The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (2022) - Season 1 (Amazon Prime) (1 Viewer)

[Philip Verdieck]

Yes to all of the alternate titles mentioned so far. All would be better than a rehash of a mostly well done movie series.

I'll even throw out a few more (in no particular order):

...
The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant - Stephen R. Donaldson
...

I agree with most of your list (that I have read), except the above.

Heck no. I would watch it before I pulled my eyes out, but not by much. That is literally one of the least interesting fantasy series you could produce and expect people to like. The first 2 books, or maybe even the first trilogy were a horrific slog of petulant whining and bellyaching by the protagonist about how can he not be a leper anymore and he refuses to use his abilities. Its a test on the reader's level of masochism.

The other series I found to be an utter drag was Gene Wolfe's Claw of the Concilator series.

If you want to use a good LOTR clone series, I did enjoy Eddings writing in The Belgariad.

 

[joshEH]

Will Poulter joins the cast:

https://www.variety.com/2019/tv/news/lord-of-the-rings-series-amazon-will-poulter-cast-1203321951/

10:1 he plays an elf.

 

[Tommy R]

Somehow, I see him more as a dwarf.

 

[Bob_S.]

People have been saying that he looks like Hugo Weaving and that he could be playing a young Elrond. Looking at the picture again, I do see a resemblance.

 

[Robert Crawford]

After watching "TLOR: The Fellowship of the Ring" extended cut on a GDX screen at my local Quality theater, I'm more interested in this upcoming series. Man, it brought me back to December, 2001 at one of the most enjoyable movie theater experiences I had in my lifetime. Without a doubt yesterday's theater presentation was much better with a larger screen and better sound system than that viewing in 2001. However, instead of having a full house at a midnight showing in 2001, I only had three other persons at my 2:00 p.m. showing yesterday afternoon so the theater experience was lacking in audience enthusiasm. Next week it's "The Two Towers" and the following week "The Return of the King" on the big screen.

 

[Citizen87645]

People have been saying that he looks like Hugo Weaving and that he could be playing a young Elrond.

So like, a spry 1000 years old?

 

[Carlo_M]

It's not the years...it's the mileage...

 

[Josh Dial]

After watching "TLOR: The Fellowship of the Ring" extended cut on a GDX screen at my local Quality theater, I'm more interested in this upcoming series. Man, it brought me back to December, 2001 at one of the most enjoyable movie theater experiences I had in my lifetime. Without a doubt yesterday's theater presentation was much better with a larger screen and better sound system than that viewing in 2001. However, instead of having a full house at a midnight showing in 2001, I only had three other persons at my 2:00 p.m. showing yesterday afternoon so the theater experience was lacking in audience enthusiasm. Next week it's "The Two Towers" and the following week "The Return of the King" on the big screen.

Did you happen to take note of the presence or lack of the colour-timing/teal shift issue in the print you viewed? I remember that being a hotly debated issue back when the Blu-ray was released.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Did you happen to take note of the presence or lack of the colour-timing/teal shift issue in the print you viewed? I remember that being a hotly debated issue back when the Blu-ray was released.

I was totally engrossed in the movie and leave such issues to be argued about by others.

 

[Malcolm R]

Amazon confirms LOTR series will shoot in New Zealand:

New Zealand is about to become Middle-earth once again as Amazon has revealed that their Lord of the Rings series will undergo production in Auckland. The country was famously used throughout Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies, building many of the series’ most famous sets from scratch on location which have now become tourist hot spots.

“As we searched for the location in which we could bring to life the primordial beauty of the Second Age of Middle-earth, we knew we needed to find somewhere majestic, with pristine coasts, forests, and mountains, that also is a home to world-class sets, studios, and highly skilled and experienced craftspeople and other staff,” said showrunners and executive producers J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay. “We’re happy that we are now able to officially confirm New Zealand as our home for our series....

https://www.flickeringmyth.com/2019/09/amazon-the-lord-of-the-rings-to-shoot-in-new-zealand/

 

[SamT]

Will they use WETA?

 

[SamT]

Amazon's Lord of the Rings series gets early season 2 renewal

How they know it's going to be good when they have not yet seen one frame?

 

[Malcolm R]

Amazon's Lord of the Rings series gets early season 2 renewal

How they know it's going to be good when they have not yet seen one frame?

I don't get it, either. Especially when they apparently don't even have any photos or original art to promote it yet. Every article I've seen is accompanied by a pic from Peter Jackson's trilogy.

 

[Philip Verdieck]

Locking the cast down at a lower rate? Or these days do SAG contracts have escalation clauses based on ratings and/or streaming numbers?

There was a really interesting article about the next negotiations, since Nielsen numbers don't really account for all streaming. OTOH, not everyone who starts streaming something watches all of it, and with episodes auto playing in Netflix, etc, are people always watching it?

 

[Jake Lipson]

How they know it's going to be good when they have not yet seen one frame?

I don't get it, either. Especially when they apparently don't even have any photos or original art to promote it yet. Every article I've seen is accompanied by a pic from Peter Jackson's trilogy.

Locking the cast down at a lower rate? Or these days do SAG contracts have escalation clauses based on ratings and/or streaming numbers?

