Amazon Offers First Glimpse Of Footage From New 'Lord Of The Rings' Series

Amazon AMZN has begun to offer the first glimpses of its upcoming Prime Video series “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power,” with a 60-second trailer that premiered during Sunday night’s Super Bowl broadcast and an extended spread in Vanity Fair that provides more depth to the on-screen characters and the actors playing these roles.

What Happened: The trailer opens with an off-screen voice declaring, “Haven't you ever wondered what else is out there?” From there, the viewer is presented with the series’ vision of the Second Age of Middle Earth, inspired by J.R.R.Tolkien’s iconic fantasy fiction.

The trailer’s intertitles remind the viewer that the action takes place “Before the King,” “Before the Fellowship,” “Before the Ring.” While the trailer does not identity the on-screen characters by name, an Endgadget report cited lrond (Robert Aramayo), Arondir (Ismael Cruz Cordova) and Galadriel (Morfydd Clark) as being among those introduced to viewers.

“The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” is given a more in-depth spotlight in the latest edition of Vanity Fair, which stated the five seasons scheduled for the series could cost Amazon “well over $1 billion.” The article insisted the production is crucial for Amazon to take a leadership role in the entertainment industry.

“Amazon needs to definitively make the case that it can produce giant prestige shows, and with this series, it’s courting the additional danger of amending and elaborating on the canon of a beloved storyteller,” the article said, adding that the production is juggling “22 stars and multiple story lines” and is following in the footsteps of Tolkien-inspired adaptations that have more misses than the three Peter Jackson-helmed hit films.

Related Link: The 5 Strangest J.R.R. Tolkien Films That Never Got Made — And Al Pacino, The Beatles Were Supposed To Star

Why It Matters: “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” is not scheduled to premiere until Sept. 2, but Amazon has been unusually secretive about keeping details of the production from the public. Indeed, the series’ title was not shared until a teaser trailer that dropped last month.

In some ways, Amazon has reason to be cautious in its rollout – the Vanity Fair article noted that studio was the subject of online trolling when word first dropped that a multicultural cast had been assembled for the production. And J.D. Payne, one of the showrunners on this series, acknowledged there are many people eager to find fault with this adaptation of Tolkien’s work.

“We think the work will eventually speak for itself,” Payne said. “Before an orchestra starts, audiences will talk to each other, but then as soon as the music begins, you’re in and you’re listening to that music.”

Photo: A screen shot from the trailer of “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power,” via Amazon