Intro

It won't be long before the time finally arrives and we are once again able to immerse ourselves into the world of Middle-earth and the story surrounding "The Rings of Power". Unlike the famous film trilogy by Peter Jackson, the Amazon series does not revolve around the destruction of Sauron's one ring, but around the original story of how the mighty rings came to be. Some teasers and trailers have already given us a little preview of what the most expensive series of all time might be about. Therefore, we have taken the time to sum up everything you need to know about the cast, the plot as well as the production. 

Time Period

The plot of "The Rings of Power" takes place around 3000 years before the Rings and the Hobbit trilogy. At this point in time, it is the early Second Age in Middle-earth. However, it can also be assumed that the First Age is at least dealt with in flashbacks. The Second Age opens with the victory of the Valar over Morgoth, the primordial source of evil and master of Sauron. During this time, there are no rings yet and even their creator Sauron is still of little importance in Middle-earth. Thus, his rise will certainly be the focus of the action. Also, Middle-earth is still much more mystical than in the Age of Men, who are still a very young race here. Balrogs are far more than just legendary figures and the all-powerful spirit-beings called Valar still have a role to play in world events. 

The Cast

The cast list is very long, which is why we will only discuss actors whose parts are already known. Of course, we will also stumble upon names that are familiar to us from the other six films. However, the makers have also allowed themselves a certain degree of artistic freedom and created some characters that do not originate from Tolkien. 

The Elves

A large part of the cast is made up of the Elves. In the Second Age, they start to expand further in Middle-earth and establish new kingdoms, such as Eregion. Eregion is founded by Galadriel and her husband Celeborn. The young Galadriel is played by the Swedish Morfydd Clark; about a casting of Celeborn nothing is known yet. Elrond must also be part of the cast in this period: The lord of Rivendell will be played by Robert Aramayo. We already know him in his role as the young Eddard Stark from "Game of Thrones". Another important elf of this time is the High King Gil-Galad. He is King of the Noldor, the same Elven race to which Galadriel belongs. Gil-Galad is played by Benjamin Walker, who some of you might know from "Marvel's Jessica Jones". Two other confirmed Elven characters are Míriel and Arrondir. Unfortunately, not much is known about their roles yet, but Arrondir can at least already be spotted in the first trailers and teasers. He is played by Ismael Cruz Córdova, who so far has mostly had small roles in series like "The Mandalorian" or "The Undoing". Míriel is portrayed by Cynthia Addai-Robinson, who has also mostly played small roles up to now. 

Men

The most famous person in the series might be Isildur. His legacy goes back to the old movies. It is the young human prince, after all, who cuts the one ring from Sauron's finger at Mount Doom. In the series he is played by Max Baldry. The movie makers have also created a sister for him named Eärien. She is played by Ema Horvath. Her father Elendil will of course be featured as well and he will be portrayed by Lloyd Owen. The last lord of Andúnië escaped the downfall of the human kingdom Númenor with his sons, after its last king Ar-Pharazôn fell to Sauron and his Rings of Power. Pharazôn will naturally also feature in the series. Indeed, it was him who opened the way for Sauron and his rings to reach mankind. In the series the character is played by Trystan Gravelle. We will also see the King's son, Kemen, played by Leon Wadham. However, the character is not canon and was created specifically for the new series, so we really do not have much information about him. Among men there are more characters, which do not originate from Tolkien. For example, we have the young Browyn from the land of Harad, which at that time was situated between Gondor and Mordor. Browyn gets played by Nazanin Boniadi in the new series. Another is Halbrand, also a human. However, not much is known about his lineage yet. The actor who plays him is Charlie Vickers. 

The Dwarves

To complete the Last Alliance, we still need the dwarves. Here, the known cast is not as big as for the other two races. The best known dwarf, nevertheless, is Durin IV. He was the King of Moria when the Balrog was awakened there. In the series, however, he is not yet king, but still a prince. The aspiring ruler of Khazad Dum is played by Owain Arthur. While Durin has a son named Nain in the books, in the series the creators give him a daughter named Disa instead. This daughter is played by Sophia Nomvete. Other members of the dwarf race are unknown at the moment.

