The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Main Teaser Trailer

Amazon Prime has released another teaser trailer for The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. Teaser is right as it does nothing to explain the story but does give you a look at the environments, people, and characters that the series will be following. Just a quick note that Harfoots is ancestor race to the Hobbits.  As part of the release, Entertainment Weekly has an article with the showrunners as they discuss creating the show.  The first 8 episode season will premiere weekly on Amazon Prime starting September 2.

   

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Teaser Trailer

Here it is, the first real look at The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power via a teaser trailer released for Super Bowl Sunday. The series will hit Amazon Prime on September 2, 2022.  Vanity Fair used their previous access to provide some details about the trailer.

Highlights from Inside The Rings of Power Article

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is still months away from release on September 22, 2022. Despite that, Amazon has begun its advertising campaign to raise awareness of the show. Part of that is a trailer that may be released this weekend.  Another part of that is an article in Vanity Fair about the creation and filming the first season of the show in New Zealand (the 2nd season was moved to United Kingdom).  The article is worth reading if only for the pictures but below are a few highlights that are story specific.

- One of the plots is between Galadriel (Morfydd Clark) and Halbrand (Charlie Vickers) who have "entwined destinies". Galadriel is trying find any remaining collaborators of defeated Morgoth (Middle Earth big bad before Sauron) while Halbrand is trying to get away from his past.

- Amazon has not released the budget of the first season but VF estimates five seasons will cost at least $1 billion

- The show is intended, like Tolkiens' books, to be for all ages but that also means there will be scary and violent moments with themes that kids may not understand.

- The Second Age version of the Hobbits are called "harfoots" who live in secrecy.

- Tolkien's Second Age timeline has events taking place over a 2500 year period. Show creators are compressing those major "events into a single point of time".  If tried to stay true to the time line, human characters are dead of old age between seasons as events keep jumping foward in hundreds of year increments and many major characters couldn't be introduced until late into the series run.

- Characters mentioned:

Prince Duran IV (Owain Aruthur), dwarf prince of Khazad-dum

Disa (Sophia Nomvete), dwarf princess of Khazad-dum

Arondir (Ismael Cruz Cordova), elf

Bronwyn (Nazanin Boniadi), human girlfriend of Arondir, mother and healer for village of Tirharad in Middle-Earth's Southlands

Elrond (Robert Aramayo), young elven leader of elvan capital city of Lindon (yep same Elrond as played by Hugo Weaving in the trilogy)

2 harfoots, no names mentioned (Megan Richards and Markella Kavenagh), find a mysterious man

Celebrimbor (Charles Edward), elven smith who helps forge the Rings

Isildur (Maxim Baldry), sailor and eventual ruler of Gondor. Young version of the same man who eventually cuts off the One Ring from Sauron's hand to end the Second Age.

Sauron, Second and Third Age big bad. For first season more lurking in background creating that tension of incoming danger. May not be seen on screen for awhile.

Amazon Reveals 23 Posters for The Rings of Power

On The Rings of Power Instagram account, Amazon Prime has revealed 23 posters for the cast of the series.  Only they take an interesting approach by focusing on the hands of everyone which may or may not include a look at the rings the title is referring to. No character names, races (aka elves, dwarves, man) are indicated directly but might be able to infer in some cases based on context clues such as closing.  The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is set to debut on Amazon Prime on September 2, 2022. To view hi resolution images of the posters, click here.

Amazon Reveals Title of Middle-Earth Series

Today Amazon Prime finally revealed the official title of their long in development Middle-Earth TV series.  As see in video below, it will be called "The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power".  The series is set to begin on September 2, 2022. Up to this point it was known that the series would be set in the Second Age of Middle-Earth but its been assumed it would focus on the rise of Sauron and forging of the rings. Now its been confirmed.

“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,” said Showrunners J.D. Payne & Patrick McKay. “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.”

