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Warning: This review contains spoilers for The Rings of Power's season 2 finaleThe Rings of Power is playing the long game. That's been clear since reports first emerged about creators Patrick McKay and J.D. Payne's five-season, billion-dollar plan for J.R.R. Tolkien's masterworks. To tell a story at this scale with this level of production value, planning is vital. But, part of what makes television so great is improvisation. Sure, it can lead to less-than-stellar results. But improvisation, or lack of a detailed map, has led to some of the best television ever created.

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power

Cast Amelia Kenworthy, Bridie Sisson, Robert Strange, Sara Zwangobani, Sophia Nomvete, Trystan Gravelle, Daniel Weyman, Markella Kavenagh, Megan Richards, Peter Tait, Anthony Crum, Owain Arthur, Leon Wadham, Thusitha Jayasundera, Tyroe Muhafidin, Beau Cassidy, Maxine Cunliffe, Charlie Vickers, Lloyd Owen, Geoff Morrell, Kevin Eldon, Sam Hazeldine, Charles Edwards,...

Warning! Major spoilers ahead for The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 2 finale.

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power director Charlotte Brndstrm and director of photography Alex Disenhof explain Adar's dark fate in the season 2 finale. Prime Video's hit The Lord of the Rings show created by Patrick McKay and J.D. Payne, just concluded its sophomore outing, teeing up an explosive season 3. After playing an important role as a villain in most episodes thus far, The Rings of Power's season 2 finale sees Adar (Sam Hazeldine) betrayed and killed by the Orcs he calls his children after they fall under Sauron's (Charlie Vickers) control.

In a recent interview with Screen Rant, Brndstrm and Disenhof delve into how they shot Adar's final scene with Galadriel in The Rings of Power's season 2 finale, which comes just before his death. The creatives explain that they mirrored...

Warning! Spoilers ahead for The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 2 finale.

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 2 finale director Charlotte Brndstrm and cinematographer Alex Disenhof explain the new Elven lands featured in the episode. Continuing its story of the rise of Sauron (Charlie Vickers) during the Second Age of Middle-eath, Prime Video's Lord of the Rings series created by Patrick McKay and J.D. Payne just concluded its sophomore outing. The Rings of Power's season 2 finale featured a number of big developments, concluding in a new Elven land as Galadriel (Morfydd Clark), Elrond (Robert Aramayo), and Gil-galad (Benjamin Walker) plan their next moves.

In a recent interview with Screen Rant, Brndstrm and Disenhof delve into those new Elven locations featured in The Rings of Power's season 2 finale. After the brutal and bloody fall of Eregion, the two creatives explain that it was important...

Warning! Spoilers ahead for The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 2 finale.

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power star Charlie Vickers explains why Sauron chooses to spare Galadriel (Morfydd Clark) in the season 2 finale. Created by Patrick McKay and J.D. Payne, the hit Prime Video Lord of the Rings show returned for its sophomore outing in August, chronicling Sauron's rise to power during the Second Age. Sauron and Galadriel finally face off again in The Rings of Power season 2 finale in an epic duel, before which Sauron tries one last time to get her to join him as a ruler of Middle-earth.

In a recent interview with Screen Rant, Vickers delves into why Sauron didn't immediately kill Galadriel in The Rings of Power's season 2 finale, despite having the opportunity to. According to the actor, Sauron still saw a potential to get Galadriel on-side. After the events of the finale,...

Warning! Spoilers ahead for The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 2 finale.

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power star Robert Aramayo teases Elrond's journey to come in a potential season 3. After returning for its sophomore outing in August, Prime Video's Lord of the Rings show created by Patrick McKay and J.D. Payne just released its action-packed finale, with Elrond once again playing a key role. Though Eregion is essentially lost in episode 7, The Rings of Power's season 2 finale sees Elrond and Gil-galad (Benjamin Walker) lead the surviving citizens to safety, teeing up a continued struggle against Sauron (Charlie Vickers) in the future.

In a recent interview with Screen Rant, Aramayo and Gil-Galad actor Benjamin Walker tease what might be next for Elrond should The Rings of Power season 3 get the green light. According to Aramayo, who is well versed in J.R.R. Tolkien's source material,...

