The Lord of the Rings series from Amazon Studios is set to premiere on September 2, 2022 on Amazon Prime Video, the streaming giant announced on Tuesday. The show will have new episodes released on a weekly basis.
The yet-to-be-titled show’s first season has been wrapped up in New Zealand.
Based on author JRR Tolkein’s ‘fabled Second Age of Middle-Earth’s history’, the series will be a prequel to the existing films in the franchise, set thousands of years before the events of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings books, according to a press release.
The statement adds that 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.”
An earlier statement from the streaming platform said that the series will attempt to reach the furthest locations on the map of the LOTR universe. “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 statement said.
The new series will feature an ensemble cast comprising Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Robert Aramayo, Owain Arthur, Maxim Baldry, Nazanin Boniadi, Morfydd Clark, Ismael Cruz Córdova, and Charles Edwards.
Other actors include 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.
The series will be led by show-runners and executive producers JD Payne and Patrick McKay. They will be joined by executive producers Lindsey Weber, Callum Greene, JA Bayona, Belén Atienza, Justin Doble, Jason Cahill, Gennifer Hutchison, Bruce Richmond, and Sharon Tal Yguado.
Also on board are co-executive producer Wayne Che Yip, director Charlotte Brändström, and producer Christopher Newman.
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The first book in The Lord of the Rings series was published in 1954. It began as a sequel to Tolkien’s 1937 book, The Hobbit. The LOTR book series was adapted into a trilogy by Peter Jackson and the third film in the trilogy, The Return of the King, won 11 Oscars including Best Picture in 2003. Jackson also adapted The Hobbit into a film trilogy.
Apart from the upcoming Amazon original series, an anime feature film based on the fantasy series is also in development at Warner Bros in collaboration with New Line Cinema. Titled The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim, it will be helmed by Ultraman manga series director Kenji Kamiyama and will tell an untold story behind the fortress of Helm’s Deep.