For context, the Third Age of Middle-Earth begins with the fall of Sauron as depicted in the opening of Fellowship of the Ring and it ended when the elves, Gandalf and the Hobbit ring-bearers went into the west as seen in the Return of the Ring. This seems like a short amount of time but the Second Age was 3020 years. The events of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogies occurred in the last 80 years of that age.

The Second Age is 3441 years in length. The age began with the fall of Morgoth who Sauron served under. The age is mostly defined as the rise and expansion of of man across Middle-Earth which leads to many wars with each other and the elves and dwarves. During this time Sauron places himself in positions that allow him to increase his power and eventually to convince the Elves of Eregion into forging the rings from 1500 to 1600 (3 for the Elves, 7 for the Dwarves, 9 for Men) while Sauron secretly forged the One Ring. The rings were in active use by all three races until the danger they represented became known, likely when the Men ring-bearers were turned into Ringwraiths.  From 1600 to the end of the age, the known timeline mostly about the elves attempting to stop Sauron from conquering Middle-Earth. Eventually in 3429 that leads to the War of the Last Alliance where dwarves, elves and man work together to defeat Sauron. 

That is a whole lot of ground to cover and its not all war, all the time. Sauron can simply be depicted in a fashion similar as the white walkers of Game of Thrones - a looming threat with occasional comment on events heard from distant lands. Despite that threat alliances form and fail, war between others occur within the greater war all while Sauron goes about his business of building his own army and slowly conquering Middle-Earth. The details on this period are light with JRR Tolkien telling small stories within and providing enough to form a timeline but there is a whole lot of wiggle room on how to get to the final destination - the Last Alliance. 

The real question will be exactly how close to the Last Alliance will the story begin? Will they compress 1500 years of stories into the show's run? Start with the end and use flashbacks to fill out all the events that led to the Alliance?  In short, there is a whole lot of story potential to tap that could fill many seasons of the series. It should be exciting for all fans of The Lord of the Rings films.

Howard Shore and Bear McCreary To Score Middle-Earth Series

For the last few days it was being reported that Howard Shore was in discussions to return to Middle-Earth via the Amazon TV series.  Now The One Ring is reporting that the ink has dried on the contracts for not just Howard Shore but also Bear McCreary to compose music for the series.  

Howard Shore, just in case didn't know, is the one behind all the music of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies.  Bear McCreary has credentials nearly as long as Howard Shore but his focus has mostly been scoring video games (God of War) and TV (Battlestar Galactica, Snowpiercer, The Walking Dead). 

The collaboration should produce some great music.  While the division of labor has not been explained, Shore remains highly in demand so likely his involvement will be to help compose integrate his previous work into the new work so that it seems like a natural fit, while also creating new themes around characters and locations. My guess is he will help McCreary create the skeleton of the series sound while McCreary will do most of the heavy lifting with the episode to episode scoring work.

Middle-Earth TV Series Moving to United Kingdom

Amazon has announced that their Middle-Earth TV series based on The Lord of the Rings trilogy is switching filming locations.  The first season filmed in New Zealand, to take advantage of the geography that worked so well for the films and also some hefty tax breaks.  For season 2, the production will take place in the United Kingdom.

The change in location decision is simply odd. And expensive. Amazon has provided no explanation. The first season is said to cost $465 million before a 20% tax break. A tax break that would have increased to 25% for the second season. Some of that money would have been re-couped in the second season by reusing locations, sets, etc. in New Zealand except that is no longer the case. While parts of production may be moved wholesale, I wouldn't be surprised in many cases simply rebuilding the sets in UK will be cheaper. It also means laying off the now experienced Middle-Earth New Zealand crew and replacing them with UK based crew, so no savings there either.  

Middle-Earth Official Photo Marks Production End, Release Date

Amazon Studios' Middle-Earth series set in the second age (aka The Lord of the Rings prequel), has officially ended filming in New Zealand. With news of moving officially to post-production, we have the first official image from the series and a release date. The series will premiere weekly starting Friday, September 2, 20022 on Prime Video.

Yep there is a full year of waiting to go before get a look at this series that is heavily inspired and influenced by the look and design of Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy.  The series does not yet have an official title but I suspect be something like The Lord of the Rings: The Second Age or something like that so people know what its part of.  Below is the full press release.

