After years of waiting, Amazon Studios today lifted the lid on its long-awaited Lord of the Rings prequel series, The Rings of Power as it released the first teaser.
Set during the Second Age of Middle-Earth—thousands of years before the events of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, which take place at the climax of the Third Age—The Rings of Power introduces us to a world on the precipice of returned evils, as the Dark Lord Sauron plots to deceive the Elves into helping him forge the titular Rings of Power, the magical trinkets he plans to spread across the rulers of the races of Middle-Earth, and through them dominate their will with a secret ring, binding them all together.
The trailer gives a few glimpses at characters we know from the books and films—most notably Morfydd Clark and Robert Aramayo, who are playing younger versions of the long-lived elves Galadriel and Elrond—as well as some of the new characters created for the show, including Ismael Cruz Cruz Córdova and Nazanin Boniadi, as the Silvan Arondir, and Bronwyn, a human healer who finds herself drawn to the Wood-Elf, as well as a look at the underground Dwarven realms of Khazad-dûm, and their princess Disa, played by Sophia Nomvete.
With an estimated budget of $1 billion, the series is by far the most expensive television production ever. It is also the more expensive than any movie ever made.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power will premiere with its eight-episode season 1 on September 2, 2022.