For nearly as long as the Lord of the Rings franchise has existed in the world of literature, fans have yearned to see the various Ages of Middle-earth adapted into various formats. With prior standouts including Ralph Bakshi’s 1978 animated film and Peter Jackson’s Oscar-winning feature trilogy in the 2000s, the LOTR-verse is set to expand in vast and exciting ways in the form of Prime Video’s upcoming episodic series, which has been cloaked in various layers of mystery regarding its central plot, characters, and even the show’s title. That’s thankfully all changed now, as 2022 has delivered arguably the biggest update yet regarding the streaming adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s source material. So let’s get to it!
What Is The Title Of The Lord Of The Rings Series?
As revealed by Amazon Studios through the awe-worthy video below, the Prime Video streaming service's first dive into Tolkien lore will be called The Lord of the Rings: The Rings Of Power. And it shouldn't take a whole lot of speculative imagination for longtime fans to guess what this live-action tale will consist of. (Hint: it's about powerful rings.) But while going through that initial wave of pondering, check out the slick announcement video below, crafted entirely through physical effects.
Just by existing as a big-budgeted TV fantasy epic, the LOTR series will inevitably draw comparisons to Game of Thrones, and while the video above certainly doesn't squash such comparisons, the practical nature of the molten metal being poured into carved wood is visually distinct and has more of a working class vibe over GoT's gilded nature. Plus, when you have the lines from the "Ring Verse" serving as narration, there's absolutely no question where you're at.
What Will The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power Be About?
In a sense, the answer to the above question is "everything we could have hoped," as far as the basic concepts go. It sounds like showrunners J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay set themselves up for a wildly challenging task in bringing the Second Age to life, and it doesn't seem like they were eager to leave anything behind, either. Here's how the duo explained it in a statement:
This is a title that we imagine could live on the spine of a book next to J.R.R. Tolkien's other classics. The Rings of Power unites all the major stories of Middle-earth's Second Age: the forging of the rings, the rise of the Dark Lord Sauron, the epic tale of Númenor, and the Last Alliance of Elves and Men. Until now, audiences have only seen on-screen the story of the One Ring - but before there was one, there were many...and we're excited to share the epic story of them all.
Could fans possibly be introduced to a humanized version of Sauron that actually sticks around and gets a bit of thoughtful character development, or will The Rings of Power continue to keep the evil unblinking entity largely in the shadows of our nightmares? How quickly into the first season will the ring-forging begin, and will it follow or diverge from the sequence of the verse? (A delightfully dorky question, no?) How big of a resistence will the Númenóreans put forth?
And can we assume that the showrunners are talking about the events taking place across the entire series, or will the first season alone somehow tap into the bulk of these narrative paths? The show reportedly received a 24-episode order from Amazon Studios in the early days, though it's not yet clear what the future holds beyond that initial stretch. My guess: more battles.
While nothing was revealed in the title announcement about how merchandizing is going to be handled for The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, I cannot wait to have a set of Prime Video-specific rings on my shelf at some point. Assuming they look cool, of course. Were there ever a lot of dinky 25-cent vending machines in Middle-earth? Probably not.
We know that Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power will be hitting Prime Video on Friday, September 2, with future installments releasing weekly in order to give fans as much time as possible to pore over past episodes while anticipating the next one’s arrival. As we patiently wait to get a better idea of what the show’s New Zealand-y world will look like, be sure to check out our 2022 TV premiere schedule to see what other new and returning shows will be popping up before that September premiere date arrives.