Amazon's Middle-Earth 1st Season Costs More Than Trilogy

Amazon's Middle-Earth series (its not a Lord of the Rings series despite news reports unable to get that right) continues to film in New Zealand. Part of the decision to film there wasn't just because it was used for The Lord of the Rings trilogy whose look and feel will strongly influence the series, but also because of a subsidy that the country agreed to for them to film there.  Due to that, it means public disclosure.  

NZ Stuff news site is reporting that the cost of the first season of the Middle-Earth series is estimated to be $465 million (converted from kiki dollars) calculated from the $116 million subsidy paid to Amazon. This would likely make it the most expensive television season ever made. For comparison, the most expensive trilogy ever, The Hobbit, costs $623 million while the Lord of the Rings trilogy was $300 million. 

The assumption is the costs will dramatically go down for seasons that follow as a lot of it is startup costs due to getting such a large scale production going. Part of it essentially building a mini city to feed and house all involved in filming the series since a good chunk of cast and crew will come from around the world, not just pulled from New Zealand.  That is estimated to be 1,200 people directly and additional 700 indirectly (think vendors of supplies and the like). 

The series is aiming for a cinematic look, as a result its effectively like starting LOTR and Hobbit films from scratch all over again with likely the same scale of the two combined. Since its a fantasy realm, its means pretty much every location has to be built in some form or fashion. Add to that the cost costumes, weapons and a slew of other things. However, where those movie builds only had to last for at most a few months of filming at a location, I suspect all these build-outs have to be much more robust (and so more expensive) as they will be used repeatedly over potentially years of filming.

End result is it tells you that Amazon is not cutting any corners on this series and what we will get should, if the writing and acting is there, be something that will stand proudly with the Lord of the Rings trilogy and maybe surpass it.  Seasons 1 and 2 of the series is currently in production. There is no information number of episodes or when it will be released but at current pace it appears to be either late this year or sometime next year.

Official Synopsis for Amazon's Middle-Earth Series

It looks like we finally have a synopsis for the Middle-Earth series that looks to be acting as a prequel of sorts to the Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings books which is in the Third Age of Middle-Earth. The series is set in the Second Age of Middle-Earth which is a time frame where Suaron repeatedly tried to gain control of the world and also eventually forged the rings of power.

Amazon Studios’ 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.

At its core, the Second Age is about the conflicts that arose between various kingdoms of man, elves, and dwarves with Sauron often driving the conflicts from behind the scenes. Its really a fantasy version of the same political intrigue that plagued Europe in the middle ages. Only in Middle-Earth terms these events take place over thousands of years as everyone involved are verly long lived. I imagine Amazon plans on condensing the time line significantly (or at least ignoring it) since the rise and fall of many of the kingdoms could probably be told as if events occured on a 100 year or so time scale. If interested in an overview of the known history of Middle-Earth, its worth reading the timeline put together by Collider.

Amazon's Middle-Earth TV Series Gets Season 2 Renewal

Amazon either must the pre-production plans they are getting or the costs were higher then expected for their Middle-Earth TV series. The first season isn't even halfway filmed and its been officially renewed for a second season. While other sites keep referring to it as "The Lord of the Rings Series", remember it isn't. The streamer is contractually obligated to avoid using anything related to The Lord of the Rings with possibly (unconfirmed) exceptions for characters that were alive during the Second Age (such as Sauron).

The first season is still in pre-production with filming expected to start next year in New Zealand. After the first 2 episodes of season 1 is filmed, the production will take a four to five month break while writers and producers look use this sorta of pilot to tweak season 1 scripts and now plan and write most of season 2. Filming on season 1 then will continue but with a fully planned season 1 and 2 it will allow them to effectively film both seasons at the same time which should save Amazon a whole lot of money on production. After all this was the same reason Peter Jackson and New Line Cinema chose to do all three films at the same time. Its cheaper to say build the an Elvan set out in the New Zealand woods and film everything needed in over the course of a few months then it is to maintain multiple sets and locations over the course of potentially years just in case the story later requires them to return to the location later. That high cost of on location set building and maintenance is the primary reason most sci-fi and fantasy films tend to film in studios on a few primary sets or just in the open woods or cities.

