Only a few days left before the premiere of her acclaimed series Amazon“Rings of Power” her September 1. It is a prequel to the film trilogy”Lord of the Rings”, which is displayed on a small screen with five seasons.

The popular streaming platform confirmed its plans in November 2017, and after five years of operation, Rings of Power is expected to be shown on the Amazon Prime Video on-demand service.

The most expensive television production

The production cost of the series reached a record billion dollars, making it the most expensive series ever made. No other project in the history of television has been as massive and cinematic – judging by the trailers released – or developed in such secrecy, despite such outside pressure. “The big, expensive shows that the whole family enjoys are the ones that cost the most,” he says. in TIME magazine Jennifer Schalke, head of Amazon Studios. “And it’s a really valuable production.”

Perhaps the amount of one billion dollars may seem small for a company as huge as Amazon, whose net sales reached $469.8 billion in 2021. However, the success of the “Ring of Power” will also show that the streaming “bubble” is about to burst. The profitability of streaming services, especially without ads, depends on increasing the number of subscribers. This is also the reason why the respective platforms have filled their movie shelves with new spin-offs, sequels and prequels of well-known franchises such as Star Wars, Game of Thrones and Star Trek. Perhaps The Lord of the Rings was the last project for which there was an expensive copyright that had not yet been acquired.

One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to gather them all and bind them in darkness, In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie. #LOTRonPrime pic.twitter.com/7TuQh7gRPD

— The Lord of the Rings on Prime (@LOTRonPrime) March 7, 2019

Amazon risk with unknown manufacturers

Rings of Power comes just as streaming industry leader Netflix is ​​reporting the first slowdown in subscriber growth in a decade, causing panic in Hollywood.

Amazon is betting on a billion-dollar intellectual property by creating a big series with a familiar story from the books of a British scientist and World War I veteran. J.R.R. Tolkien. The platform entrusted the creation to two unknown writers: producers JD Payne as well as Patrick McKay who paid particular attention to Tolkien’s poetic meter and wrote different rhythmic structures for each of the peoples of Middle-earth.

View this post on Instagram

A post posted by The Lord of the Rings on Prime (@lotronprime)

The two men first met on the debate team and drama club at Northern Virginia High School. After three years in Hollywood, they began working for Bad Robot, J. J. Abrams’ production company. The duo wrote and worked on several projects, including the Silent Robot, described as a cross between Citizen Kane and The Iron Giant, and the fourth Star Trek film. None of these films were released.

Tolkien’s legacy

Based on three volumes published by J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy between 1954 and 1955 revolutionized the fantasy genre. The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and The Return of the King staged by Peter Jackson set timeless themes such as protecting the environment, the power of friendship in the face of evil, and the potential of even the “tiniest” person to change the world. still shares the record for most films to win the most Oscars in a single night.Jackson later also split Tolkien’s The Hobbit into another three-part film series.A total of six films grossed nearly $6 billion worldwide.

But anyone who tries to deal with Tolkien will inevitably be compared to Jackson’s work. However, this did not stop Hollywood: in 2018, dozens of screenwriters submitted ideas for TV shows based on Tolkien’s works to Amazon. Many of them came up with origin stories for his most famous characters such as Aragorn.

But Payne and McKay had a different opinion: they told the company that it was sitting in a gold mine without even knowing it. Additional extended scenes at the end of The Return of the King serve as a prequel of sorts, outlining the rise of Sauron and the creation of the famous rings. As the producers put it, “Tolkien gave us the stars, and all that’s left is just to make the constellations.” The Ring of Power producers say they’re big fans of Jackson’s films, with McKay calling them “an insane achievement.” They were trying to learn from what the films had achieved while at the same time creating a distinct identity for their own series.

“Rings of Power”: Plot and Shooting

The duo nailed the new series, turning Jackson’s five-minute prologue to The Fellowship of the Ring into five television seasons set in the Second Age, more than 3,000 years before the events of The Lord of the Rings. The evil lord Morgoth is defeated and Middle-earth prospers, but the elf Galadriel is convinced that Sauron, Morgoth’s missing servant, is gaining strength. Among other things, viewers will be able to explore the underground mining kingdom of the dwarves of Khazad-Dum and the seaside kingdom of Numenor. There they will meet the nomadic ancestor of the long-legged (hairy-footed) hobbits, as well as Isildur, the man who will eventually claim Sauron’s only ring but fail to destroy it.

As for the actors involved, among others we will see: Morphed Clark as the young warrior Galadriel, Robert Aramayo (“Game of Thrones”), Nazanin Boniadi (“Homeland”), Joseph Moll (“Game of Thrones”), Owain Arthur, Tom Budge, Ishmael Cruz Cordova, Emma Horvath, Markella Cavena, Tyro Muhafidin, Sofia Novete, Megan Richards, Dylan Smith as well as Charlie Vickers.

The first season was filmed in New Zealand, and the film trilogy was also filmed there. The production of the first episode, consisting of two parts, was taken over by the Spaniard Juan Antonio Baiona.

View this post on Instagram

A post posted by The Lord of the Rings on Prime (@lotronprime)

Amazon spent about $468 million filming the eight-episode first season. Jeff Bezos wants to dissuade fans from thinking that the studio’s motives are purely financial. “Middle-earth is such a beloved world, and telling the story of how the rings were made is both a privilege and a responsibility. I hope we will live up to Tolkien’s work,” he told TIME exclusively. “This is more than just a commercially successful series. Everyone who works on it reads these stories like children, and we love them very much.”

Amazon, of course, does not want to “give out” the story. The “rings of power” were shrouded in an unprecedented degree of secrecy. The actors didn’t see the script when they signed on. Many of them weren’t even told what character they were auditioning for.

View this post on Instagram

A post posted by The Lord of the Rings on Prime (@lotronprime)

The actors went through a long audition process. According to Charlie Vickers, who plays a new human character named Halbrand, he went through eight auditions in six months. Cynthia Andy-Robinson was finally cast as the anti-Queen Muriel of Numenor after first trying out two different roles. Once they signed their contracts, the actors vowed not to reveal to anyone what series they were on.

One of the problems the cast faced was the fact that just 25 days into filming, the pandemic forced production to halt. New Zealand has closed its borders due to the cast and crew being stranded. But production continued at the end of 2020.

View this post on Instagram

A post posted by The Lord of the Rings on Prime (@lotronprime)

As announced, the premiere of “Ring of Power” will include both the first two series. After that, episodes will be released one per week until the finale of the first season. October 14.