Return to Middle Earth: Lord of the Rings Hits the Small Screen

Amazon revives the world’s most iconic fantasy franchise in the form of a big-budget, five-season TV series

Thousands of years before Frodo and his friends set out to destroy the One Ring, a powerful golden sphere that could rule over all other rings, there was the forging of the Rings of Power in the Second Age. Avid readers know that author J.R.R. Tolkien’s history of Middle Earth covers centuries upon centuries of legendary lore, but in the new series from showrunners J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay, the rise of Dark Lord Sauron, the fall of the kingdom of Numenor and the last alliance between elves and men are all set to make their way to the screen in a five-season, billion-dollar epic.

When The Rings of Power was in the pre-production stages, Spanish film director J.A. Bayona received a call from the executive producers, telling him his work (like Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom and fantasy drama A Monster Call) appealed to their sensibilities. Bayona, however, was not immediately convinced that this was the right quest for him. “I was curious because I thought that Lord of the Rings on television felt like the right thing to do, but at same time, I was scared that we were going to see the same things again and again,” he explains.

When the director was pitched the arc, not just of the first season but the entire series, he agreed that they were treading new ground. “They did something very smart, which was to centre the story on the Second Age. There’s a precise list of events in the appendices of The Lord of the Rings, but not a storyline. So, it was a very interesting combination of having a solid base consistent with the world of Tolkien, but at the same time, enough freedom to create new characters and give the audience something new,” says Bayona.Amazon StudiosWhile trying to show viewers something that does not regurgitate what Peter Jackson’s films did so well, Tolkien’s themes remain consistent throughout each adaptation. “He was talking about big subject matters, like light vs. darkness, good vs. evil,” says Bayona. “He used fantasy as a mirror to reflect reality in a more precise way than what reality is able to do. Sometimes you have the things right in front of you and you cannot see them, and you need some distance.”

The anticipated series stars a wide array of actors whose faces might be more recognizable than their names. Broadway vet Benjamin Walker, whose onscreen work includes The Underground Railroad and Jessica Jones, plays Gil-Galad, the High King of the Elves. “I really enjoyed exploring the timelessness of the elves and the elvin community,” says Walker. “When you’ve witnessed everyone you know and love die, and you’ve lived through periods of war and periods of peace, how do you muster the strength to have hope? When your heart has been broken over and over again, how can you fall in love with it? That theme for me is unique in that these elves in particular have chosen to stay behind and live for and protect Middle Earth.”

Despite the enormous scope of the project, Walker felt a passion and collaboration similar to that of independent filmmaking throughout the process. “I mean, yes, the scale of it is huge. The army of craftsmen and artists that have come together to collaborate, to create this world, I’m not diminishing it. But on the day, there was a level of collaboration that felt to me like guerilla filmmaking, where everyone is trying to milk every bit of magic out of every scene,” says Walker. “That’s been really refreshing. It doesn’t feel like we’re jumping into some huge machine.”

In terms of preparing himself for reactions from ferocious fans, Walker warmly welcomes any kind of discussion. “Anytime you have excitement and support from people who know and love the material as much as you do, it’s only a good thing,” he says. “I don’t want to do work and then have people say, ‘I’m going to go have a pizza.’ I want them to do work and then have an argument about it.” Saying that, Walker believes that viewers will be pleasantly surprised. “We’re lucky that Tolkien’s writing is so dense that multiple interpretations can be freestanding and their own separate pieces of art. The things that people love about the movies will also be enjoyable in our version. And I don’t think they’re mutually exclusive. There’s enough love for Tolkien for them both to exist.” Morfydd Clark plays a younger version of iconic Lord of the Rings elf Galadriel. by what they see. “The hardest part is seeing fan support and having to encourage them to be patient. ‘You don’t want to know spoilers. You don’t want a teaser until it’s ready. You want to let it come and wash over you. You want to go on the journey with us.’ ”

In the end, Walker feels there will be plenty to dig into, whether you are a Jackson loyalist or a brand-new viewer. “We’re lucky that Tolkien’s writing is so dense that multiple interpretations can be freestanding and their own separate pieces of art,” he says. “The things that people love about the movies will also be enjoyable in our version. And I don’t think they’re mutually exclusive. There’s enough love for Tolkien for them both to exist.”

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power premieres Friday, September 2nd on Prime Video