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The Stranger is Gandalf; at least, that’s what most people seem to think. However, Daniel Weyman – who plays the mysterious character in The Rings of Power – doesn’t want anyone to commit to The Stranger being anyone in particular just yet.
"It wasn't a question I ever asked of the showrunners," the actor tells Total Film and GamesRadar+ when quizzed about whether he knows, or even cares, about who The Stranger really is. "That's a question people might have in their sitting rooms."
Weyman can, at the very least, confirm The Stranger is an Istari, one of Middle-earth’s five wizards, which puts him on course to be either Gandalf, Saruman, Radagast, or one of the two unnamed Blue Wizards.
"Loads of people talk to me about Saruman, they allude to the fact that Saruman also knew The Hobbits," Weyman continues. "They talk about the Blue Wizards. Obviously, that's a really nice, strong resonance, isn't it? But for me, the joy of doing it is that he’s living through these interactions, these new experiences, with new creatures and visiting new lands that we've never seen before.
"Of course, we would like to know what's happening. We like to play the end. But there's something really joyful about just being, especially with this character who we have seen from nothing. We saw his birth. We've seen pretty much everything that he's been through. It’s a bit like watching a young kid learning to walk, learning the language, learning that fire is hot. He's fast-forwarding on that at 75 times speed. But it's that same joy of, 'Are they going to become a doctor or an astronaut?' That was really fun."
In The Rings of Power season 2, Weyman’s Stranger traverses the harsh deserts of Rhûn alongside his Harfoot companion, Nori, played by Markella Kavenagh, in search of his own identity. As their adventure continues, The Stranger starts to have a recurring dream in which he sees a staff floating in the air – a staff that changes shape and color, turning from brown wood to white.
"In the new season, suddenly he's on this dusty, hot road, and the weight of him finding out what on earth he's here for begins to crystallize in his mind," Weyman says. "All those different colors through the dream, where he is confronted with different possibilities of how this journey could go, he realizes how lacking in learning he is, in terms of these powers that he's used – very accidentally at the beginning, and more purposefully by the end of season one."
One thing The Stranger is sure of, though, is that he doesn’t want to accidentally hurt anyone should his powers get out of control again. "He doesn't want to make that same mistake," Weyman explains. "That's not why he's here, to take over with power. He’s trying to find out his purpose – trying to understand through his interactions, what he's meant for, and I think he really trusts the relationship with Nori."
Something else The Stranger is keenly aware of is the "growing darkness" in Middle-earth, where evil is rising thanks to Sauron’s return and the half-orc, half-elf Adar’s ascent in Mordor. "This season he's more aware of how suffocating this could all be for Middle-earth," Weyman says. "His context of evil is more fleshed out in season two, and that means he's more aware of what darkness rising means for Nori and the other creatures they meet."
That certainly doesn’t sound like Saruman, who eventually teams up with Sauron, come the main Lord of the Rings trilogy. But then again, who knows what could happen between the Second Age of Middle-earth and when The White Wizard eventually turns evil in the Third Age. It’s a mystery The Rings of Power is keen not to solve in a hurry.
The Rings of Power season 2 starts streaming August 29 on Prime Video. For more exclusive insight, check out what we learned about season 2's opening scene and Tom Bombadil's introduction.
