be barred from Eregion for eternity, so there is no way that Vickers' Halbrand character would slip past the guards and have access to the forge of the rings or Celebrimbor’s trust. Therefore, a new actor must be likely in order to pull of this ultimate heist. This wouldn’t be the only new addition, as the Rings of Power has already recast a key role for season 2 after the departure of Joseph Mawle who played the orc leader Adar in the first series.
There have been several new additions to the cast, as well as some new potential collaborators for writing and directing, which suggests that a new actor to co-play Sauron definitely isn’t off the table. In fact, many fans of the show feel that this could be a real asset. In exploring Tolkien’s original narrative, the show would not only be upholding the canonical version of events which they chose to stray from in season 1, but would also have a chance to grow and develop Galadriel’s character further, as she is given another chance to pass the test of not trusting Sauron in his new form.
Galadriel will undoubtedly be on high alert from this point onwards, as she has already been fooled once, but introducing the Annatar version of Sauron would give new opportunities to see the two ancient beings interact. During the first series she foreshadowed her own terrible mistake, but she has definitely grown wiser from the experience, and has less of the reckless anger that Sauron was so easily able to take advantage of. A new actor could challenge this in lots of interesting ways, and hopefully, lead Galadriel to Lothlorien.