In about a month’s time, the next installment in the film catalog of J. R. R. Tolkien’s legendarium will debut on Amazon Prime with The Rings of Power. Today, Entertainment Weekly (EW) released their exclusive look into the new show with interviews with the cast and showrunners of the new show.

The Rings of Power has been mostly shrouded in mystery until the recent release of the trailers and exclusive articles, and the article delves into that. Even actors were forbidden from entering other sets if they didn’t belong there. Elvish characters could not make their way onto the Dwarven sets, and vice versa, leaving the cast to try and find creative ways to get sneak peeks into the different sets. With the start of the pandemic in 2020 coinciding with the beginning of production and the base of filming being in New Zealand, many cast members found themselves isolated from their families. They had to bond together as the fellowship in the Jackson films did. Actress Sophia Nomvete, who portrays Dwarven Princess Disa, had just given birth to her child and brought her family with her to New Zealand. The cast came together as a family and helped each other through one of the most difficult times in modern history.

The Harfoots of The Rings of Power — Image Source: Entertainment Weekly

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EW touches several times on the immense pressure the showrunners and cast are facing as they work on this intellectual property. There is no doubt that Tolkien has a massive following the world over, with many people well versed in his legendarium looking into this new show with eagle-eyed precision, and that fact is not lost on the showrunners Patrick McKay and J.D. Payne. Described as “Tolkien obsessives,” McKay and Payne frequently switch into fluent Elvish during interviews. Payne commented on the joy they have had writing for the show, and the stress:

“We care so much about this, and we want to get it right, and we know what this means to so many people…This isn’t a job you do just to get another job. This is a job that is going to be part of your legacy forever.”

They do have an advantage going for them. The show will take place in the Second Age, thousands of years before the Lord of the Rings trilogy, which is set in the Third Age. This era is also one of the least explored by Tolkien. As pointed out by EW, “The Second Age is far more mysterious, and although the professor (Tolkien) sketched out the main bullet points — the reemergence of Sauron, the forging of the rings of power, the rise and fall of Númenor — he also left a lot of questions unanswered.” The showrunners want to explore this period as archaeologists, uncovering the stories of the Second Age that were not written.

Galadriel and Elendil in The Rings of Power — Image Source: Entertainment Weekly

Cast members have also done their part to immerse themselves in Tolkien’s wide array of writings. Robert Aramayo, who plays Elrond, poured himself into Tolkien’s works. He saw Elrond as the loremaster and took on that mantle as well, familiarizing himself with the many stories Tolkien wrote. Ismael Cruz Córdova, portraying the newly created character Arondir, spent his time in isolation in New Zealand studying martial arts for his character’s agile martial prowess. Even the actors portraying the Dwarves, Sophia Nomvete and Owain Arthur, Disa and Durin IV, respectively, studied forging and smithing, the craft of the mountain-dwelling Dwarves.

The task before them all is to try and satisfy the established fans, as well as bring the lore of Tolkien to a new generation of fans. Adapting such mysterious and wide-reaching works the likes of which Tolkien wrote to the screen is difficult, and some adjustments are needed, especially with characters that live for thousands of years like the Elves. Peter Jackson took some creative liberties with his interpretation of The Lord of the Rings and famously when he turned The Hobbit into a trilogy. While much of The Ring of Powers is still an unknown beyond what heavily edited trailers convey, fans won’t have to wait much longer to learn more about the Second Age.

The Ring of Powers premieres on Amazon Prime Video on September 2, 2022