Back in 2017, Amazon Studios announced that it had acquired the rights to produce a series set in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth. Since then, there’s been a trickle of news about the production, but aside from a reveal that the series would be set in the world’s Second Age and that the island of Númenor would be involved in some form, there isn’t much that we know about the show.
Now, Tolkien fan site TheOneRing has located the official synopsis for the series, teasing that we’ll not only see Númenor, but familiar locations like the Misty Mountains as well as the “re-emergence of evil to Middle-earth.”
Today, Amazon has officially released the synopsis for the show:
Amazon Studios’ forthcoming series brings to screens for the very first time the heroic legends of the fabled Second Age of Middle-earth’s history. This epic drama is set thousands of years before the events of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, and will take viewers back to an era in which great powers were forged, kingdoms rose to glory and fell to ruin, unlikely heroes were tested, hope hung by the finest of threads, and the greatest villain that ever flowed from Tolkien’s pen threatened to cover all the world in darkness. Beginning in a time of relative peace, the series follows an ensemble cast of characters, both familiar and new, as they confront the long-feared re-emergence of evil to Middle-earth. From the darkest depths of the Misty Mountains, to the majestic forests of the elf-capital of Lindon, to the breathtaking island kingdom of Númenor, to the furthest reaches of the map, these kingdoms and characters will carve out legacies that live on long after they are gone.
The synopsis gives us a better idea of what to expect for the series: Middle-earth will face the threat of a new, emerging evil, and we’ll see the characters ranging all over places that we’ve already seen in Peter Jackson’s two film trilogies. We know some part of that story already; Jackson set up the end of the Second Age in the prologue for Fellowship of the Ring—the titanic battle between an alliance of humans and elves against Sauron and his forces.
It seems likely that the show will be about some aspect of Sauron’s rise to power and his attempt to control all of Middle-earth. That’s a lot of time to cover, as the Second Age covers more than three millennia. But there’s plenty of familiar points that appear in The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings in that time: Elrond and Galadriel are around, the Rings of Power are forged in this time, the Ringwraiths are putzing around, places like Rivendell, Gondor, and Minas Morgul are established, and we see folks like Elendil, Isildur, and Sauron playing big roles. Amazon has reportedly planned for the series to run for least five seasons.
The studio has hired Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom director J.A. Bayona to helm the show’s first two episodes (he’ll also serve as executive producer), and the studio has already picked up the show for a second season (which will be shot back-to-back with season one). As the synopsis notes, the series will feature a large ensemble cast (which just added twenty new cast members last month).
Amazon hasn’t revealed a formal title or release date for the show.
Exciting :)
I still am very curious as to how they’re going to cover the vast time scale of the Second Age. Yes, you could focus on the end of Second Age, but that’s the most depressing part and I’d love to see stories from earlier on. Would love to see “the Mariner’s Wife” referenced in some fashion, but that’s probably a bit of a pipe dream!
Anyways, there’s so much lore that can be mined here and I am super exciting to see which direction they choose to go.
The long-feared re-emergence of evil?
But Elrond said that at the end of the First Age the Elves deemed Evil ended forever (but it was not so). So instead of long-feared re-emergence, wouldn’t it be the “oh crud we didn’t see this coming” of evil? Which would explain why Anatar could be trusted by some folks?
@3. Dr Thanatos: It seems fair to suggest that even when you don’t really believe something will happen, you can still fear it – given the massive traumas of the First Age, it’s far from unthinkable that there’s an undercurrent of tension beneath the optimism: “Huzzah, the Dark Lord is banished forever and the Bad Guys are gone or reformed! (“That’s what we thought when Morgoth was first bound by the Valar”) SHUT UP brain, this mission is Accomplished.”
On a more serious note, I’m looking forward to learning more about this series – I’m especially interested in seeing it’s evocation of long-lost Numenor!
The whole Second Age is a huge amount of time to cover, over 3400 years.
For a show planned for 5 seasons, I can’t imagine any characters being in more than one season, except of course the various immortals (Elrond, Galadriel, Gil-Galad et al., and of course Sauron). Elendil, Isildur, and company would have to be final season characters, unless they do a framing story.
I’d be curious to see what they decide to feature:
The settling of Numenor?
The return of the Numenoreans to Middle Earth (a good place for the story of Aldarion and Erendis)?
The rise of Ringcraft, and Sauron as Annatar, befriending Celebrimbor and the Elven smiths of Eregion (only to betray them when he forges the One)?
Sauron completing the corruption of the Numenoreans, the folly of Ar-Pharazon, and the wrack of Numenor?
The escape of the Faithful?
Isildur cursing the warriors who will become the Dead Men of Dunharrow?
And of the cast, I’m most curious as to who will be playing Sauron — exceedingly attractive (at least until the wrack of Numenor) and exceedingly evil.
@3 Remember, Annatar/Sauron is a Maia, as fair and beautiful (or horrific) as he would want to be. To Celebrimbor and the other Elves of Eregion, he’d appear as one of them, or, as a Maia, more so. (Some of them may be old enough to have met Maiar previously, such as Melian or any of those who were part of the army in the War of Wrath at the end of the First Age.) So, before he invested any of his power in the Ring and long before he lost the ability to take a shape of his choosing in the wrack of Numenor, he retained the ability to take any form he wanted, whether a slavering werewolf or a veritable super-Elf.
Celebrimbor, the grandson of Feanor and almost as talented a Maker as his grandfather, would have seen in Annatar a kindred spirit. If, on the other hand, Galadriel ever meets him, she’d probably see through him. At the very least, her hackles would be raised.
Unlikely heroes? Who in Middle Earth could that mean? I’m guessing Original Characters, which isn’t necessarily bad but might not be good either. They will certainly be diverse anyway.
Oooh i would love to see Sauron as Annatar.
I believe there was a deleted (or perhaps just workshopped) scene where Sauron appeared as Annatar to Aragorn at the end of RotK as a final temptation but they scrapped it since at that point in his life, he had lost the ability to appear fair. It was still cool to see the snippet/concept. So I’d love to REALLY see it when he’s got more of his power.
I think a very Interesting question is whether they are going for the same visual style as the movies, or if they are going to try something different.
I have no idea where this is going or how it will craft dramatic stories from Tolkein’s comments. Will we get back story to ringwraiths or to Numenor or Sauron’s fall(???). I have no idea why or how this will turn out. But to take a very different example, I enjoyed the movie Fargo—and have enjoyed all the TV shows that are related to it. So its possible to make this work—and I hope that it does.