So the good news is 2 guaranteed season of Middle-Earth. The bad news that line of "back to back" filming to save money effectively will delay the release of season 1 mid to late 2022 2021 at the earliest (brain was thinking month away from 2021, nope not on drugs).

Amazon Middle Earth Show Forbidden to Contradict Tolkien and Avoid Rings Time Period

A question I had after it was announced that Amazon would produce a TV series set in Middle Earth, was why the Tolkien Estate would agree to it. The Estate has long had a disliked Hollywood and really hated the Peter Jackson versions of Tolkien's books (Hobbit I get, LOTR trilogy not so much). However, they do enjoy the financial windfall that came from such agreements. The agreement meant that something had to have been conceded so the Estate could hold its nose while cashing fresh new checks. As reported by Engadget, they were pretty significant concessions. The Tolkien estate has veto power over the show, the First Age & Third Age (aka The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings is in) is off limits, and published continuity must be maintained (so relevant info in the Appendices, The Silmarillion, etc.).

"The Tolkien estate will insist that the main shape of the Second Age is not altered," Tolkien scholar and series supervisor Tom Shippey told the German Tolkien Society. During this period, Sauron tries to reform Middle-earth for the better but falls into evil, becoming a powerful and oppressive ruler. "Sauron invades Eriador, is forced back by a Númenorean expedition, returns to Númenor. There he corrupts the Númenoreans and seduces them to break the ban of the Valar. All this, the course of history, must remain the same."

Shippey points out that although the broad strokes of the history of the Second Age are established, there are plenty of unanswered questions about the events of the period, such as what Sauron did after the fall of Morgoth. Amazon can take creative license to create its own story within this history, as long as it doesn't contradict Tolkien's writings.

The Tolkien estate maintains power of veto over any content in the show, Shippey says, and is willing to nix anything that doesn't fit with Tolkien's vision. The First Age and the Third Age of Middle-earth (in which the books are set) are both "off-limits" to the TV show, so don't expect to see hobbits, Gondorians or many familiar faces in the new adaptation.

Amazon must have really wanted this show. The Tolkien Estate has long been difficult to work with as very demanding with the viewpoint that the text is sacrosanct and any attempt to convert it to film should be a near 1 to 1 translation. As someone that has read The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and tried to read other Tolkien works, a one to one translation would have made for horrible and incredibly boring viewing.

I have always said that JRR Tolkien is a gifted world builder but a below average writer. For example there were entire sections of The Lord of the Rings that served no purpose or function. For example when get bored look up Tom Bombadil. Die hard Tolkien fans still have not forgiven Peter Jackson for not including this character in the films. The reason is simple - he served no purpose. Its clear Tolkien liked the concept of the character, write some stuff, got bored of him, and never circled back to him within the story. It was an easy cut to make when translating the text to film. All the coincidences in The Hobbit movies where everyone just seems to get lucky? Yeah that wasn't just from the movies, it was built into the book. Why figure out clever solutions when can just deux ex Machina your way out which Tolkien did many many times in the book. Absolutely nothing wrong with irrelevant characters and luck as a solution. Books do it all the time. Movies and TV shows, on the other hand, should actively try to avoid doing that (easier said then done of course).

I do not envy the team that already has the difficult task of taking the very dry material that is Middle Earth lore and turn it into entertaining television. A difficulty that is now compounded by trying to pass muster of the Tolkien Estate that has the contractual position of not having to compromise on their own vision of that lore.

Deal Signed for The Lord of the Rings TV Series

Been a while since posted anything as movie stuff is done but it seems Hollywood is not done with The Lord of the Rings. Amazon and the Tolkien Estate lawyers have signed on the dotted line to create a TV series based on the books and it seems the movies will be a source of inspiration for the film depending on how "materials from the films" is defined.

