‘The Lord of the Rings’ Amazon Prime Series Confirms Release Date
When Peter Jackson first took us into the world of Middle-earth in The Lord of the Rings trilogy movies in December 2001, the world fell even more in love with J.R.R. Tolkien’s epic masterpiece. While J.R.R. Tolkien only published The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy before his death in 1973, he had worked on countless other books written about the lore, stories, characters, and languages of Middle-earth. These manuscripts and books were put together and published posthumously by Tolkien’s son, Christopher Tolkien. Among these books, the one that is the most completed is The Silmarillion.
The Silmarillion takes place before the events of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings in the First and Second Age of Middle-earth. It includes such stories as the famous story of Beren and Luthíen, Fëanor and the Silmarills, Sauron’s rise and Morgoth’s defeat, and the rise and fall of Numenor, just to name a few. Of the characters in The Lord of the Rings, the only one that has been alive since the beginning is Gandalf as he is a Valar and does not die. We also see Galadriel and eventually Elrond as well in The Silmarillion.
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When Peter Jackson finished The Hobbit trilogy we all expected that to be the end of Middle-earth onscreen since the Tolkien Estate and Christopher Tolkien were very careful with what they allowed to be onscreen. However, it was announced several years after The Battle of the Five Armies, and after Christopher Tolkien had passed away, that Amazon Prime was going to be making a series that takes place in Middle-earth. Fans waited for awhile to see confirmation as to when that might take place in the saga, with speculation that it would be taking place during the events of The Silmarillion. It was confirmed by Amazon recently that it would indeed be taking place during The Silmarillion, but with restrictions as to when and where as the Tolkien Estate was still being careful with what they allowed Hollywood to do with Tolkien’s work. They were within good reason as Hollywood does have a tendency to take great epics and ruin them or completely change the storyline such that it no longer stays true to the heart of the story.
Casting and crew calls have been going on in the recent months and fans have waited eagerly for news as to when the Amazon Prime series would be released to the world. On August 2nd, The Lord of the Rings on Prime Twitter account finally released that date: September 2, 2022. There is no title yet so we do not know exactly what the series will cover. However, Amazon’s official description of the series reads:
“The new epic drama brings to screens for the very first time J.R.R. Tolkien’s fabled Second Age of Middle-earth’s history. Beginning in a time of relative peace, thousands of years before the events of J.R.R. Tolkien’s ‘The Hobbit’ and ‘The Lord of the Rings’ books, 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.”
This seems to indicate that we will see many of the key players in The Silmarillion, as well as, perhaps Gandalf, Galadriel, and Elrond, which is very exciting.
In addition to the announcement of the release date, the production team revealed the first real look at what they are doing.
In regards to the release date, head of Amazon Studies Jennifer Salke commented:
“The journey begins September 2, 2022, with the premiere of our original ‘The Lord of the Rings’ series on Prime Video. 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.”
The fact that this series is being filmed in New Zealand, which is where Peter Jackson filmed the original Lord of the Rings trilogy, has made many fans very happy. There is hope that it will have the same look and feel as the original movies.
Showrunners J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay added their own thoughts to the release date news:
“As Bilbo says, ‘Now I think I am quite ready to go on another journey.’ 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."
Here is a largerversion of the image:
We do also have some confirmed cast members as well, and many of them have quite the resume. However, we have no idea who they will be portraying as of yet. According to Comicbook.com, they include:
“Robert Aramayo (Game of Thrones, The King’s Man), Joseph Mawle (Game of Thrones), Markella Kavenagh (Picnic at Hanging Rock), Morfydd Clark (His Dark Materials), Ema Horvath (Like.Share.Follow., Don’t Look Deeper), Benjamin Walker (Jessica Jones), Charles Edwards (The Crown), Will Fletcher (The Girl Who Fell), Amelie Child-Villiers (The Machine), and newcomer Beau Cassidy, in addition to many more.”
Amazon is sparing no expense when it comes to this series, making it one of the most expensive to make with a billion-dollar budget. According to TheOneRing.net, the series has been filming for the past 18 months in New Zealand, but has been super secretive except for the small recent announcements. Filming for the first season was completed on August 2nd.
Fans are eagerly awaiting anymore news concerning the series, and hopefully, we will not have to wait too long.
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Source: ComicBook.com, TheOneRing.net