F rom the snow-capped peaks of the Misty Mountains to the deepest chasms of the Mines of Khazad-dûm, from the ancient forests by the banks of the River Anduin to the ashen deserts of Mordor, no imaginary world is as rich and familiar as Middle-earth. Created by English author and scholar John Ronald Reuel Tolkien in his books The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings , this sprawling fantasy landscape has captivated readers for generations and has been extensively explored in books, songs, paintings, games, and films. Now, for the first time on screen, audiences are being transported to the Second Age of Middle-earth in Prime Video’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power . “Very few writers can say they created an entire genre,” says Patrick McKay, one of two showrunners on the series. “Tolkien did that, and a lot more.” For McKay and fellow showrunner J.D. Payne, creating The Rings of Power was the ultimate labor of love—and the ultimate privilege. “We came to the project as enormous fans of Tolkien,” McKay enthuses. “But one of the joys of the job was that we had to become experts, too. We had to really go in depth into these texts that were this man’s entire life’s work. That was an enormous joy that we got to experience every day.” A SECRET HISTORY The creation of Middle-earth and the vast Legendarium of its myths and tales started out as the daydreams of a British soldier preparing to fight in the First World War and culminated
INTRODUCTION:
in several of the best-loved books of the 20th century. In the early years, Tolkien’s imaginary world was just a private hobby, existing only as maps and invented languages, as notes and scraps of stories. But as they developed, these scattered ideas grew more complex, ultimately weaving into a huge historical tapestry. So while modern-day audiences may be more familiar with the Third Age of Middle-earth, they may have only experienced tantalizing glimpses of the huge backstory behind it: names like Gil-galad, Isildur and the island of Númenor. These hinted-at histories were first laid out in the Appendices to The Lord of the Rings in 1955. Here, Tolkien offered family trees and character biographies, pronunciation guides, and chronologies, all there to enrich the reader’s experience. Perhaps most fascinating, he also included an account of Middle-earth’s Second Age: The founding of the Kingdom of Gondor, the rise of the Dark Lord Sauron, and the forging of the Great Rings. These are the stories that The Rings of Power brings to light. GATHERING THE FELLOWSHIP “The Second Age is the great untold story in Tolkien’s Legendarium ,” says McKay. “We felt that it was a story that deserved to be told, on the biggest scale possible.” “But every good quest needs a fellowship,” says Payne. “From the beginning we knew that we couldn’t do this alone. We knew we were going to need people we trusted, people who were excellent at what they did.”
Among the first to come on board was Executive Producer Lindsey Weber, a lifelong Tolkien enthusiast who leapt at the chance to explore Middle-earth for herself. “I can’t remember a time when Tolkien wasn’t in my life,” Weber says. “And J.D. and Patrick were so inventive with the ways they wove the stories together, and so surprising in the telling of the story, that I just knew it would be special. I also knew that they needed help mounting this massive production, and I wanted to be part of it.” TAKING THE HELM Next the team needed a director—someone with the experience and vision necessary to bring color and dynamism to this vast canvas. Enter Spanish filmmaker J.A. Bayona, whose filmography spans from the intimate horror of The Orphanage to the magic realism of A Monster Calls to the science-fiction thrills of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom . “We needed someone who could do great character work but also big world building,” Payne explains. “J.A. had proved himself to be amazing at both of those things.” For the director himself, it was an easy decision. “I always preferred fantasy to reality,” Bayona admits. “When you think about Tolkien, you always think about big subjects. Big ideas that resonate with the audience, good and evil, light and darkness. Great themes.” Bayona would be joined by Swedish-French director Charlotte Brändström and British Chinese filmmaker Wayne Che Yip, each of whom would direct key episodes in the first season. “I love fantasy worlds,” Brändström
says. “But with Tolkien, it’s very much about real humans in a fantasy setting. You believe in the characters.” Yip agrees. “It’s such a dense and rich world. But from the first moment I met Patrick and J.D., I knew that Tolkien’s work was going to be in good hands. Their enthusiasm was just captivating.” ELVES, DWARVES, AND MEN Once the creative fellowship was assembled, it was time to begin the process of casting. “We did an extensive multi-year search of hundreds, probably thousands of actors to find the people who were absolutely best for each role,” says McKay. “We weren’t interested in big names or marquee stars. We have 22 regular characters and every one of them was like finding a needle in a haystack. So when I think about our cast, I feel enormously proud. Every single one of them belongs in Middle-earth.” For the actors, however, landing their part was only the beginning. “We did a lot to transform them into these mythical beings,” Weber recalls. “Prosthetics, dialect coaching, movement coaching. Some of them had to learn very specialized skills like swordplay and rock climbing, others had to learn to ride horses.” And of course, their appearance had to be just right. It fell to Costume Designer Kate Hawley to envision the countless costumes that the production required, from grand royal robes to shimmering suits of Elven armor. “Kate did a fantastic job re-creating each culture and telling the story of each character through costume,” Bayona enthuses. “She’s a real artist.”
Accept this invitation to revisit the wondrous and expansive world of J.R.R. Tolkien in Prime Video’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. A NEW AGE
“The Second Age is the great untold story in Tolkien’s Legendarium ... We felt that it was a story that deserved to be told, on the biggest scale possible.”
— Patrick McKay, Showrunner
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