The prequel to the Lord of the Rings, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, an epic drama series set to premiere on Amazon Prime Video on September 2, 2022, has fans excitedly looking forward to yet another journey through the Tolkien universe. While details about the series were kept under tight wraps, the closer we get to the release date confirmed by Amazon, the more information about the series has been made public. The Rings of Power, headed by J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay and set thousands of years before the events of Tolkien's The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, is expected to unite all major Middle-earth Second Age stories, including the forging of the rings, the tale of Númenor, and the Last Alliance of Elves and Men.

The series reportedly comprises eight episodes for its first season, with filming for the episodes taking place in New Zealand from February 2020 to August 2021. The series is also expected to emerge as the most expensive television series ever made, with the five-season series predicted to exceed a budget of $1 billion US. Stuart Nash, minister for economic development and tourism of New Zealand, told the Morning Report,"… Amazon is going to spend about $650 million in season one alone," which is roughly $450 million US.

The Plot: Like and Unlike Tolkien Novels

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Image via Lord of the Rings on Prime Twitter Account 

The series is not particularly based on a Tolkien novel, instead drawing inspiration from the expansive backstory documented in the appendices to the Lord of the Rings trilogy. The official Amazon synopsis to the series reads:

"Prime Video's The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power brings to screens for the very first time the heroic legends of the fabled Second Age of Middle-earth's history. This epic drama is set thousands of years before the events of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, and will take viewers back to an era in which great powers were forged, kingdoms rose to glory and fell to ruin, unlikely heroes were tested, hope hung by the finest of threads, and the greatest villain that ever flowed from Tolkien’s pen threatened to cover all the world in darkness. Beginning in a time of relative peace, the series follows an ensemble cast of characters, both familiar and new, as they confront the long-feared re-emergence of evil to Middle-earth. From the darkest depths of the Misty Mountains, to the majestic forests of the elf-capital of Lindon, to the breathtaking island kingdom of Númenor, to the furthest reaches of the map, these kingdoms and characters will carve out legacies that live on long after they are gone."

Given that the Second Age sees the rise and fall of Sauron, the villain of the original films, it can be expected that "the greatest villain that ever flowed from Tolkien's pen" is a reference to Sauron. As such, the character will play a prominent role in the series. The map released by Amazon has also led fans to speculate that Tolkien's tale regarding the Fall of Númenor will be depicted in the series due to the island being featured on the map.

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The series is expected to juggle multiple storylines. However, all storylines will center on the one incident giving the entire trilogy its famous name- "the forging of the rings." McKay specifies, "Rings for the elves, rings for dwarves, rings for men, and then the one ring Sauron used to deceive them all. It's the story of the creation of all those powers, where they came from, and what they did to each of those races."

The Characters: Both Old and New

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Amazon Studios

Many familiar characters will appear in The Rings of Power. Sauron, perhaps the most notable, is one such character. Elrond, Lord of Imladris, is also seen in the teaser trailer while Amazon has confirmed the return of Elrond's mother-in-law, Galadriel. The series is also expected to bring some previously unknown characters into the limelight.

The character posters released by Amazon have also led to fan speculation regarding characters. While the photos do not disclose characters' faces, fans have speculated that some characters might be Elendil, Cirdan the Shipwright, and Isildur. Another important character appearance, and a major break from cannon, will occur in the introduction of Harfoots, an ancestral hobbit. While those familiar with the Tolkien universe know that hobbits did not come along until the Third Age, Sir Lenny Henry claimed that this introduction is a step towards inclusivity in fantasy.

Cast: Inclusive Fellowship

Princess Disa The Rings of Power
Amazon Studios

The fact that The Rings of Power has made a concentrated effort towards inclusivity is also shown through the selection of its cast. Most notable are the selections of Ismael Cruz Córdova to play Arrondir and Sophia Nomvete to play Dwarven princess Disa. Córdova thus becomes the first person of color to play an elf in a Tolkien film, and Nomvete is both the first woman of color to play a dwarf and the first female dwarf in a Tolkien project.

Both characters are featured in the teaser trailer released on Super Bowl Sunday. Speaking to Vanity Fair, executive producer Lindsey Weber said, "It felt only natural to us that an adaptation of Tolkien's work would reflect what the world actually looks like…Tolkien is for everyone. His stories are about his fictional races doing their best work when they leave the isolation of their own cultures and come together."

Concerns: Still Tolkien and Not Game of Thrones

Lord of the Rings TV Show May Cost Amazon $1 Billion
New Line Cinema

A major concern for fans was if The Rings of Power would emerge similar to Game of Thrones as news broke that an intimacy coordinator was acquired for the set. Dimitra Fimi, a Tolkien scholar, voiced her concerns, "My worry would be if it becomes a Game of Thrones in the Second Age… that wouldn't be what one would associate with Tolkien's vision." However, fears were soon allayed by McKay who said they were staying true to the Tolkien tone- "a show for everyone, for kids who are 11, 12, and 13…"

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Despite staying true to the overall Tolkien tone, Payne and McKay have made some notable deviations, with the most marked being the compression of a thousand years' worth of events into a single point in time. As per Payne, "If you are true to the exact letter of the law, you are going to be telling a story in which your human characters are dying off every season because you're jumping 200 years in time, and then you're not meeting really big, important canon characters until season four. Look, there might be some fans who want us to do a documentary of Middle-earth, but we're going to tell one story that unites all these things."

Everything we know so far about The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, both speculations and facts, have made it clear that we're in for an undoubtedly exciting ride. Although the showrunners clearly have respect for the Tolkien tone, creative risks have also been taken. Only time will tell if these risks prove successful or not.