"Adrift" is the second episode of the first season of the American fantasy television series The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. The series is based on J. R. R. Tolkien's history of Middle-earth, primarily material from the appendices of the novel The Lord of the Rings (1954–55). Set thousands of years before the novel in Middle-earth's Second Age, the episode introduces the Dwarven kingdom of Khazad-dûm. It was written by Gennifer Hutchison and directed by J. A. Bayona.
The series was ordered in November 2017. J. D. Payne and Patrick McKay were set to develop it in July 2018, and Bayona was hired to direct the first two episodes a year later. Filming for the first season began in New Zealand in February 2020, but was placed on hold in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Production resumed in September and wrapped for the first two episodes by the end of December. Dwarf culture was defined through design and music, and different techniques were used to show the size difference between Dwarves and Elves. The episode's ocean sequences were filmed in large water tanks. Olympic swimmer Trent Bray taught the actors to swim and free dive.
"Adrift" premiered on the streaming service Amazon Prime Video on September 1, 2022, with the first episode. They had the most viewers of any Prime Video premiere within 24 hours and received generally positive reviews. Particular praise went to the visuals and production value, but some critics were unsure if the storytelling and slow pacing justified this. The episode received two nominations at the 21st Visual Effects Society Awards for its depiction of Khazad-dûm and the ocean storm sequence.
Plot Nori Brandyfoot and Poppy Proudfellow struggle to move the Stranger from inside the meteor crater and into a makeshift shelter. The next day, Nori gives him food and realizes that he does not speak their language. Nori and Poppy later find the Stranger looking at the stars. He uses magic to arrange some fireflies into a constellation that Nori does not recognize. She believes they can help him by finding that constellation. When the Stranger stops using the magic, the fireflies all die.
In the ruins of Hordern, Arondir and Bronwyn find no survivors or bodies. Arondir enters a tunnel below one of the houses and is captured. Bronwyn returns to Tirharad to warn the other villagers, but they dismiss her. At her home she finds Theo hiding from an Orc that has burst from beneath the floor. Bronwyn and Theo kill the Orc and use its head to convince the other villagers to flee for the nearby Elvish tower Ostirith. Theo brings the broken sword, which appears to draw power from a bleeding wound.
Celebrimbor explains to Elrond that he is building a powerful forge and requires a workforce that High King Gil-galad cannot provide. Elrond suggests they travel to the Dwarven realm of Khazad-dûm to ask his old friend Prince Durin IV for help. Elrond is surprised to find that he is not welcome and invokes the rite of sigin-tarâg, a rock-breaking contest between himself and Durin. Elrond loses, which means he is to be banished from all Dwarf lands. As Durin escorts him out, Elrond learns that he is not welcome because he has not visited in 20 years and missed Durin's wedding. Elrond apologizes to Durin and his wife Disa, who encourages the pair to make up. Durin agrees to hear Elrond's proposal, which he relays to King Durin III. The latter is concerned that Elrond's arrival relates to the Dwarves' secret new discovery.
Swimming back to Middle-earth, Galadriel encounters a raft of stranded humans escaping from a sea monster called "The Worm". The Worm attacks the raft, leaving only Galadriel and one of the Men alive. He introduces himself as Halbrand of the Southlands and says he is escaping from Orcs. They are caught in a storm and Halbrand saves Galadriel from drowning. The next morning, the pair are found by an unknown ship.
Production Development Amazon acquired the television rights for J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings (1954–55) in November 2017. The company's streaming service, Amazon Prime Video, ordered a series based on the novel and its appendices to be produced by Amazon Studios in association with New Line Cinema. It was later titled The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. Amazon hired J. D. Payne and Patrick McKay to develop the series and serve as showrunners in July 2018, and J. A. Bayona was hired to direct the first two episodes a year later. Gennifer Hutchison joined the series as a writer by then. The series was originally expected to be a continuation of Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings (2001–2003) and The Hobbit (2012–2014) film trilogies, but Amazon later clarified that their deal with the Tolkien Estate required them to keep the series distinct from Jackson's films. Despite this, the showrunners intended for it to be visually consistent with the films. Amazon said in September 2019 that the first season would be filmed in New Zealand, where Jackson's films were made.
The series is set in the Second Age of Middle-earth, thousands of years before Tolkien's The Hobbit (1937) and The Lord of the Rings. Because Amazon did not acquire the rights to Tolkien's other works where the First and Second Ages are primarily explored, the writers had to identify references to the Second Age in The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and its appendices, and create a story that bridged those passages. The first season focuses on introducing the setting and major heroic characters to the audience. Hutchison wrote the second episode, which is titled "Adrift".
