IN 2017, WHEN AMAZON ANNOUNCED IT had acquired the rights to make a five-series streaming show set in JRR Tolkien's The Lord Of The Rings universe, eyebrows were raised. Peter Jackson's early noughties trilogy of films remained modern masterpieces, and the seemingly unbeatable benchmark for all Tolkien adaptations.
But Amazon stepped up to the challenge, laying out a massive billion dollar (and counting) budget in order to bring to life the pitch of screenwriters JD Payne and Patrick McKay (Godzilla Vs Kong) who wanted to realise the major events of Middleearth's Second Age, including Sauron's machinations to forge the Rings of Power.
In 2022, audiences got their first taste of Prime Video's gorgeously produced The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power, an impressively acted production which featured many concurrent storylines, including a much-younger Galadriel the Elf's (Morfydd Clark) obsessive hunt for the Dark Lord Sauron (Charlie Vickers); the appearance of a mysterious Stranger (Daniel Weyman) in Harfoot territory; the leadership strife in the kingdom of Númenor; and the rise of Orcs in the Southland. The first series of eight episodes earned Prime Video a reported 100 million viewers globally, numerous award nominations, and the buy-in of plenty of very discerning Tolkien fans. Two years later, season two is nigh, and it's going to get dark. Payne and McKay tell SFX that their Middle-earth epic is going to try even harder this time to exude what made Tolkien's books literary classics.
"People respond to hope. People respond to wonder. People respond to great characters, fantastical worlds, danger with humility, resiliency and fellowship," Payne rattles off. "These are all the things that make Tolkien resonate with people. We realised that when we're immersed in those things, the stories work. So we really just wanted to double down on all those things."
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