The Lord of the Rings: First-look photos released from The Rings of Power Amazon series

A new story from “Vanity Fair” has been released about the production of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Amazon Studios series and with it comes first-look photos from the highly-anticipated journey back to Middle Earth.

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is based on the vast backstory that J.R.R. Tolkien laid out in the appendices to the Lord of the Rings trilogy. It’s a risky endeavor, with Amazon looking at the series as their chance to have their very own Game of Thrones, and the “Vanity Fair” piece offers up a behind-the-scenes look into the scope that went into bringing this show to life.

Patrick McKay and JD Payne, the show’s creators, talked about the pressure of bringing a show of this scope to the small screen. The series will feature 22 stars and multiple storylines that range from deep within the dwarf mines of the Misty Mountains to the high politics of the elven kingdom of Lindon. All of this will eventually center around the incident that gives the trilogy the name that everyone knows.

“The forging of the rings. Rings for the elves, rings for dwarves, rings for men, and then the one ring Sauron used to deceive them all. It’s the story of the creation of all those powers, where they came from, and what they did to each of those races.”

It is also revealed that the series will broaden the notion of who shares the world of Middle-Earth. An original storyline centers on a sylvan elf named Arondir, played by Ismael Cruz Córdova, who will be the first person of color to play an elf on screen in a Tolkien project. Elsewhere, a Brit of Jamaican descent, Sir Lenny Henry, plays a harfoot elder, and Sophia Nomvete has a scene-stealing role as a dwarven princess named Disa—the latter being the first Black woman to play a dwarf in a Lord of the Rings movie, as well as the first female dwarf. Executive producer Lindsey Weber said, “It felt only natural to us that an adaptation of Tolkien’s work would reflect what the world actually looks like. Tolkien is for everyone. His stories are about his fictional races doing their best work when they leave the isolation of their own cultures and come together.”

Amazon is being coy about the show’s budget but, on top of the money for the rights, the government of New Zealand has placed production expenditures at $462 million for just the first season. The figure includes building infrastructure that will be used for later seasons and it was offset by a $108 million tax rebate. When it’s all said and done, after the global marketing campaign and the cost of the subsequent seasons, The Rings of Power is expected to go far beyond the billion-dollar mark.

The issue of who the show will be marketed towards was also discussed. News broke that Amazon hired an intimacy coach for the New Zealand set and some fans were concerned that the production would lose sight of what makes Tolkien Tolkien. In response to this McKay said the goal was “to make a show for everyone, for kids who are 11, 12, and 13, even though sometimes they might have to pull the blanket up over their eyes if it’s a little too scary. We talked about the tone in Tolkien’s books. This is material that is sometimes scary—and sometimes very intense, sometimes quite political, sometimes quite sophisticated—but it’s also heartwarming and life-affirming and optimistic. It’s about friendship and it’s about brotherhood and underdogs overcoming great darkness.”

What are YOUR thoughts on the first-look images and behind-the-scenes scope on The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power? The Amazon series begins streaming on the platform on September 2, 2022.