news culture Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Amazon Series Doesn’t Compete With Game of Thrones
It’s difficult for a fantasy adaptation to launch without systematically comparing it to the two titans of the genre: Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy, and the Game of Thrones series. It is in this context that the Amazon Prime series, The Rings of Power, will try to find a place in our audiovisual landscape in September.
A story long before Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is a series created by JD Payne and Patrick McKay for the Amazon Prime Video platform. Although its name may be partly misleading, the series will take us back to Middle-earth long before the events of Lord of the Rings. The plot takes place during the Second Age, thousands of years since Frodo Baggins and Samsagace Gamegie left the Shire.
The series will notably take us to the Isle of Men of Númenor and will tell us the creation of the Rings of Power, before the One Ring was forged. We will find some well-known characters there, like the Elf Galadriel and Elrond the Half-Elf, but also a string of characters who have never appeared on screensuch as the smith of the Rings, Celembrimbor.
An independent series
In an interview with Empire Magazine, series co-creator Patrick McKay paid tribute to New Zealander Peter Jackson and his team’s adaptation of Tolkien’s works. While recognizing that these films were essential, he wanted to break away from them for the Amazon series. “We are only admirers, we are not trying to create a competition between the two works.” McKay also said the Amazon Prime Video series sought to return to the original material, which he calls extensive.. Large enough for each adaptation to find its account in a different way.
The other strong competitor for The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is the famous Game of Thrones series, whose the spin-off House of Dragons will be released on our screens on August 21, only a few weeks before our return to Middle-earth. Again, the Amazon Prime series is not intended to be in competition, being from a different universe and aesthetic.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power series is planned for five seasons. The first episodes of season 1 are released September 2, 2022 on Amazon Prime Video.
