How The Rings of Power showrunners made the ‘best episode of TV’ this year

The Rings of Power's newest episode is the Prime Video show's most "ambitious" yet because of how much bigger the scale is, showrunners JD Payne and Patrick McKay tell Yahoo UK.

In the second series of the Lord of the Rings prequel all roads have been leading to Eregion, the city of Elven smiths where Sauron (Charlie Vickers) has been hiding under the guise of Annatar. With his manipulations slowly coming to a head, and the titular rings of power created, the forces of Middle Earth try to stop him before its too late.

Read more: The Rings of Power cast tease Sauron and Adar's rivalry and season 2 surprises

The siege or Eregion is famous in Tolkien lore, which is why Payne and McKay say the creative team were keen to get it right, the latter said: "This is basically the most ambitious battle we've ever attempted, it took an enormous amount of resources and time to film.

"The performances are incredible, it's sort of pulling together not just action but the emotional arcs of half a dozen characters. It's really extraordinarily ambitious and we're thrilled with the results that Charlotte Brändström, our amazing producing director, and Vic Armstrong, our incredible legendary second unit action director have pulled together.

"We can't wait for people to see it. Stay tuned, episode 7 guys."

The episode, titled Doomed to Die, has now been released on Prime Video and to much fanfare from fans of the show, with critics heralding it as the "best episode of TV" to come out in 2024. The showrunners will no doubt be pleased by the response it has gotten.

McKay also reflected on the creative team's approach to the new season, sharing: "Here's what's fun about Season 2, Season 1 we are introducing you to Middle-earth, we're bringing you back to a different time about all of these worlds, some of which are very unfamiliar, all of these new characters, this amazing cast, we're really setting the table and then kicking things off.

"Season 2, the game is afoot, so there's a lot of action in the season, and most of the storyline, several storylines, all build to one giant battle in the latter half of the season — the Siege of Eregion, which is famous from the mythology if you're a super fan."

Read more: Galadriel and Sauron's story is 'far from over' in The Rings of Power

He added: "Season 1 we always thought of as the primer. It is gonna open up the Second Age [of Middle Earth] and hopefully pull people into the universe of Tolkien who maybe were unfamiliar with the books, or hadn't even seen the films. Now we're in season 2, now they're in our house, right?

"So every season from now to the end we have these big canonical tentpole moments that we're building things around."

The Prime Video series was commissioned with a five-season plan in place, which should still be going ahead according to The Hollywood Reporter.

McKay teased how big battles like the Siege of Eregion will continue to shape each and every season moving forward: "I don't want to spoil how close we're going to get toward the [Lord of the Rings] books and the films, but there are big canon moments to come in every season and, at a certain point, every episode."

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 2 ends on Thursday, 3 October.

This article originally appeared on Yahoo TV UK at https://uk.news.yahoo.com/rings-power-episode-7-battle-most-ambitious-110925796.html