The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2 finale brought together Sauron (Charlie Vickers) and Galadriel (Morfydd Clark) after spending eight episodes apart, but the final fight scene faced one major hurdle. The latest season featured the Dark Lord manipulating his way through Middle-earth into prominence, culminating in the creation of the titular Rings of Power. During Sauron’s final confrontation with archenemy (and potential love interest), Galadriel, The Rings of Power production had to halt in order to pull off a vital special effect for Vickers’ character.

The Rings of Power Season 2 finale ended with Sauron fighting Galadriel on a mountaintop, before morphing into different versions of himself in an attempt to emotionally manipulate her. For much of the season, audiences watched Sauron in his Annatar disguise while in Eregion, but he finally returned as Halbrand in the finale for a brief moment. In an interview with CinemaBlend, Charlie Vickers revealed that the one major issue filming the complex sequence was growing his beard back for Halbrand, and he was not given much time to do so.

“…God, changing from Halbrand to Annatar. I think I did the Halbrand stuff on a Monday morning. So they gave me the weekend to try and grow some stubble, and it was pretty pathetic. My beard’s really patchy and I grew just enough, but they still had to color it in. But it’s not that simple when he’s clean-shaven, and you need to add that (beard stubble).”

The final result of Vickers not shaving for a weekend was a pretty weak stubble, but the actor says it turned out to work because it was like a “shiny memory” for Galadriel. Vickers expanded:

“It was like Halbrand, but it was slightly different. Like, his hair’s a bit curlier, and he’s not quite as stubbly, but it kind of works, because he looks like a more shiny memory version of Halbrand.”

Galadriel Had to Play Sauron

During The Rings of Power Season 2 finale fight scene, Sauron also turns into Galadriel and Celebrimbor, so things presumably only got more complicated. This is especially true for Morfydd Clark, who had to bring about an entirely different performance as the Dark Lord. Vickers discussed handing off the role to his co-star for a brief yet complex sequence. And yes, it sounds a bit more difficult than growing his hair back.

“For Morfydd to come back as the other Galadriel, also, she obviously needed to put her – performance needed to be very different. She was harder. She was Sauron…And she came back clean. So, she had to go and change and become a different person, and to play to, I mean, to act against. And then what you do, really, is that you shoot above a double and then you just keep changing the actors. So it’s just very time-consuming.”

The final Rings of Power Season 2 fight sequence has gotten divisive reactions, but it’s clear the actors went above and beyond to pull it all off. After spending eight episodes apart, it was satisfying to finally see Galadriel physically confront Sauron after his previous betrayal as Halbrand. Moreover, the fact Galadriel is able to officially shut the door on Sauron’s evil influence and not even contemplate his offer to make her queen was everything fans needed to hear from the iconic character. Those who ship the two characters may be disappointed, but fans of the franchise can probably rejoice knowing the series is not straying far from the (very loose) canon.