What's the deal with the new Lord of the Rings series?
A shorter article for today as we take a quick look at the new Lord of the Rings TV show.
In 2017 Amazon announced a Lord of the Rings TV show and at the time little else was known about it and now 5 years later we finally have a trailer. Even after the trailer though there are still a lot of questions, a lot of the details on this show are a tiny bit vague.
The trailer is gorgeous, it looks exactly as you would expect the original movies to look if they were made now. We see new characters, we see new locations, new creatures and monsters which is always great, there's often something great about expanding and adding to a pre-existing universe rather than just recycling old characters and locations (*cough* Star Wars *cough*). It's still vague though, we don't get to know any specific plot or who anyone really is (aside from cast based guesses), that's no bad thing though it keeps suspense and interest high before release.
Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power is set a few thousand years before the events of the main story so sometime around the forging of the twenty rings (yes twenty, who knew there were that many?). The show is set to follow not only the forging of the rings but also what happened to the humans, elves, and dwarves that recieved them and who knows maybe (almost definitely) a Sauron appearance although maybe this will be saved for a second season.
There are returning characters, as far as it goes at the minute though no returning actors. The show will use Galadriel, formerly played by Cate Blanchett, this time round Morfydd Clark will be portraying a much younger version of the character. Lord Rivendell will also appear again but without Hugo Weaving, he will be played by Robert Aramayo of Game of Thrones fame. It's unclear whether there will be any other returning characters so maybe we might see some more returning characters and while it's very unlikely maybe some returning actors (fingers crossed for Ian McKellen's Gandalf return).
The Rings of Power isn't directly based off of any pre-existing material and will be the first Lord of the Rings property to fully explore the founding of the rings. That's not to say that we're completely exploring new territory though because, much like Star Wars, Lord of the Rings has more intricate backstory and background information than the Bible. It will also be the first live action Lord of the Rings property that Peter Jackson hasn't overseen but it wouldn't be too shocking if the series followed the style and tone of his previous work on the franchise.
There isn't really much information out for this one, barely enough to fill an article with. We do know the budget though, the first season reportedly cost upwards of $460million and with a second season expected to take it up to $1billion you can expect a very high standard of production too. This also makes it the most expensive TV season of all time overtaking the final season of Game of Thrones which had a budget of roughly $100million. There are five seasons planned so there's obvious confidence in how well this show will do. There also seems to be a clear plan for where the story will go, will it end with the rings being formed or will it start with that in? Will we see Gandalf? Will we see Sauron? Please can we see Gandalf? Pretty please? Get Ian McKellen back as Gandalf. If in five seasons we don't get to see Gandalf then something has definitely gone wrong.
Lord of The Rings: The Rings of Power releases on the 2nd of September 2022 and it's sure to be worth the five year wait. Whether it will prove to be worth the mind-boggling budget remains to be seen though but it will almost definitely be loved by the fans and that's really all that matters.