'The Lord of the Rings' Show Timeline Confirmed
The Lord of the Rings (TLOTR) fans are thrilled about newly revealed details regarding Amazon's upcoming series based in the same world. Amazon confirms the show will occur before the events of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, as first reported by TheOneRing.net.
The full synopsis from Amazon is:
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.
Amazon first announced the show three years ago after the massive success of both Peter Jackson led movie trilogies based on The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit books written by J.R.R. Tolkien. The show's first announcement revealed nothing about its setting. This lead to a few years of speculation on what exactly Amazon intended to do.
Now we know the multi-season series takes place thousands of years before the better known Tolkien books and movies. Tolkien penned other novels set in the same universe, such as The Silmarillion and The History of Middle-earth, published posthumously. Some of these works cover the same period of time referenced by Amazon's treatment.
For those familiar with Tolkien's Middle-earth and its timeline, the synopsis reveals that the show takes place in the Second Age. For those only familiar with the movies, the new series is set approximately 3,000 years before the films' events. The Hobbit and TLOTR books and movie trilogies take place in the Third Age.
Jackson's epic films ushered in a new era of big budget blockbuster movies based on well-loved source material in the early 2000s. This series will be no different even though it will be for the small screen. The new Middle-earth show's budget is rumored to be $500 million, making it the most expensive series ever. Amazon already renewed for a second season based on a five-year commitment.
This level of enthusiasm is promising, considering the show has yet to release an episode. Filming began in 2019 but stopped throughout most of 2020 due to COVID. Lucky for us Tolkien fans, the series is filming in the same country as the movies: New Zealand.
Thanks to a very stringent quarantine protocol adopted by New Zealand's government starting in February of 2020, the country only had 25 pandemic attributed deaths for that year. The country has since lifted almost all internal quarantine restrictions. Before you pack your bags for a visit, our Kiwi friends are keeping strict controls on tourists in place until the virus is safely under control in the rest of the world. The filming of the first two seasons resumed this year. Both seasons will contain 8 to 10 episodes each.
The series will be introducing new characters and locations alongside those already introduced in the cinematic universe. For instance, we will explore the hitherto unseen Númenor. Previously, the studio announced 20 cast members, including Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Benjamin Walker, Peter Mullan, and many actors from New Zealand.
Amazon Studios knows how to build suspense. There is still no word on the characters these actors will portray. We are hoping that will change now that we know the exact era of the show. There is undoubtedly more news to come.
Source(s): Screen Rant