This will come as little surprise given how much it spent simply to acquire the rights ($250 million apparently), but Amazon has announced that it has granted an early second season renewal to its upcoming TV series based upon J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings.
As reported by Deadline, Amazon has reassembled the writers room – led by showrunners J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay – to begin work on the scripts for season two. The production will also go on a hiatus of around five months after director J.A. Bayona (Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom) shoots the first two episodes, the idea being that elements of season two could be filmed during production on the first, or perhaps even shoot the two seasons back-to-back.
Amazon’s The Lord of the Rings will be a prequel to Tolkien’s opus and take place during the Second Age of Middle-earth – a period glimpsed briefly in Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring when we see the Last Alliance of Elves and Men battling the Dark Lord Sauron. Specific plot details however are being kept under wraps.
Although there’s been no official confirmation from Amazon, the series is reportedly set to star Will Poulter (Midsommer), Markella Kavenagh (Picnic at Hanging Rock), Joseph Mawle (Game of Thrones) and Maxim Baldry (Years and Years). It is expected to premiere on Amazon at some point in 2021.