Well, here we finally are. After Amazon acquired the television rights for The Lord of the Rings in November 2017, they committed to a five series deal worth at least $1 billion. And they have just announced the official release date of season one:
2nd SEPTEMBER 2022.
With series 1 estimated to have already cost $465 million, that is definitely a date for your diary! Along with the official release date, Amazon also released the below teaser image, which is apparently from the first episode.
Although we do not know many details about the show so far (it does not even have a name yet), the official plot synopsis certainly does enough the whet the appetite:
“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 Middle-earth”.
No doubt the most intriguing part of the synopsis that will get fans talking is that there will be some familiar characters involved in the show.
It has been rumoured for a while that Sir Ian McKellen could reprise his role as Gandalf, and who wouldn’t be a fan of that idea? Certainly, wizards are some of the only characters who could survive thousands of years between the two timelines, so maybe we could see more members of The White Council.
Another option is the elves. They certainly live for long enough and could well feature some returning faces.
So far, there has been over 30 actors confirmed for the show, but no character names or any other details.
One thing is for sure, we can not wait for the first advert and all the other details to be released over the next year.
In the word of Bilbo Baggins, ‘I think I am quite ready for another adventure’.
