The Lord of The Rings: The Rings of Power has already gained enough intrigue to pretty much guarantee record numbers of viewers when the series premieres on Prime Video in September. While some are eager to see more stories from Middle-Earth, others just want to compare it to Peter Jackson’s epic movies, and there are those who just want to complain about how much of the narrative/character styles have been changed from what they expected to see. However director J.A. Bayona recently told Empire that the show is something beyond a TV series. He said:
"The Rings Of Power is not television. It's a new form we're creating here."
Previously, showrunners J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay have made it clear that when the series arrives there will be a lot more raving about the show than complaining, as they say it is more than just a television show. LOTR: The Rings of Power is a strange beast to predict, as it is mostly based on the appendices of The Lord of The Rings, and the novel itself. Amazon do not have the rights to books like The Silmarillion or the various posthumously released Histories of Middle-Earth volumes that expand on Tolkien’s world and mythology. What this means is that The Rings of Power will be a mostly new narrative built around the bare bones of Middle-Earth’s Second Age. Recently, the showrunners commented:
"The siege at Helm's Deep is so iconic and amazing that it was like, 'What's a different thing that we can do that still feels like Middle-earth but is unique for this story?' The show has a lot of action in it -- more so than any television or streaming show that we've seen. Every episode has set pieces, creatures, battles and white-knuckle fights to the death. But instead of having 10,000 Orcs fighting 10,000 men, what's it like to have one Orc in your face, in your kitchen? What's it like trying to kill an Orc when you've never killed an Orc before?"
LOTR: The Rings Of Power Has A Five Season Plan
In all, The Lord of The Rings: The Rings of Power is expected to cost over $1 billion if its planned outline is followed to its conclusion. The series has only filmed one season so far, and is currently moving production to the U.K. from New Zealand to continue on the second season. However, in all there are five seasons mapped out to tell the entire 50 hours of story that the showrunners and director J.A. Bayona have in mind.
While the series will mainly feature characters new to the screen world of Tolkien thanks to its setting being many years before events of The Hobbit, there will be some familiar characters, but not being portrayed by the actors best known for playing them. Morfydd Clark, Robert Aramayo and Maxim Baldry will portray younger versions of Galadriel, Elrond and Isildur, respectively, who were previously played by Cate Blanchett, Hugo Weaving and Harry Sinclair in the Lord of the Rings movies. The mega budget fantasy series will premiere on Prime Video on September 2.