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 2 stunt coordinator and second unit director Vic Armstrong explains Morfydd Clark's Galadriel evolution. Returning for its sophomore outing last month, Prime Video's The Lord of the Rings series, which hails from creators Patrick McKay and J.D. Payne, continues to put Galadriel front and center in the action. In The Rings of Power season 2, Galadriel's quest against Sauron rages once more from season 1, and the Elven warrior remains a major force for change in Middle-earth, both on the battlefield and off.

In a recent interview with Screen Rant, Armstrong touches on how Clark's Galadriel has changed in The Rings of Power season 2, revealing some of the behind-the-scenes filming details. Armstrong shares immense praise for Clark and her physicality as a performer, as well as her positive attitude towards stunts and doing her own action sequences, particularly when it comes to horse riding.

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power debuts a new clip from season 2, episode 7, showing Celebrimbor (Charles Edwards) emerging out from under Sauron's (Charlie Vickers) grasp. Created by Patrick McKay and J.D. Payne, the hit Prime Video fantasy series returned for its sophomore outing in August, charting Sauron's rise in Middle-earth during the Second Age. Sauron's main task in The Rings of Power season 2 has been forging the titular rings, and Celebrimbor, as a great Elven smith, has become an unfortunate victim of his dark influence.

Now, IGN releases a new clip from The Rings of Power season 2, episode 7, showing a quiet moment between Sauron and Celebrimbor (Charles Edwards) in the latter character's forge. The clip sees Celebrimbor seemingly seeing the light after so many episodes of darkness, explaining the beauty of his work. The clip also ends with a tense moment as Celebrimbor, after revealing that...

The success of Game of Thrones for HBO finally proved beyond a doubt that grand fantasy epics with massive budgets can find a home on the small screen. Now, it seems only fitting that the new "most expensive fantasy show" record would be set by a series based on fantasy icon J.R.R Tolkien's Middle-earth. Amazon Studios is currently producing the first season of Lord of the Rings, rumored to have a price tag of $465 million attached for the first season alone. Amazon Studios chief Jennifer Salke defended the giant budget based on the popularity of Tolkien's works.

"The market is crazy, as you saw with the Knives Out deal. [Netflix paid $469 million for two sequels.] This is a full season of a huge world-building show. The number is a sexy headline or a crazy headline that's fun to click on, but that is really building the infrastructure of...

There are few movie franchises as iconic as Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings series. As beloved as the films are, they suffer from a certain number of inconsistencies that have baffled fans for years. One such inconsistency occurs during a scene in which Merry and Pippin have been captured by the Orcs, who debate over whether they should eat the little hobbits right on the spot.

An argument leads to the Orc Ugluk cutting off another orc's head, declaring, "Looks like meat's back on the menu, boys!" Stephen Ure, who played the Orc Grishnakh, who first proposed eating the hobbits, admitted in an interview with Thrillist that while the scene has garnered an immense following within the Lotr fandom and through internet memes, the word "menu" makes no sense in the context of J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-Earth.

"There's a lot of stuff that doesn't really make sense.

Amazon's upcoming TV series based on Lord of the Rings is going to run the studio back about $465 for one single season. Perhaps hoping to compete with the success of Peter Jackson's original movie trilogy, Amazon Studios is apparently going all-in with the company reportedly spending around Nz$650 million, or $465 million in U.S. currency, for just the show's first season.

This tremendously high price tag is even above the previously-reported estimate of $500 million for multiple seasons of the show, a number that was already record-setting. By comparison, the expensive medieval fantasy series Game of Thrones had cost HBO roughly $100 million per season. That show had begun with around $6 million put into each episode for season 1, followed with GoT costing around $15 million per episode by the eighth and final season. That's obviously a lot of money, but it still pales in comparison to Amazon Studios' budget for The Lord of the Rings.

The first season of “Lord of the Rings” will cost Amazon a lot of castar. The retail giant will spend around $465 million to film the first season of its upcoming fantasy drama based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s books.

That figure comes courtesy of New Zealand’s Minister for Economic Development and Tourism Stuart Nash. Amazon is filming the series in the Kiwi country, using the same location as Peter Jackson’s popular film trilogy.

“Amazon is going to spend about (Nz)$650 million in season one alone,” Nash told New Zealand’s “Morning Report,” which translates to roughly $465 million U.S. dollars. That spending amount will trigger a tax rebate of Nz$160 million ($114 million U.S.).

