Amazon’s ‘Lord of the Rings’ Prequel Series: First Look and Release Date

The next Lord of the Rings story, which will air on Amazon Prime, just wrapped up filming yesterday (August 2) in New Zealand, so naturally, the company celebrated with a few treats for fans.

The first season of the untitled television adaptation to the mega-successful trilogy is slated to debut on September 2, 2022, Gizmodo reports. The show will debut in more than 240 countries and territories globally and new episodes will be released weekly.

Along with the announcement came a brand new cryptic image, which you can see below. The scene shows the back of a person looking towards a city, most likely built by the elves. Gizmodo theorizes that the Rivendell-style architecture suggests the city to be Valinor’s city of Valmar, noting that the Trees of Valinor, Telperion and Laurelin can be seen in the far distance.

Entertainment Weekly confirmed the image is from the first episode of the show, likely from some kind of extensive flashback setting up what’s to come.

Though Amazon isn't revealing much, what we do know for sure is that the show will be set thousands of years before the events in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings books. The show takes place during the Second Age of Middle-earth which began rather peacefully, but turned out to be anything but, setting the stage for the Peter Jackson-directed trilogy.

“The journey begins September 2, 2022 with the premiere of our original The Lord of the Rings series on Prime Video,” Jennifer Salke, Head of Amazon Studios, said in a press release. “I can’t express enough just how excited we all are to take our global audience on a new and epic journey through Middle-earth! Our talented producers, cast, creative, and production teams have worked tirelessly in New Zealand to bring this untold and awe-inspiring vision to life.”

J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay are running the as-yet-untitled show and had this to say about the news. “As Bilbo says, ‘Now I think I am quite ready to go on another journey.’ Living and breathing Middle-earth these many months has been the adventure of a lifetime. We cannot wait for fans to have the chance to do so as well.”

The series' announced cast includes Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Robert Aramayo, Owain Arthur, Maxim Baldry, Nazanin Boniadi, Morfydd Clark, Ismael Cruz Córdova, Charles Edwards, Trystan Gravelle, Sir Lenny Henry, Ema Horvath, Markella Kavenagh, Joseph Mawle, Tyroe Muhafidin, Sophia Nomvete, Lloyd Owen, Megan Richards, Dylan Smith, Charlie Vickers, Leon Wadham, Benjamin Walker, Daniel Weyman and Sara Zwangobani.