⚔️ What's next for 'Rings of Power' Season 2

Wednesday

Oct 26 2022

Tony Soprano. Walter White. Don Draper. Sauron?

Anti-heroes come in all shapes and sizes (though the most famous ones seem to mostly be middle-aged white guys), but most of us probably wouldn’t include the Dark Lord Sauron among their ranks. However, that’s exactly how the creators of Amazon’s Rings of Power see it.

“Like Tony Soprano or Walter White. He’s evil, but complexly evil,” co-showrunner Patrick McKay told The Hollywood Reporter.

Now that Sauron has been revealed, the series is set to dig into what really motivates the infamous villain — and chart his transformation from only sot of bad to pure evil. Inverse had a chance to talk to series writer Gennifer Hutchinson, who also wrote for both Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, making her the perfect person to explain what Middle-earth and Albuquerque have in common. She also unpacked the season final’s biggest change to Tolkien canon and teased the true identity of a certain mysterious wizard.

Read all that, and more, in today’s Inverse Daily.

What's New

Inverse Interview

Television

Rings of Power writer defends the show's biggest change to Tolkien canon

To reveal Sauron, the writers of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power had to think like Sauron.

In the Season 1 finale of Amazon’s epic prequel series, all of Middle-earth shook when the handsome stranger Halbrand, played by Charlie Vickers, revealed himself to be none other than Sauron in disguise.

True to Tolkien’s writings, Sauron spends the season fooling the elves by presenting himself as a charming, amiable “gift giver” who aids in the forging of the three elven rings. The season ends in a break from Tolkien’s canon, as they’re the first rings forged rather than the last.

The reveal was hard not only for Galadriel (Morfydd Clark), but for audiences. While some viewers probably saw it coming, the show ensured the full weight of the moment was felt through Galadriel’s heartbreak at having her sense of trust shattered.

According to writer and producer Gennifer Hutchison, a TV veteran whose credits include The Strain, Breaking Bad, and Better Call Saul, the Rings of Power staff asked themselves a simple question: “What would Sauron do?”

Inverse spoke to Hutchison about the past and future of Amazon’s buzzy fantasy epic, including just what it means for Sauron to feel like Walter White in Season 2.

Read the full interview

Space

Science

ESA drops new Halloween soundtrack

The European Space Agency just revealed a sound that human ears were never meant to hear: the voice of a cosmic horror buried deep inside our planet.

Beneath our feet, the ceaseless roiling of molten iron and nickel in Earth’s outer core powers a planet-sized electromagnet. It’s an unseen, unheard presence that's always around us. And since 2013, three ESA satellites, called the Swarm mission, have recorded its electromagnetic activity all over the planet, from the depths of the core to the edges of space.

Fair warning: This is the part of the horror movie where someone decides to go ahead and read the ancient text — the one written in blood on parchment that was probably made from human skin — out loud. Except that this is real life and instead of the Necronomicon, we get a super-cool blend of art and science. But it’s basically the same thing, and if playing this recording summons an elder god into your living room, resurrects a cursed pharaoh, or at least startles your cat a little, don’t say we didn’t warn you.

Listen here

Inverse Interview

Television

She-Hulk director reveals the one thing Kevin Feige refused to do

Kat Coiro saw She-Hulk as doing more than just talking to the camera.

In the aftermath of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, the series director has a firm grasp on what makes Jennifer Walters (Tatiana Maslany) different in her self-awareness as a lead protagonist. Coiro says Jennifer’s presence in an always-expanding universe with a rabid fanbase affords her certain dimensionality that lets her stand in contrast to Marvel’s towering superhero icons.

“I roll back to what drew me to the MCU originally. I think the MCU is so unique in that it has a direct connection to the audience,” Coiro tells Inverse. “For me breaking the fourth wall, besides being intrinsically tied to the comics, is this connection to the audience. That is really exciting for me.”

In a post-finale conversation with Inverse, She-Hulk director Kat Coiro spills some new secrets behind Season 1’s wild finish, and what She-Hulk may have revealed about the future of the MCU. Spoilers ahead!

Breakthroughs

Innovation

Deepfakes are about to get super advanced (and weird)

If you picture a cape-clad dog soaring through the clouds or an astronaut riding a horse on Mars, you may think you’re experiencing a fever dream. But these surreal images exist outside of a sleepy daze: You can pull them up on your computer right now.

They were created by Meta’s top-of-the-line algorithms that can turn any text into a (somewhat) realistic video. Last month, Meta used these surreal clips to introduce its Make-A-Video AI text-to-video generator to the world.

Just days later, Google showed off not one but two AI video generators: Imagen Video and Phenaki. These models were designed to transform text descriptions into short video clips. The longest clips come from Phenaki and last up to several minutes long.

While these modern marvels haven’t yet been released for public access, they could forever change the way we make art. So far, the models have received both criticism and praise from AI and art experts.

Learn more

Review

Gaming

Shadows of Rose is a must-play Resident Evil experience

The story of the Winters family comes to a close with Shadows of Rose, a DLC that works as a sort of epilogue for Resident Evil Village.

While the story lacks any major surprises, Shadows of Rose puts some brilliant twists on the gameplay of Village, creating one of the most atmospheric and intense Resident Evil experiences in years. It’s the perfect five-hour experience for the spooky season and something to tide over fans waiting for the Resident Evil 4 remake.

Shadows of Rose will be released October 28, 2022.

Meanwhile...

Look: These tigers are living shockingly close to humans — and thriving

Strange star: this bizarrely small neutron star may be made of quarks

'House of the Dragon' Season 2 could be delayed by casting

'Guardians: Holiday Special' trailer brings a new hero to the MCU

Today in history: The action thriller The Terminator was released in the United States on October 26, 1984.

Song of the day: "The Power of Prophecy," Ramin Djawadi

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⚔️ What's next for 'Rings of Power' Season 2

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