Will this be the one show to rule them all? We won't know until next year.
On Monday, August 2, Amazon Studios announced the premiere date for their highly anticipated Lord of the Rings prequel series. The upcoming fantasy adventure series, which has yet to be formally named, will arrive on Amazon Prime Video on September 2, 2022.
"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," Jennifer Salke, Head of Amazon Studios, said in a statement. "Our talented producers, cast, creative, and production teams have worked tirelessly in New Zealand to bring this untold and awe-inspiring vision to life."
Alongside the premiere date announcement, which came just as production for season one wrapped, Amazon Studios dropped a striking new image from the series. In the photo, an unnamed character takes in a scenic view, which looks almost unreal. So, it's safe to say the show's reported $465 million budget has been put to good use.
The series promises new adventures, characters and more as it takes place thousands of years before the events of J.R.R. Tolkien's classics, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Unfortunately, this means you can't expect a Frodo (Elijah Wood) cameo when the premiere arrives next year.
Per Amazon Studios, the yet-to-be named series "brings to screens for the very first time the heroic legends of the fabled Second Age of Middle-earth's history…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."
The description continued, "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."
As for the performers who will round out this ensemble cast? That would be Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Robert Aramayo, Owain Arthur, Maxim Baldry, Nazanin Boniadi, Morfydd Clark, Ismael Cruz Córdova, Charles Edwards, Trystan Gravelle, Sir Lenny Henry, Ema Horvath, Markella Kavenagh, Joseph Mawle, Tyroe Muhafidin, Sophia Nomvete, Lloyd Owen, Megan Richards, Dylan Smith, Charlie Vickers, Leon Wadham, Benjamin Walker, Daniel Weyman and Sara Zwangobani.
You can find the first look for the LOTR prequel series above.
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