The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power star Charlie Vickers on his “pinch-me” 10-year rise to fame

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The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power star Charlie Vickers on his “pinch-me” 10-year rise to fame

Ten years ago, Charlie Vickers’ life looked very different than it does today.

Then aged 21, he was a student at Melbourne’s RMIT university, starring in the odd amateur production; unsure where life would take him next.

He’d always loved drama and performance, but never considered it a career — until one weekend in 2014 when he packed an overnight bag and hopped on a plane to Sydney.

His life changed almost overnight.

Without telling anyone, Vickers auditioned for the prestigious Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in London. The famed acting school, which boasts everyone from Dame Judi Dench to Sir Laurence Olivier, Carrie Fisher and recent stars Andrew Garfield and Riz Ahmed as alumni, was in Sydney scouting for future students — Vickers thought he’d try his luck.

And he got in.

“I did my audition for Central, around the corner from here actually — at the Bangarra Dance Theatre,” says the now 31-year-old actor, who is chatting with STM from Sydney’s glitzy Park Hyatt hotel in The Rocks.

Beyond the window, the Opera House shines like a beacon in the unseasonal August sun, and above us, Sydney’s iconic Harbour Bridge looms — a two-minute walk down the road is the audition space that changed his life.

“This is kind of a full-circle moment,” Vickers admits, looking out at the glittering harbour mere steps from his hotel room.

“I flew up to Sydney that weekend (Vickers grew up in Geelong and still has family there) and didn’t tell anyone I was doing it because I was too afraid of not getting in … and to think that was 2014, and now it’s 2024, and I’m here now!

“It’s been the craziest journey.”

Crazy would be an understatement.

And in the ten years since that fateful weekend, a lot has changed in Vickers’ life: he graduated from drama school in London (walking straight into roles in the period drama series Medici and Aussie film, Palm Beach), married his partner, British actress Georgie Oulton (they met while studying), and they’re both now parents to an 18-month-old son.

Oh, and he’s also at the centre of what is arguably the biggest series on television: Prime Video’s hugely popular Lord Of The Rings spin-off, The Rings Of Power.

Vickers plays Halbrand, a character audiences learnt last season was actually the evil Dark Lord, Sauron in disguise — J.R.R. Tolkien’s most feared and iconic villain.

It’s a huge role.

“I remember being so nervous that weekend I auditioned, and then to think, ten years down the track, I’d be here, talking to you, and that I’d be starring in a Lord Of The Rings adaptation — it would have blown my mind,” he explains.

When Vickers first auditioned for The Rings Of Power in April 2019, he had no idea what awaited him.

“At that stage, I had no idea I was even auditioning for Sauron,” he says, pointing out he simply knew his character as the same mysterious man who saves the elf warrior Galadriel (Morfydd Clark) from drowning in season one.

“It wasn’t until mid-2020, when we went on a hiatus (the series ceased production in New Zealand, where it was then filming, for several months due to the COVID-19 pandemic) that the showrunners (J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay) brought me into their office, and said, ‘Yeah, you’re playing Halbrand AND Sauron’.”

And talk about a jaw-dropping moment.

“Well, I was a bit suss by that point,” Vickers admits.

“I mean, it was kind of the talk of the cast, as to where Sauron was hiding, because there were some original characters, and we were like, ‘well, maybe they are using one of these new characters to conceal Sauron’s identity?’”

They weren’t — Sauron was hiding in plain sight.

And in Vicker’s own skin.

In season one, Halbrand spends most of his time pretending to be someone else — he has to win Galadriel’s trust, and the trust of those around him in order to enact his evil plan to take control of Middle Earth.

This season, Vickers’ cover with Galadriel is blown, but he’s able to shapeshift to another form, the ethereal Annatar, who persuades the ‘elven-smith’ Celebrimbor (Charles Edwards) to forge more of those famous rings.

“The way they have created the character in this show is that he is the ultimate deceiver,” Vickers explains.

“He becomes what people need — we see that with Galadriel in season one and then in season two, when he becomes exactly what Celebrimbor needs.

“He appeals to his ego and his sense of hubris, and he gets him to make a bunch of rings.”

“We’re going to watch as he uses deception, manipulation, lies, coercion and cunning to set the chess pieces in motion,” creator McKay teases in press notes.

Vickers not only changes his appearance for season two, he changes how he speaks, moves — everything.

It’s the mother of all character metamorphoses, and we get to see some of Sauron’s origin story as well.

Season two has him firmly at the centre of the action.

“When they told me (who I really was), it’s like this whole other world opened up,” he explains.

“And I was just excited to be able to do it.

“People talk about the pressure of it, but I really never felt that much of it, playing Sauron.

“I kind of just wanted to arm myself with as much knowledge as possible, to learn as much about him as I could so at least I would feel that I had done my utmost to do the character justice.”

Vickers worked extensively with the creators to figure out a way for his new character to exist in the world, donning ankle weights under his costume for the first month of filming as Annatar to feel “the heightened gravity” of the character.

As Vickers explains, “He’s a god who stands at the centre of the universe at all times … in his stillness there is power — I used that as a foundation.”

Gone was Halbrand’s Yorkshire twang and gruff persona, and in its place a regal elf who almost glides across the screen, though Vickers admits this came with its own issues — “with robes potentially tripping me up, that was a challenge,” he points out.

He nails this new role, and fans are sure to be hooked as they watch his evil doings play out in new ways this season.

Vickers says he feels incredibly grateful he’s been able to inhibit the world Tolkien first created.

“It’s a super meaty role and I think that is the real joy,” says the star, who also played a bad guy (abusive husband Clem Hart) in the award-winning Prime series, The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart.

“Being able to do something like this, at this point in my career — I just feel so lucky.”

After he finishes his press tour in Sydney, Vickers will head back to London, where he’s now based with his young family, and where the show now films.

Sadly, Geelong is off the agenda this time, though he did get to spend time there recently with his wife and child.

“I spent the first half of this year and the last half of last year there, and it was just beautiful,” he says.

“It was great to just have some time, and it was largely about having my son be able to get back in touch with his Aussie roots; to go eat some sand on the beach!”

Though nothing has been confirmed, it looks likely Vickers will just roll into a third season of the show — after all, Sauron’s not going anywhere, for the time being at least, though there’s always the risk the creators will shapeshift his character to be portrayed by another actor.

“Well, that’s the thing — you never really know,” he laughs.

“We did San Diego Comic-Con and they opened up the floor to audience questions, and the first question was directly to me, and it was ‘Are you worried about being recast?’ — in a hall of 6000 people!” Vickers laughs.

“I had never been asked that question before and I was like, ‘Um … I hope not!’ and I turned to the showrunners.”

But with fans thoroughly invested in Vickers’ portrayal of the evil Sauron, something tells us he’s not destined for the fires of Mordor just yet.

“I kind of feel like I have a huge connection to the character now,” he says. “But I don’t know where any of it is going.

“It’s annoying, because my mum always asks me, and I have to tell her I just don’t know!”

The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power is streaming now on Prime Video.


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