‘Lord of the Rings’ Spinoff Series Gets Release Date on Amazon Prime

Amazon Prime Video finally announced the premiere date for its Lord of the Rings spinoff series on Monday. The show will be released on Friday, Sept. 2, 2022. Fans also got a teaser image for the new series, but so far there is still no title.

Amazon has made a huge investment in its Lord of the Rings prequel series, and fans finally have a hint about when they will be able to see it for themselves. The announcement came with one still image to promote the series — a wide shot of the immaculate Middle Earth landscape at either sunrise or sunset. It showed a city to the left that may be Minas Tirith and a figure in a white cape in the foreground. Naturally, fans are already busy theorizing about who this might be, where it might be and what might be going on in this shot. According to a report by TV Line, this image does come from the show’s pilot episode.

The content of the Lord of the Rings series remains a bit of a mystery, as it will not be an adaptation of the main novel trilogy, nor The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien. It will draw material from Tolkien’s other writings like The Silmarillion, which flesh out the history, mythology and culture of Middle Earth from a much wider perspective. The show will take place in the “Second Age” of Middle Earth — thousands of years before The Hobbit.

That leaves lots of room for interpretation, and even die-hard fans of Tolkien’s writing can only guess which portion of this age the show will tackle. Amazon has only said that it will include both new and old characters as they “confront the long-feared re-emergence of evil to Middle-earth.”

The familiar characters are likely to be elves, wizards and other immortals like Galadriel — portrayed by Cate Blanchett in the movies up until now. Actress Morfydd Clark has been cast as a younger version of Galadriel here, and other characters like Lothlorien have been confirmed to return. However, mortals like Frodo, Aragorn and Gimle are not likely to show up.

So far, the cast is the biggest concrete piece of information fans have gleaned about this new show. Other stars will include Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Robert Aramayo, Owain Arthur, Maxim Baldry, Nazanin Boniadi, 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. We also know that J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay will serve as showrunners and executive producers.

With just over a year until the premiere, we can expect more information on Amazon’s Lord of the Rings spinoff to come soon. The show will be streaming on Friday, Sept. 2, 2022.