New Posters for ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power’

Prime Video Unveils New Character Posters for its ‘Lord of the Rings’ Series

‘The Rings of Power’ is set years before the events of ‘The Hobbit’ movie.

Amazon Prime's ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power’

Everything about Prime Video’s planned ‘Lord of the Rings’ TV adaptation, ‘The Rings of Power’ has been huge so far, from the $250 million the company spent to buy the rights from the Tolkien estate to the reported $456 million that it has lavished on the first season alone. It makes sense, then, that the initial drop of character posters would be suitably epic, with more than 20 arriving at once.

In keeping with the veil of secrecy that the company has draped across the show so far, the posters don’t specify which characters are on each, though sharp-eyed fans are already hunting for clues.

The cast is also a sprawling affair, with the ensemble including 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.

So far, all we really know in terms of characters is that Clark is playing a younger version of Galadriel (as brought to life by Cate Blanchett in Peter Jackson’s two movie trilogies).

And all we’ve seen of the show is one picture and the impressive opening sequence, which, it was later revealed, was created entirely practically.

This new adaptation of Tolkien’s sprawling fantasy novels comes courtesy of J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay, who have writing credits on movies including ‘Star Trek Beyond’. ‘Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom’s JA Bayona is involved as an executive producer and director along with fellow director Charlotte Brändström.

The Rings of Power, according to the showrunners, unites all the major stories of Middle-earth’s Second Age: the forging of the rings, the rise of the Dark Lord Sauron, the epic tale of Númenor, and the Last Alliance of Elves and Men. “Until now, audiences have only seen onscreen the story of the One Ring — but before there was one, there were many… and we’re excited to share the epic story of them all.”

The “Second Age” refers to a long period in the history of Middle Earth that ends with the defeat of Sauron and precedes Tolkien’s book and Jackson’s ‘Lord of the Rings’ movie trilogy, which take place during the Third Age. The titular Rings of Power were forged in this era and 19 of them were given to elves, dwarves, and humans to incentivize them to support Sauron’s reign. The One Ring, which figures so heavily into the plot of the original trilogy is the most powerful of the 20 (it’s what Frodo and the gang travelled all that way to destroy, after all). The official description mentions an evil even greater than Sauron, which probably points Morgoth, a god-like creature who tried to rule Middle-earth – and that had Sauron serving as his general.

And Prime Video clearly has confidence in the series – though you can imagine it’s also looking for more return on its massive investment – as Season 2 has already been commissioned and will shoot in the UK. (Season 1 shot in New Zealand, which seems fitting given that’s where the movies filmed).

‘The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power’ will launch on Prime Video on Friday, September 2 this year, with new episodes dropping weekly.