The Hobbits

Actually, the hobbits are not really of much importance in the Second Age. However, since the little inhabitants of the Shire have grown close to the hearts of fans, they will be featured again in "The Rings of Power". A big part will play the Brandyfoot family. This family is totally made up by the creators and does not come from Tolkien's stories. The family consists of Largo, his wife Marigold and their daughter Elanor Brandyfoot. They are played by Dylan Smith, Sara Zwangobani and Markella Kavenagh. And they are not the only hobbits we will meet. Sadoc Burrows, played by the British actor Sir Lenny Henry, and Poppy Proudfellow will also be present. She is an acquaintance of the Brandyfoots and is played by Megan Richards. 

So Far Unknown Characters

With so many roles to play, there are of course characters who already have a name, but about whom, unfortunately, little else is known. The most significant one could be "the Stranger". He is expected to have an important antagonist part in the series. He will be played by Daniel Weyman. We can suppose that he has at least a human appearance. He ends up in Middle-earth during a meteorite impact and is first discovered by the hobbits. The last two characters are Oren and Trevyn. However, about them nothing is known at present. Their names do suggest, though, that they are men. They are played by Joseph Mawle and Simon Merrells. 

Plot

The most important thing besides the cast is of course the plot of the series. It will build up over at least 5 seasons to provide enough attention to all the events in the Second Age. The last trailer gave us some additional material, but still we cannot say with absolute certainty what is going to happen. Nevertheless, the name of Sauron is already introduced in the first season. The series will probably kick off at a time of peace after the victory over Morgoth. The races think that evil is defeated and that they can finally live in peace and prosperity. But as stated in the trailer: evil does not sleep, it waits. While many kings do not see it coming, Sauron is already sowing evil in the races and plans to forge the Rings of Power. The races of Men, Dwarves and Elves are far too busy with themselves to see the disaster coming. Only Galadriel appears to suspect it by looking into a palantír. She will try to form an alliance against Sauron.

Another plotline will surely be the story around the people of Númenor and how they evolve. Likewise, we will get to see riders of the Rohirrim, the ancestors of Rohan. We will thus see all sorts of new and already known peoples. But we doubt that the first season will end in a big battle. The makers will surely save this for the later seasons. At the end of the trailer you can see a Balrog. Whether it is the Balrog from Moria, we do not know yet. Judging by the official story, it would be too early for him to appear, though. The footage released so far was definitely able to appease many critics who were somewhat skeptical after the first teasers. Work on the second season is already underway. This gives us hope that we won't have to wait too long for the sequel.

Production

Just as with Peter Jackson's trilogy, they chose beautiful New Zealand as the shooting location. Unfortunately, as with many other productions, not everything ran well due to the pandemic. In the meantime, filming had to be paused, so that up to 800 crew members had to be sent home and production came to a halt for weeks. For a project that is supposed to cost over a billion US dollars as it is, this is of course no small matter. Luckily, however, production was resumed as quickly as possible and is continuing in full swing. By the way, the large-scale project is not filmed chronologically, rather multiple scenes are shot very efficiently at a single location. Of course, this is only possible if the script for season 1 is completely done, since with this type of production it is extremely difficult and costly to reshoot scenes later. Season 2, however, means saying goodbye to New Zealand, as it will be produced in Great Britain. The responsible parties behind the camera are John D. Payne and Patrick McKay, who both serve as series developers and are the creative minds behind the project. The director responsible for at least the first two episodes was Juan Antonio Bayona, known from "Jurassic World 2". In the subsequent episodes, it is Wayne Yip along with Charlotte Brändström who take over the directing. Who definitely will not be returning is Peter Jackson, who refused to take a leading position in the production. He is only to be available as an advisor. What will also be of interest to fans is the previously mentioned budget. After all, with the calculated one billion US dollars, "The Lord of the Rings" series will become the most expensive series production of all times. The filming rights alone are said to have cost $250 million, not to mention the huge budget for Season 1, which is said to amount to $465 million. However, Amazon will no doubt be receiving a generous contribution from the New Zealand government, as the streaming giant is entitled to an estimated 116 million US dollars from a national film subsidy fund as a result of the locally generated jobs.

Outro

That was all the info about the new Lord of the Rings series "The Rings of Power". We can hardly wait to finally experience new stories from Middle-earth. What are you most looking forward to and what do you think will happen in the first season? Let us know in the comments and if you liked this video, feel free to give it a thumbs up. If you haven't seen the trailers yet, you can of course catch up on them on our channel!