“This is fantastic, it really is,” Nash continued. “This will be the largest television series ever made.”

Amazon declined to comment. An individual with knowledge of the production confirmed that figure is correct.

For comparison’s sake,...

Amazon's Lord of the Rings TV series is set to bring back a major villain.

The streamer has dropped a lengthy description that gives a lot of hints about what fans can expected when the series inevitably launches, including "the greatest villain that ever flowed from Tolkien's pen."

The description first appeared on TheOneRing.net, and can be read below.

Amazon Studios’ forthcoming series 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, 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 the greatest villain that ever flowed from Tolkien...

Ready to journey back to Middle-earth? Amazon's big-budget TV adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's fantasy novels, Lord of the Rings, has found its stars. Following Will Poulter's departure from the series, Game of Thrones alum Robert Aramayo has signed on to star alongside a handful of other actors, including Ema Horvath, Tyroe Muhafidin, Sophia Nomvete, Megan Richards, Dylan Smith, Charlie Vickers, Daniel Weyman, Ian Blackburn, Kip Chapman, Thusitha Jayasundera, Fabian McCallum, Peter Tait, Alex Tarrant, Leon Wadham, and Sara Zwangobani.

Although most details regarding the new characters set to anchor the fantasy series are being kept under wraps, we do know who will be playing them and a little about what they'll be getting up to. The series will explore Middle-earth before Tolkien's The Fellowship of the Ring, with the show's official Twitter account hinting that it'll take place during the Second Age. In Tolkien's mythology, the Second...

Ever since Amazon Studios announced that they will be creating a new fantasy series based on the world of The Lord of the Rings created by J.R.R. Tolkein, fans have been eager to discover the details of the story for the show. Now, TheOneRing.net has released a description for the upcoming series that they confirm is authentic and accurate. You can read the full synopsis below.

"Amazon Studios' forthcoming series 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, 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 the...

Amazon has finally revealed the full description for its upcoming “The Lord of the Rings” TV series, a show set thousands of years before the events of J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Hobbit” and “The Lord of the Rings.”

Here’s the synopsis for the eight-episode fantasy series, which is currently filming in New Zealand and has already been renewed for a second season, courtesy of Amazon:

Amazon Studios’ forthcoming series 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, 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 the...

Geoff Morrell, Fabian McCallan and Sara Zwangobani are the latest Aussie additions to the cast of Amazon Studios’ Lord of the Rings, currently shooting in New Zealand.

They are among a set of 20 new actors joining the eight-episode series, including Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Maxim Baldry, Ian Blackburn, Kip Chapman, Anthony Crum, Maxine Cunliffe, Trystan Gravelle, Sir Lenny Henry, Thusitha Jayasundera, Simon Merrells,​ Peter Mullan, Lloyd Owen, Augustus Prew, Peter Tait, Alex Tarrant, Leon Wadham and Benjamin Walker.

The prolific Morrell most recently starred in Harrow, Fucking Adelaide, Top of the Lake, Please Like Me, Deep Water, The Code and 8Mmm Aboriginal Radio.

Zwangobani has appeared in Doctor Doctor, All Saints, Packed to the Rafters, Love My Way and Home and Away, while Nida-grad McCallan made his international screen debut in British series You, Me & The Apocalypse, and guest starred in German/Australian co-pro In Your Dreams and in Meryl Tankard short Moth.

Amazon Studios has announced 20 additional cast members joining the ensemble cast of the TV series based on the iconic The Lord of the Rings novels by J.R.R. Tolkien. The newly revealed cast members will join the previously announced global cast and crew, currently filming in New Zealand. The new cast members include Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Maxim Baldry, Ian Blackburn, Kip Chapman, Anthony Crum, Maxine Cunliffe, Trystan Gravelle, Sir Lenny Henry, Thusitha Jayasundera, Fabian McCallum, Simon Merrells, Geoff Morrell, Peter Mullan, Lloyd Owen, Augustus Prew, Peter Tait, Alex Tarrant, Leon Wadham, Benjamin Walker ,and Sara Zwangobani.

Ian Blackburn, Kip Chapman, Anthony Crum, Maxine Cunliffe, Peter Tait, Alex Tarrant and Leon Wadham all hail from New Zealand, with the remaining international ensemble cast originating from Australia, Sri Lanka, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The Lord of the Rings TV series showrunners and executive producers J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay had...

