Check out the trailer here…

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power 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 books, 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 one of the greatest villains 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 reemergence 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 farthest reaches of the map, these kingdoms and characters will carve out legacies that live on long after they are gone.

The new behind-the-scenes look can now be accessed by X-Ray, via a full-screen experience that can be launched anytime while watching the series. It gives audiences to take a close, personal look at Season One’s production, allowing fans to discover how the series meticulously brought J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth to life in all of its splendor. These “making of” pieces, each corresponding to one of the first season’s eight episodes, provide a thrilling deep dive into the series, with exclusive access, behind-the-scenes footage, and interviews with the cast, showrunners, executive producers, directors, and production team.

To access X-Ray via mobile device or web browser on Prime Video, move your cursor, tap the screen, and/or pause the series to reveal on-screen X-Ray controls. X-Ray’s on-screen Quickview mode disappears after a few moments, so to see X-Ray information again, just tap, click or move your cursor again. Click or tap “X-Ray View All” at the top left of the screen to enter full screen X-Ray.

On Smart TVs or streaming media devices: The Making of The Rings of Power behind-the-scenes pieces will be available as Bonus Content.  Scroll to the Bonus Content section on the show’s main page, where all eight segments will be available to view individually.

Series One of The Rings Of Power is led by showrunners and executive producers J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay. Headlining the ensemble cast are 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.

All episodes of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power are available now on Prime Video. Read our review of episodes one and two here.

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The Rings Of Power series is set in author J. R. R. Tolkien’s fabled Second Age of Middle-earth’s history. Set thousands of years before the events of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings books, viewers are taken back to an era after Sauron has apparently been defeated (read: disappeared). The elves, who have travelled to Middle Earth to battle Sauron, are no longer trusted and are being encouraged to leave. And that’s especially the case in Númenor, the epic kingdom of men, where elves have been banned and where we meet Elendil, who is trying to raise his children after his wife’s death.

“Númenor at this moment is right on the precipice of some sort of potential civil war,” Owen explains, “but it’s essentially between the more nationalist side of the island and the more faithful side of the island, the faithful being more faithful to the elves, and the nationalist called the king’s men who are pushing for a new Númenor. He finds himself torn between those two things and that schism is also reflected within his family. So, for him, it’s a battle between his head and his heart. For the people who know the Lord of the Rings books, Elendil is the 38th great-great-great-great grandfather of Aragorn…”

Yes, speaking of Aragorn, as we all know from The Lord Of The Rings, he’s a descendent of Elendil, who sacrifices himself for his son Isildur, who finally kills Sauron, and it’s this epic battle that the show will eventually build up to. 

“What we know about Elendil is we have to get him to the last alliance of elves and men in a battle with Sauron and the self-sacrificial death. In fighting Sauron, he dies, his sword (called Narsil) breaks, Aragorn it picks up and re-forges it in the books. So, we have to get Elendil all the way over there. 

“Even though he’s on a spur of the Royal family, he’s very much trying to keep his head down, post the loss of his wife. The island of Númenor is a crucial and hugely important part of the tale of our series because it’s Tolkien’s Atlantis. It’s the world that all of the fans who dived into that literature know very well and are looking forward to seeing. And there’s a lot of juice in the politics of that island and how hubris, ego and human failings bring that island down ultimately.”

Indeed, though the kingdom of Númenor is no doubt impressive, there is a lot of unease in its underbelly with regard to the elves. “There’s an envy and jealousy of the elves’ immortality and the Númenoreans want that. It’s ego and it’s not accepting God Ilúvatar’s will for the Númenoreans. Dying is considered a gift from Ilúvatar, but the Numenoreans have moved away from that because they’ve created so much, and they are at the peak of their civilization. It’s an extraordinary place to be. They feel all-powerful. They feel greater than elves. There’s a lot in there about power.”

Elendil is very much embroiled in the politics of Númenor, whether he likes it or not, and his character going from humble sea captain to an integral piece in Middle-earth’s history is part of what the series is about. “Look, if you know your Tolkien lore, then you’ll know that he has to get to that point,” Owen explains. “And I think the joy and fascination of this show is seeing how that happens and those transitions…”

Playing a fabled hero, not only in the books, but to the characters themselves who we know so well from Lord Of The Rings, is a great responsibility and one that Owen has relished.

“This is a character that is very, very close to the hearts of a lot of fans because he’s a hero archetype,” he says. “And because of that self-sacrifice in trying to kill Sauron at the end with the last alliance of elves and men, there’s something that people hold very dear to their heart about this hero Elendil.”

The Rings Of Power series follows an ensemble cast of characters, both familiar and new, including those we’ve met before like Galadriel and Elrond, and ones we’ve heard about like Elendil and Isildur. So the challenge for the series’ showrunners J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay, and indeed its cast, is turning these well-known but little-written-about characters, into real people. These are characters merely referenced in Tolkein’s appendixes in the original books, characters in stories told down by generations. 

“I’m looking forward to opening him up as a character because Tolkien has only put little signposts along the way to that ending, but we don’t really know him,” Owen says. “There’s this great privilege and excitement of turning Elendil into this three-dimensional man that comes with a responsibility.

“We have the chance to inject those Tolkienian themes – many people feel Tolkien was just black and white, evil over good, but actually, when you read his literature, you find that he’s really in the grey of life where people are fallible, where there are moral choices to make. There’s that battle between the head and heart. I think Elendil is a reluctant hero in that sense. He has to learn courage, bravery, and political nous during his lifetime. There’s a lot to put into him and I’m really excited to bring it. Hopefully, we do a job where the fans feel that he’s a fully-rounded character who they can connect with.”

A strange aspect of building a three-dimensional character that viewers fall in love with is the fact that…well… we know his fate. We know Elendil sacrifices himself for his son and dies in the battle against Sauron. We know that Isildur fails to destroy the ring and Sauron rises to power again. However, that doesn’t mean there aren’t still questions to be answered.

“What’s fascinating for me, because Isildur is my son and what we know about Isildur is that he has the opportunity to throw the ring into the fire and he doesn’t take it. The question for me and I put this to Corey Olsen, who’s the Tolkien professor is, if Elendil was in that position, would he throw it into the fire or not? And the Tolkien professor said ‘absolutely yes, he would definitely throw it in’. It was a very quick instinctive reaction. I’m not so sure because even Frodo has to have the ring bitten off his hand by Gollum. So that relationship to the human fallibility of vanity, power, which in terms of my storyline in Númenor, that’s absolutely what the story is about.” 

The last episode of Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power will land on Prime Video on 14 October.

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The filming of Amazon Original’s untitled The Lord of the Rings TV series has now been completed in New Zealand and with it comes a first look at the show (above)!

“The journey begins September 2, 2022 with the premiere of our original The Lord of the Rings series on Prime Video,” said Jennifer Salke, Head of Amazon Studios. “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!

“Our talented producers, cast, creative, and production teams have worked tirelessly in New Zealand to bring this untold and awe-inspiring vision to life.”

The new epic drama brings to screens for the very first time J.R.R. Tolkien’s fabled Second Age of Middle-earth’s history. Beginning in a time of relative peace, thousands of years before the events of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings books, 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.

Headlining this ensemble cast are 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.

The series is led by showrunners and executive producers J.D. Payne & Patrick McKay: “As Bilbo says: ‘Now I think I am quite ready to go on another journey.’ Living and breathing Middle-earth these many months has been the adventure of a lifetime. We cannot wait for fans to have the chance to do so as well,” said Payne and McKay.

The series will launch on Friday, 2 September, 2022 on Prime Video, with new episodes available weekly. 

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