Here is the summary of the main details:
- The cost for the rights was $250 million
- Amazon has to begin production within the next two years or lose rights to make the TV series
- The deal is at least 5 seasons
- The series is estimated to cost around $1 billion to produce assuming the series is only five seasons
- The deal does include access to the films with New Line and Warner Bros Pictures participating in the deal.
- The deal did not include Peter Jackson who directed all the Middle-Earth films but Amazon and Jackson have talked (about what exactly was not detailed)
- The now blacklisted Bob and Harvey Weinsten where not part of the negotiations but its expected they will eventually sue for their cut of the TV show since they own a cut of the movies.

"This is the most complicated deal I've ever seen," [Tolkien Estate attorney Matt ] Galsor says, "but it was handled relatively quickly, in a way that brought the parties together in a close relationship. It was tough, but everybody liked each other and felt like a team more as the deal closed."

The short of it is a TV series is coming. Amazon spent way to much money to fail to start production by the two year deadline. Since "materials" of the film are included its safe to assume the look and feel of the show will directly draft off the films. It also seems to me the series will tie into the films but not retell the films.

For example the story could involve a Rohanian character who participated in the attack on Helm's Deep (shown via flashbacks) and explores his adventures before, during and after the events of the movies. Lots of opportunities like that for the series. It also could take a page from The Hobbit and try to tell a complete live action history of Middle-Earth from say the perspective of Gandalf set way before the films (so recast via younger actor). There were many books to the saga of Middle-Earth, if able to get through often impenetrable language and a dry academic writing style that told the complete history of Middle-Earth that going back thousands of years before the rise of Sauron and after is final fall. The options available are so huge I feel kind of bad for the team that has to finally settle on just one thing. My suspicion is whatever they land on will involve a hobbit, a wizard, and some warriors that suspiciously mirror the Fellowship but isn't the same as they go on a quest to save Middle-Earth from something that isn't Sauron but related. I assume this because at the end of the day the rights were bought due to the popularity of the films and so whatever they come up with will want to align to that comfort level as much as possible.

Amazon Buys Rights to The Lord of the Rings TV Series

Amazon has announced via press release that their quest for a "Game of Thrones" style series has landed the father of them all - The Lord of the Rings. Or at least the rights to telling prequel stories set before The Fellowship of the Ring.

“The Lord of the Rings is a cultural phenomenon that has captured the imagination of generations of fans through literature and the big screen,” said Sharon Tal Yguado, Head of Scripted Series, Amazon Studios. “We are honored to be working with the Tolkien Estate and Trust, HarperCollins and New Line on this exciting collaboration for television and are thrilled to be taking The Lord of the Rings fans on a new epic journey in Middle Earth.”

“We are delighted that Amazon, with its longstanding commitment to literature, is the home of the first-ever multi-season television series for The Lord of the Rings,” said Matt Galsor, a representative for the Tolkien Estate and Trust and HarperCollins. “Sharon and the team at Amazon Studios have exceptional ideas to bring to the screen previously unexplored stories based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s original writings.”

Set in Middle Earth, the television adaptation will explore new storylines preceding J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Fellowship of the Ring. The deal includes a potential additional spin-off series.

Considering that Tolkien Estate's love of suing their partners, Tolkien relatives (especially Christopher Tolkien, son of JRR) hating any interpretation of the material that isn't a word for word translation while always happy to make a deal anyway, I am hoping the Tolkien family involvement remains the cashing of checks only.

No other details were provided so official title, planned release date, era to explore or really anything else except "we have rights to do this" was revealed. An area that is ripe for exploring that would beautifully tie into the movies that are likely to remain a touchstone is to tell the story of the rise of Sauron and the forging of the One Ring. JRR Tolkien's other Middle-Earth books provided a pretty detailed history of Middle-Earth so it will be interesting to see what areas Amazon chooses to explore while seeing how writers expand on his work since often what he wrote was rather matter of fact, dry and detail oriented but not in a way that is TV friendly or honestly reading friendly either.