The new Lord of the Rings television series, which is currently filming in New Zealand, has added 20 actors to its cast. Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Maxim Baldry, Ian Blackburn, Kip Chapman, Anthony Crum, Maxine Cunliffe, Trystan Gravelle, Sir Lenny Henry, Thusitha Jayasundera, Fabian McCallum, Simon Merrells, Geoff Morrell, Peter Mullan, Lloyd Owen, Augustus Prew, Peter Tait, Alex Tarrant, Leon Wadham, Benjamin Walker, and Sara Zwangobani are all joining the cast. Some of the actors are local to New Zealand, but the cast is a global effort.

Read More…...

Peter Jackson’s six-film Middle-earth saga’s been back in the headlines recently now that The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies have been remastered and released in 4K, but it feels like a very long time since we’ve gotten any updates about Amazon’s hotly-anticipated TV series set in the world created by J.R.R. Tolkien.

The project is the single biggest small screen effort ever given the green light, with the streaming service shelling out $250 million just for the rights before committing to a five-season arc that’ll run up a billion dollars in production costs. Filming kicked off in February this year, but was shut down a month later due to the onset of the Coronavirus pandemic.

Shooting recommenced at the end of September, though, and the The Lord of the Rings is still scheduled to debut before the conclusion of 2021. The movies were well...

The Lord of the Rings series’ already expansive ensemble continues to grow: Cynthia Addai-Robinson — whose credits include Arrow‘s Amanda Waller, Power and Chicago Med — has joined the Amazon Prime drama, along with 19 (!) others.

Also boarding the project are: Augustus Prew (The Morning Show, Prison Break), Benjamin Walker (Jessica Jones), Maxim Baldry (Years and Years, Hollyoaks), Kip Chapman (Top of the Lake), Anthony Crum (The Wilds), Trystan Gravelle (A Discovery of Witches, The Terror), Sir Lenny Henry (Broadchurch), Thusitha Jayasundera (Humans), Fabian McCallum (You, Me and the Apocalypse), Simon Merrells (Knightfall),​ Geoff Morrell (Top of the Lake), Peter Mullan (Ozark), Lloyd Owen (You,...

Amazon’s purportedly billion-dollar-budgeted Lord of the Rings TV series will take place Long before the events of Peter Jackson’s movies. Setting the tone for this small screen return to the world of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, the first two episodes will be directed by J.A. Bayona, who helmed Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom.

The Lord of the Rings TV series is set during Middle Earth’s Second Age—that’s thousands of years before Bilbo Baggins, Gollum or Aragorn ever existed! Moreover, the end of said age was a full millennium before the Wizards even arrived in Middle Earth, which makes the series a prequel in an epochal sense.

Amazon hopes the new Lord of the Rings TV show will be the next Game of Thrones, evidenced by its early Season 2 order. While Covid-19 temporarily halted its New Zealand production back...

The Lord of the Rings Amazon adaptation is expanding!

Amazon Studios today announced twenty additional cast members joining the ensemble cast of the series based on the iconic The Lord of the Rings novels by J.R.R. Tolkien.

The newly revealed cast members will join the previously announced global cast and crew, currently filming in New Zealand.

The new cast members include Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Maxim Baldry, Ian Blackburn, Kip Chapman, Anthony Crum, Maxine Cunliffe, Trystan Gravelle, Sir Lenny Henry, Thusitha Jayasundera, Fabian McCallum, Simon Merrells, Geoff Morrell, Peter Mullan, Lloyd Owen, Augustus Prew, Peter Tait, Alex Tarrant, Leon Wadham, Benjamin Walker, and Sara Zwangobani.

Blackburn, Chapman, Crum, Cunliffe, Tait, Tarrant, and Wadham all hail from New Zealand, with the remaining international ensemble cast originating from Australia, Sri Lanka, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Showrunners and executive producers J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay opened up about the casting news in a statement.

Amazon’s forthcoming “Lord of the Rings” series has added a whopping 20 new cast members, the streamer announced Thursday.

The new batch of stars joins an already sprawling ensemble for the eight-episode fantasy series, which is currently filming in New Zealand. According to Amazon, the actors hail from New Zealand, Australia, Sri Lanka, the U.K. and the U.S.

