Amazon’s ‘Lord Of the Rings’ Series Gets Sept 2022 Premiere Date & “First Look” Photo
As filming on Season 1 wraps, Amazon has announced a premiere date for the (still yet to be named…) ‘Lord Of the Rings‘, along with a little “first look” teaser image, which you can see above.
The forthcoming series 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.
“The journey begins September 2, 2022 with the premiere of our original The Lord of the Rings series on Prime Video,” commented Jennifer Salke, Head of Amazon Studios. “I can’t express enough just how excited we all are to take our global audience on a new and epic journey through Middle-earth! Our talented producers, cast, creative, and production teams have worked tirelessly in New Zealand to bring this untold and awe-inspiring vision to life.”
So, yes… Bit of a wait before we head into Middle Earth again, but then we’ve been waiting since 2017 when the show was first announced, so what’s another 13 months! The series should be somewhat spectacular, given it has a budget of $1 billion, spread over 5 seasons, making it the most expensive tv show ever made. The series is, of cause, filmed in New Zealand (in this case Auckland) and kicked off production in February 2020… just as the pandemic shut everything down again. Thankfully, they were in New Zealand, which avoided the worst of COVID, and managed to get things back up and running after a few months unscheduled break.
“As Bilbo says, ‘Now I think I am quite ready to go on another journey,’” commented showrunners J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay. “Living and breathing Middle-earth these many months has been the adventure of a lifetime. We cannot wait for fans to have the chance to do so as well.”
The large cast for the series includes (deep inhale of breath…) Robert Aramayo, Owain Arthur, Nazanin Boniadi, Morfydd Clark, Ismael Cruz Córdova, Ema Horvath, Markella Kavenagh, Joseph Mawle, Tyroe Muhafidin, Sophia Nomvete, Megan Richards, Dylan Smith, Charlie Vickers, Daniel Weyman, Sir Lenny Henry, Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Maxim Baldry, Ian Blackburn, Kip Chapman, Anthony Crum, Maxine Cunliffe, Trystan Gravelle, Thusitha Jayasundera, Fabian McCallum, Simon Merrells, Geoff Morrell, Peter Mullan, Lloyd Owen, Augustus Prew, Peter Tait, Alex Tarrant, Leon Wadham, Benjamin Walker and Sara Zwangoban. However, at the moment, we have no idea who anyone is playing…
Payne and McKay developed the series and serve as showrunners. They exec produce alongside Lindsey Weber, Callum Greene, director J.A. Bayona, Belén Atienza, Justin Doble, Jason Cahill, Gennifer Hutchison, Bruce Richmond, and Sharon Tal Yguado, co-executive producer/director Wayne Che Yip, director Charlotte Brändström and producer Christopher Newman.
I’m not entirely sure what the “first look” image is of… Suggestions on Twitter (from people who know far more about Tolkien than me!) are saying if you look in the background it seems like those are The Two Trees of Valinor... However, they were destroyed in the First Age, and this is set in the Second Age. Could be some sort of flashback maybe? The city in the front is possibly Tirion upon Túna in Aman, but we’ll find out for sure next year!
The ‘Lord Of the Rings‘ series will premiere Friday, 2nd September 2022 on Amazon Prime UK and worldwide.