I don't think it's about ratings. Amazon doesn't release ratings anyway. I think it's pretty simple: they spent so much for the rights that producing only a single season isn't viable for them. Yes, it's surprising that they would announce a renewal before shooting even begins. But is it actually surprising that they want to renew it for season two?

To get the rights from the Tolkien estate, Amazon paid $250 million just for the rights to do anything, before any actual production costs. For the amount of money they spent to acquire this and to prep it, the only option is to have this show on for several years. There's no other way to justify spending that amount of money to acquire the rights to anything.

According to Deadline's article on the renewal, the rights deal included a multi-season commitment and a deal for a spinoff, so while they have to give a greenlight to each season, it's really just a formality. This way, they could potentially shoot season 1 and season 2 together, which might help save some money in the long run.

Amazon Studios acquired global TV rights to The Lord of the Rings in a blockbuster November 2017 deal. It included a multi-season commitment to a LOTR series as well as a potential spinoff series. Still, each consecutive season after the first has to be formally greenlighted by the streaming network.

The early Season 2 pickup is good news for fans as it will allow for a shorter break between the end of Season 1 and the premiere of Season 2 on Prime Video,, which is available in 240-plus countries and territories..

In conjunction with the early renewal, the LOTR series will go on a 4-5-month hiatus after filming the first two episodes from Season 1, directed by J.A. Bayona. The writing team of the series, led by showrunners and executive producers J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay, will use the time to map out and write the bulk of Season 2 scripts.

Taking a break after the opening episode or two is standard practice for shows with straight-to-series orders as it allows producers and executives to step back and evaluate the footage much like they would do with a pilot. By going on a longer than normal hiatus, LOTR will be ready with Season 2 scripts so it could possibly film some Season 2 footage during the Season 1 shoot or even film the remainder of Season 1 and Season 2 back-to-back.

More at the link: https://deadline.com/2019/11/the-lo...1-hiatus-writers-room-reassembled-1202788730/

 

[David Weicker]

The other thing about the “renewal” is that cable is notorious for (idiotically IMO) short seasons. So is two seasons even as long as a regular broadcast series? This could be the equivalent of a ‘back nine’

 

[Philip Verdieck]

Update

https://collider.com/lord-of-the-rings-series-season-2-renewed/

The good news is that The Lord of the Rings fans are getting more of their favorite fantasy story now that Amazon Studios has ordered a second season. The bad news is that production on Season 1 hasn’t even started yet and we have no solid idea of when to expect the series to launch. Oh, and some more bad news on that front: The Lord of the Rings will also go on a four-to-five-month hiatus after filming the first two episodes, each directed by J.A. Bayona (Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom).

Deadline reports that Amazon will reconvene their writers room, led by showrunners and executive producers J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay, in order to break Season 2, though it’s a little strange that the Season 1 team didn’t already at least broach this exact subject. This Season 2 script work-through is expected to start during the hiatus.

This month marks the second anniversary since Amazon acquired the global TV rights to the late J.R.R. Tolkien‘s seminal stories. That deal included potential spinoff series as well as a multi-season commitment, but the catch is that Amazon still has to officially order each successive season. So while cameras have yet to roll for Season 1, Amazon is simply staying ahead of the curve by ordering Season 2 now and starting pre-production for it. This plan of attack shortens the break between the premiere dates. The hiatus will also give the creative team time to assess their work on the first two episodes (think of them like an extended pilot), reorient themselves if necessary, and prep to possibly start shooting Season 2 back-to-back with Season 1.

But Deadline also reports that production will resume after “the winter season in New Zealand is over.” This means that the first two episodes should go into production during the upcoming New Zealand summer season, followed by the 4-5 month hiatus; Season 2 would likely not start until September 2020 if Deadline’s intel is correct. Stay tuned for more as we hear it.

 

[Malcolm R]

Robert Aramayo (Game of Thrones) cast as Beldor.

https://ew.com/tv/2020/01/07/lord-of-the-rings-game-of-thrones-robert-aramayo/

 

[Malcolm R]

More casting news at EW:

https://ew.com/tv/2020/01/14/the-lord-of-the-rings-tv-series-cast/

EW previously reported Game of Thrones vet Robert Aramayo would star in a leading role as Beldor, and the casting was confirmed during Tuesday’s Television Critics Association presentation, along with 14 others.

A Confession‘s Owain Arthur, Hotel Mumbai‘s Nazanin Boniadi, The Proposition‘s Tom Budge, His Dark Materials‘ Morfydd Clark, The Undoing‘s Ismael Cruz Córdova (last seen in The Mandalorian), The Gallows Act II‘s Ema Horvath, The Cry‘s Markella Kavenagh, Birdsong‘s Joseph Mawle, Tyroe Muhafidin of web series Caravan, stage actor Sophia Nomvete, Wanderlust‘s Megan Richards, I Am the Night‘s Dylan Smith, Medici: Masters of Florence‘s Charlie Vickers, and A Very English Scandal‘s Daniel Weyman were also confirmed.

 

[joshEH]

The guys who run TheOneRing.net are "90% convinced" Russell Crowe was quietly cast as the lead in this. Guess we'll see.