The new cast members are: Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Maxim Baldry, Ian Blackburn, Kip Chapman, Anthony Crum, Maxine Cunliffe, Trystan Gravelle, Sir Lenny Henry, Thusitha Jayasundera, Fabian McCallum, Simon Merrells,​ Geoff Morrell, Peter Mullan, Lloyd Owen, Augustus Prew, Peter Tait, Alex Tarrant, Leon Wadham, Benjamin Walker and Sara Zwangobani. Read full bios for each below.

They join previously announced stars Robert Aramayo, Morfydd Clark, Owain Arthur, Nazanin Boniadi, Tom Budge, Ismael Cruz Córdova, Ema Horvath, Markella Kavenagh, Joseph Mawle, Tyroe Muhafidin, Sophia Nomvete, Megan Richards, Dylan Smith, Charlie Vickers and Daniel Weyman.

Amazon Studios has confirmed twenty additional cast members who have joined the streamer’s The Lord Of The Rings TV series, an adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s fantasy novels. Production on the sprawling drama, which was interrupted by the coronavirus pandemic, is currently underway in New Zealand. It resumed in late September.

Top British comedian Lenny Henry, Ozark and Westworld‘s Peter Mullan, Lloyd Owen, Augustus Prew (CBS’s Pure Genius), The Lotr movie franchise’s Peter Tait, Benjamin Walker (Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter), Cynthia Addai-Robinson and Simon Merrells (Spartacus: War of the Damned) are among the new additions, along with Maxim Baldry, Ian Blackburn, Kip Chapman, Anthony Crum, Maxine Cunliffe, Trystan Gravelle, Thusitha Jayasundera, Fabian McCallum, Geoff Morrell, Alex Tarrant, Leon Wadham and Sara Zwangobani.

No information is provided about the characters the actors are playing; Owen is believed to play Loda,...

The upcoming “Lord of the Rings” series at Amazon is adding 20 actors to its cast, Variety has learned.

The new additions are: Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Maxim Baldry, Ian Blackburn, Kip Chapman, Anthony Crum, Maxine Cunliffe, Trystan Gravelle, Sir Lenny Henry, Thusitha Jayasundera, Fabian McCallum, Simon Merrells, Geoff Morrell, Peter Mullan, Lloyd Owen, Augustus Prew, Peter Tait, Alex Tarrant, Leon Wadham, Benjamin Walker, and Sara Zwangobani.

Blackburn, Chapman, Crum, Cunliffe, Tait, Tarrant, and Wadham all hail from New Zealand, where the show is currently in production, with the remaining international ensemble cast originating from Australia, Sri Lanka, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

They join previously announced cast members Robert Aramayo, Owain Arthur, Nazanin Boniadi, Tom Budge, Morfydd Clark, Ismael Cruz Córdova, Ema Horvath, Markella Kavenagh, Joseph Mawle, Tyroe Muhafidin, Sophia Nomvete, Megan Richards, Dylan Smith, Charlie Vickers, and Daniel Weyman as announced earlier this year.

“The world that J.R.R. Tolkien created is epic,...

Fifteen actors from The Lord of the Rings movies have filed suit against film studio New Line, accusing the company of a breach of contract over merchandising. The New Zealand actors filed court papers in Los Angeles Superior Court last Wednesday, alleging New Line broke an agreement to pay them five per cent of an estimated $100 million profits from merchandising sales, such as caps, games and mugs. The actors' lawyer Henry Gradstein said New Line took "gross participation" fees that the company wasn't entitled to. Gradstein says, "The expenses will always be approximately 104 per cent. It's Hollywood accounting." This is the latest of several lawsuits New Line have been served with in relation to the film adaptation of the J.R.R. Tolkien classic novels. In 2005, director Peter Jackson accused New Line of withholding profits from the first installment in the trilogy The Fellowship Of The Ring, while producer Saul Zaentz settled out of court with the firm over the rights to the books. According to industry newspaper Variety, the fifteen actors filing lawsuits are: Noel Appleby, Jed Brophy, Mark Ferguson, Ray Henwood, Bruce Hopkins, William Johnson, Nathaniel Lees, Sarah McLeod, Ian Mune, Paul Norell, Craig Parker, Robert Pollock, Martyn Sanderson, Peter Tait and Stephen Ure.