Peter Jackson’s “The Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit” trilogies took audiences to a Middle Earth during a time when one ring could rule them all. But Amazon Prime’s “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” intends to take us to a time long before we ever get to meet Frodo and Bilbo. So far back that it takes place centuries before the events of the original “Lord of the Rings.” Of course, what is a Middle Earth without some war? And it looks like this new telling will bring that war of the past to the forefront in a very epic way.
Set 1000 years before the events of those films, “The Rings of Power” is based J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit” novel, as well as its appendices by J. R. R. Tolkien. By setting it that far back in the past, this gives showrunners J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay the opportunity to tell the story of Middle Earth in a way that’s never been told.
So the potential for world-building is there, especially since there are humans, elves, and dwarfs that populate only portions of Middle Earth. And based on the trailer, the size and scope of it all is massive. One has to wonder how much of this fantastical world Payne and McKay will explore.
Though it may be set in the past, we will get to see a few familiar characters like Elrond (Robert Aramayo), a half-Elven architect and politician; and Galadriel (Morfydd Clark), the Elven warrior who believes evil is returning to Middle-earth. “The Rings of Power” also introduces a few new characters like Owain Arthur as Durin IV, a prince of the Dwarven city of Khazad-dûm; Maxim Baldry as Isildur, a human sailor who will eventually become a warrior and king; Nazanin Boniadi as Bronwyn, human mother and healer who owns an apothecary in the Southlands.
“The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” debuts exclusively on Prime Video on September 2, 2022.
Here’s the official plot synopsis for “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power:”
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.
