Friend of Fanattik Jonathan was pleased to see the recent image from the new Lord of the Rings TV series, so has written us a blog about the epic.
It has been 20 years since Peter Jackson’s first Lord of the Rings movie, The Fellowship of the Ring, premiered in theatres in 2001. The next two instalments – The Two Towers and The Return of the King – followed suit in 2002 and 2003 respectively. The movie trilogy, based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s epic novels, received outstanding worldwide acclaim, grossing $2.991 billion. It therefore came as no surprise that fans of Tolkien’s fantasy world were overjoyed at the announcement that Amazon Studios would be producing a new Lord of the Rings television series set to premiere on September 2nd 2022.
The upcoming series will depart from the events narrated in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, as it will focus on the Second Age of the history of Middle-earth – a period which saw several heroic deeds unfold. These events took place thousands of years prior to the drama of Tolkien’s most famous published works (The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings) and their subsequent rendition on screen. While the overall setting of Middle-earth will therefore feel familiar, fans will be treated to a whole new level of cinematic goodness on Amazon Prime.
The series will follow an ensemble of characters as they face a long-dreaded re-emergence of evil that is on the verge of encompassing Middle-earth in darkness. Indeed, one might consider this the first, purest form of evil that entered Middle-earth in principle, countless years prior to the evil brought about by Sauron the Ring Lord in The Lord of the Rings. Principal locations of importance in the unfolding of the series’ events will include the doomed island kingdom of Númenor, the foreboding Misty Mountains as well as the magical forests of Lindon. New heroes will rise to perform deeds that will shape the course of Middle-earth for years to come.
Fans will be thrilled to know that a minimum of five seasons are planned for this series, with each season featuring 8-10 episodes. This should give the directors ample room to sufficiently flesh out the stories – something that was not entirely possible in Peter Jackson’s movie adaptations, in which case the extended editions tried to somewhat cater for deficiencies. The first two seasons started to be filmed in January of last year in New Zealand, which looks set to be the prime filming location as it was for the movies.
A first official look has been released recently, featuring a breath-taking vista of a vast city in the distance, with a white-clad character looking on. It might be just a teaser, but it has definitely piqued the interest of many who cannot wait to delve into this new series. As mentioned, the show will be released on 2nd September 2022, and will air exclusively on Amazon’s Prime Video in over 240 locations across the globe. The first season is scheduled to include eight episodes released weekly. With a massive budget of $465 million, it will be very interesting to see whether what has been labelled as “the biggest TV show in history” will ultimately live up to its hype!
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