Rings of Power star Daniel Weyman talks the Stranger's big finale reveal

Warning: This story contains spoilers for the season 1 finale of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.

A wizard is never late. Nor is he early. He arrives precisely when he means to.

And indeed, a wizard did arrive in the season 1 finale of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. Ever since Daniel Weyman's mysterious figure crash landed in Middle-earth via meteor, fans have been speculating about the Stranger's identity — and whose side he might be on.  The finale follows the white-robed mystics as they track him down, believing him to be a reincarnated version of Sauron. Even the Stranger himself briefly believes them, until a group of harfoots, led by Nori (Markella Kavenagh), come to his rescue. As the Stranger grabs the mystics' staff, he rebuffs them with magic, and they realize that he is not their ally Sauron but one of the Istari, the five wizards sent by the Valar to help defend Middle-earth from evil.

His exact name is never spoken on screen, and it remains to be seen which member of the Istari he is. (Saruman? Radagast? One of the two unnamed blue wizards?) But all signs seem to point to the Stranger being the most well-known member of the Istari: Gandalf. All season long, The Rings of Power has been dropping hints that the Stranger could be an early incarnation of everyone's favorite bearded, pipe-smoking wizard, and some of the clues include his affection for halflings and his ability to speak to insects. Ultimately, after defeating the cult-like mystics, the Stranger and Nori set out for the distant realm of Rhûn, searching for more answers about his origin and that mysterious constellation he's been chasing. As he and Nori begin their journey, the Stranger offers her one particular piece of wizardly advice: If in doubt, always follow your nose — a paraphrase of an iconic Gandalf quote.

Ben Rothstein/Prime Video Daniel Weyman as the Stranger in 'The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power'

Ahead of the Rings of Power finale, EW spoke to Weyman about that big reveal. (You can hear the full conversation below, on EW's Rings of Power podcast All Rings Considered.) The British actor played coy and wouldn't officially confirm the Stranger's name, but he said the reaction to the show and the weeks of fan theories have been "hugely humbling."

"The audience knows exactly the same as what I know," Weyman says. "I haven't started season 2 yet, and I literally have no more knowledge than anybody else, which is actually really great."

When Weyman submitted his first self-taped audition for The Rings of Power, he had no idea which role he was up for — and it wasn't until after several rounds of auditions that he learned a few "drip-fed" details. Once he landed the role of the Stranger, showrunners JD Payne and Patrick McKay gave him a list of films to watch for inspiration. He found himself particularly drawn to the 1931 Frankenstein — specifically the iconic scene where Boris Karloff's monster meets a young girl picking flowers by a lake. As the monster copies her movements and they toss flowers in the water together, he inadvertently drowns her. Weyman explains that that scene stayed with him, especially as he was figuring out how to approach the Stranger's relationship with Nori — and how his childlike actions could unintentionally lead him down a path of either good or evil.

"From then on, the monster's storyline has been decided, although all the monster was doing was copying," Weyman explains. "How was he to know that the child wouldn't float in as beautiful a way as the flower on the water? But in that moment, suddenly the human perception of the monster has totally changed, and the monster becomes bad, and the way the monster is treated is different. Suddenly, we're in this world where the writing's on the wall, and the two sides have been drawn. I thought those were brilliant notes for the Stranger. Hopefully, we've seen that kind of darkness and light and lack of understanding and joy and pleasure and childish wonder and old-age wisdom."

Ben Rothstein/Prime Video The mystics and the Stranger (Daniel Weyman) in 'The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power'

For Weyman, the joy of playing the Stranger in season 1 has been less about where he comes from and more about what he does, and he opened up about the challenges of playing an ancient wizard who does very little speaking at first. He also praised his costar Kavenagh, who plays his loyal harfoot guide Nori — especially since she did most of the talking on screen. "I feel like the luckiest person on the planet to be able to work with her," he says. "Her talent, her humanity, her friendship on and off screen is incredible. She is really good news. I was always in awe of the work that she came up with, and most of the time, I felt like I was desperately trying to stay anywhere near her league of work."

For more with Daniel Weyman on the Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power finale, listen to EW's podcast, All Rings Considered, breaking down each episode and featuring exclusive interviews with the cast and creators.

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