Amazon's 'The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power' poised to be the one series to rule them all

It’s been 19 years since the last Lord of the Rings movie and nine since the most recent Hobbit movie, yet that hasn’t stopped Amazon’s upcoming LOTR series, The Rings of Power, from being one the most anticipated releases of the year.

Amazon released a quick video that announced the title of the aforementioned series on Jan. 19. Needless to say, it was a big deal – according to The Hollywood Reporter, the trailer amassed an estimated social reach of 1 billion impressions and was trending in YouTube and Twitter markets worldwide. 

Yes, you read that correctly. One billion.

“To already see this much enthusiasm for the series is incredible and gets us even more excited for what we’ll be sharing with fans in the near future,” Ukonwa Ojo, global CMO of Prime Video and Amazon Studios, told THR.

Since the show was announced in 2017, fans have been desperate for any and all information regarding the newest trip to Middle-earth. It was reported in early 2021 that the first season of The Rings of Power would cost roughly $465 million, and that the show had already been picked up for a second season. Beyond that, there wasn’t much else known about the series – until last week.

According to a statement from showrunners J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay, “The Rings of Power unites all the major stories of Middle-earth’s Second Age: the forging of the rings, the rise of the Dark Lord Sauron, the epic tale of Númenor, and the Last Alliance of Elves and Men. Until now, audiences have only seen on-screen the story of the One Ring – but before there was one, there were many… and we’re excited to share the epic story of them all.”

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power doesn’t come out on Prime Video until Friday, Sept. 2, giving you plenty of time to re-watch and re-read every book and movie in the J.R.R. Tolkien canon before the show takes over your life.