Writing
After Galadriel's "leap of faith" into the ocean at the end of the first episode, "A Shadow of the Past", she is forced to swim back to Middle-earth. The showrunners envisioned the episode as a survival story but in the ocean rather than a more traditional environment like a desert. They took inspiration from the film Lawrence of Arabia (1962). Her coming across a raft of survivors was inspired by the painting The Raft of the Medusa (1818–19) by Théodore Géricault. The showrunners felt Galadriel's meeting with new human character Halbrand on the raft was in-line with other chance meetings in Tolkien's writings. They enjoyed the ambiguity of whether this is truly an accidental meeting or if other forces are at play. Halbrand actor Charlie Vickers said his character initially trusts Galadriel out of his survival instinct and becomes fascinated with her, leading to him saving her life during the storm sequence.
Each group of characters in the series is introduced at "a time of enormous change in their worlds" which the showrunners hoped would help make the series more dramatic. This includes the Dwarves, who the showrunners said "are in the middle of a great change in their society. And the arrival of an Elf is sort of upending the way the established order is there." They felt the series was a great opportunity to show the Dwarf realm of Khazad-dûm in its full glory compared to the desolate ruin that it is in the Third Age. The episode also introduces the first female Dwarf with a prominent role in a Tolkien adaptation, Disa, who the showrunners intended to reflect all the strengths of Tolkien's male Dwarves. They wanted Disa and Durin IV's relationship to be an example of a healthy marriage. Durin actor Owain Arthur said his character's decision to forgive Elrond in the episode showed how deep the friendship is between the pair. He added that it was a "true Durin trait" that the character remained angry for the rest of the episode because he was angry with himself for forgiving Elrond.
The scene where Bronwyn and Theo fight an Orc in their kitchen was originally written for the third episode. Bayona loved the scene so much that he convinced the showrunners to move it to the second episode so he could direct it. The episode also explores the Stranger who falls from the sky at the end of the first episode and now interacts with the Harfoots Nori Brandyfoot and Poppy Proudfellow. McKay compared the Stranger to the title characters of the films E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) and The Iron Giant (1999), being a mysterious character who talks in an unknown language and could be there "for good or ill". The showrunners took inspiration from the films of Buster Keaton and other silent films for the character, and gave actor Daniel Weyman "theater exercises" during his audition to see how he communicated emotions without dialogue.
Casting
The season's cast includes Robert Aramayo as Elrond, Owain Arthur as Durin IV, Nazanin Boniadi as Bronwyn, Morfydd Clark as Galadriel, Ismael Cruz Córdova as Arondir, Charles Edwards as Celebrimbor, Lenny Henry as Sadoc Burrows, Markella Kavenagh as Elanor "Nori" Brandyfoot, Tyroe Muhafidin as Theo, Sophia Nomvete as Disa, Megan Richards as Poppy Proudfellow, Dylan Smith as Largo Brandyfoot, Charlie Vickers as Halbrand, Daniel Weyman as the Stranger, and Sara Zwangobani as Marigold Brandyfoot. Also starring in the episode are Thusitha Jayasundera as Malva, Maxine Cunliffe as Vilma, Berynn Schwerdt as Eamon, Virginie Laverdure as Abigail, Jane Montgomery Griffiths as Astrid, Geoff Morrell as Waldreg, Peter Tait as Tredwill, and Peter Mullan as Durin III. Nathan Mennis plays the unnamed Orc in the episode.
Design Rick Heinrichs was hired as production designer for the series by July 2019, before Bayona joined the project. Ramsey Avery was hired to replace Heinrichs around the end of August. Avery said he was hired because most of what had been done initially "wasn't working", and he had to "start from scratch" and work quickly to be ready for filming. Heinrichs is credited as production designer for the first two episodes alongside Avery. One of the initial "guideposts" that the showrunners gave Avery was to ensure that the audience could easily identify the different cultures of Middle-earth in the series. Costume designer Kate Hawley had created mood boards that established a design language for each Middle-earth culture and Avery was thankful that he could use these as the starting point for his own work. A "war room" was assembled where the design language for each culture was defined. Dialect coach Leith McPherson, who also worked on the Hobbit films, established different dialects for each culture, including Scottish for Dwarves.
Bayona initially oversaw design work at home in Barcelona from September to October 2019. He asked for at least one piece of concept art for every scene in his episodes, totaling around 150 pieces of art, which Avery said was a "tremendous amount" to produce but created a basis for the whole series. He oversaw the concept artists while also beginning work on the initial sets. While the series' supervising art directors and New Zealand art team worked on the sets needed for the first episode, Avery worked with United States art director Iain McFadyen and the Los Angeles art team to plan the Dwarvish sets for the second episode. The production had use of seven stages and multiple backlot spaces across Auckland Film Studios, Kumeu Film Studios, and Kelly Park Film Studios; Kelly Park is a former equestrian center where they could dig into the dirt floor. Wētā Workshop created props, weapons, and prosthetics for the season. Daniel Reeve, who was responsible for calligraphy and maps on the films, returned to do the same for the series.
Dwarves