By Amazon Prime's Lord of the Rings series is hotly anticipated as much for its extraordinarily extravagant budget as for its return to Middle Earth. Reportedly, it's going to cost a billion dollars. A billion! $1,000,000,000. That is silly money.
This is everything we know so far about the new Lord of the Rings series. At this stage that does not include intel on whether anyone will say "po-tay-toes – boil 'em, mash 'em, stick 'em in a stew". Sorry.
What's it all about?
We're assuming you know at least the broad strokes of the Lord of the Rings saga as seen in Peter Jackson's trilogy – tiny lad and his gardener sent on a mission by a wizard to destroy a powerful ring which a really evil king-ghost-spirit sort of lives in (?) by throwing it into a volcano, which they eventually do after a lot of faffing about – but none of that will be encroached upon in the Amazon series.
In January 2021, Amazon Studios released a series synopsis – and while it doesn't provide much in the way of specifics, it's the most we've heard so far. It also makes clear, as we knew already, that it will include characters from the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies.
"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."
The island kingdom of Númenor doesn't crop up in the films, and LOTR fan-site theonering.net believes it will be a central location for the series.
Who's in it?
In December 2020, Amazon confirmed a slew of actors who've signed up to the cast. The most eye-catching is Sir Lenny Henry, alongside London-born, American-raised actress Cynthia Addai-Robinson, of Power fame, Doctor Foster’s Thusitha Jayasundera and Scottish veteran Peter Mullan.
Back in January 2020 it was confirmed that Aussie actor Tom Budge and Ismael Cruz Cordova from The Mandalorian and Mary Queen of Scots are in too. Other actors confirmed are Ema Horvath, Markella Kavenagh, Joseph Mawle, Tyroe Muhafidin, Sophia Nomvete, Megan Richards, Dylan Smith and Charlie Vickers.
We thought Will Poulter was nailed on to star, but according to Variety he pulled out citing scheduling conflicts. But! Deadline reported in early January 2021 that Poulter's place has been taken by Robert Aramayo, who you'll no doubt remember from when he played the young Ned Stark in Game of Thrones. The role being handed over is apparently that of the young hero, Beldor.
Another lead was apparently confirmed in early March 2020, with Deadline reporting that the magnificently named Maxim Baldry will be involved. You'll have seen Baldry before if you watched Years & Years, the brilliant near-futureshock series by Russell T Davies, in which he played the Ukrainian refugee Viktor. He's also popped up recently in the slightly odd George Michael-inspired Yuletide film Last Christmas and in Doctor Who as the man who invented vampires.
Plus, in mid-December 2019, Variety reported that Morfydd Clark has been cast as a young incarnation of the glowing forest-dwelling elf Galadriel, who was played in the Jackson trilogy by Cate Blanchett. You’ll know Clark from Rose Glass’s Catholic guilt psychodrama Saint Maud. And if you don’t, then you should really sort that out ASAP.
Other names which are reportedly close include Joseph Mawle, better known as Benjen Stark in Game of Thrones, as a villain called Oren.
How many episodes and series are we looking at here?
Amazon Studios are reportedly filming series one and two back to back this year, with a view to creating at least five seasons – though that could increase or decrease according to how popular it becomes, and how many billions are available at any given time. The first series will run to eight episodes, though it was apparently originally envisioned as a 20-episode monster.
Who's involved behind the cameras?
JA Bayona, who directed Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, will direct the first two episodes and executive produce. "JRR Tolkien created one of the most extraordinary and inspiring stories of all time, and as a lifelong fan it is an honor and a joy to join this amazing team," Deadline reported Bayona as saying. "I can’t wait to take audiences around the world to Middle-earth and have them discover the wonders of the Second Age, with a never before seen story."
Elsewhere, Game of Thrones' Bryan Cogman will be a consulting producer, writers will include Gennifer Hutchison, Jason Cahill, Justin Doble and Helen Shang.
Will it be filmed in New Zealand again?
Yes it will. Jackson's trilogy made great use of the mountains of South Island, including Mount Sunday and Nelson Tasman, and Amazon will be heading back there. As of February 2021, filming is nearly done – Bayona left New Zealand before Christmas 2020, and reports suggest filming on the pilot episode is done.
When is Amazon's 'Lord of the Rings' out?
We don’t know yet, beyond it being at some point this year. But then as a wise man once said: a billion-dollar Amazon Prime series based on the Tolkien universe is never late, Frodo Baggins. Nor is it early. It arrives precisely when it means to, in a stretch Hummer with sick neons.
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