The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power Season 2 Announces New Directors

Season 1 of the generally well-received "The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power" series came to an epic and satisfying end exactly two months ago, but fans of the sprawling and large-scale production knew that they would have to settle in for quite a long wait before seeing where the adventure took all our favorite heroes and villains next. We know that all the surviving cast of characters, from Morfyyd Clark's Galadriel to Robert Aramayo's Elrond to Markella Kavenagh's Nori to Charlie Vickers' Sauron, will be back for another round (although with one notable recasting). Ditto for a batch of new actors who will be joining the fray, setting up an even bigger storyline to come in season 2. But what about the creative team behind the camera?

J.A. Bayona, Wayne Che Yip, and Charlotte Brändström all shared directing duties throughout the eight-episode first season, but only one of those artists will be back for a bigger role this time around.

Today, Prime Video revealed its new group of directors for season 2 of "The Rings of Power," and this news should make fans of the best episode(s) of season 1 very, very happy. Brändström, Sanaa Hamri, and Louise Hooper have been announced as the three directors for the upcoming season. Brändström ("Outlander," "The Witcher," "The Man in the High Castle"), who directed episode 6 titled "Udûn" and the follow-up episode "The Eye," will direct four total episodes in season 2 along with receiving a co-executive producer credit. Hamri (known for directing "The Wheel of Time," "Shameless," and "Desperate Housewives") and Hooper ("The Sandman," "The Witcher," "Treason") will direct two episodes each, indirectly confirming that the second season will span a total of eight episodes. 

After beginning production in the UK back in October of 2022 (before the first season had even finished airing!), season 2 of "The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power" has now revealed the trio of directors entrusted with bringing co-showrunners JD Payne and Patrick McKay's vision of Middle-earth to life.

While season 1 turned out to be a critically acclaimed hit that showed room for improvement (as even the storytellers themselves admitted), the series was nonetheless dogged by some of the most mind-bogglingly braindead "criticisms" that mostly stemmed from daring to have women and/or people of color take leading roles in a fictional fantasy series where everything is made up and the points don't matter. Ideally, the announcement of having three women in Charlotte Brändström, Sanaa Hamri, and Louise Hooper step up as season 2 directors shouldn't be cause for raising any sort of ruckus (especially considering the fact that countless other television productions are typically made up of male directors from premiere to finale), but the fandom that has sprung up in the wake of original author J.R.R. Tolkien's works have proved themselves to be, to put it mildly, extremely toxic and virulent trolls.

In any case, this news should make most viewers even more excited for what's to come in season 2. While there's no official premiere date just yet, fans can expect "The Rings of Power" to return to streaming on Prime Video sometime in 2024.