Prime Video obviously forked out millions and millions for the TV rights to “The Lord Of The Rings,” and in their adaptation, produced the prequel story, “The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power.” Created and developed by genre writers J. D. Payne and Patrick McKay(“Star Trek Beyond,” “Godzilla vs. Kong”), they return as showrunners for season two.

READ MORE: Summer TV Preview: Over 35 Must-See Series To Watch

Despite receiving a fairly mixed reception from critics and audiences in its debut season, “The Rings of Power” remains Amazon Prime Video’s most-watched series to date, surpassing even the success of “Fallout.”

The initial teaser trailer introduced more of Tolkien’s Second Age, demonstrating Sauron’s ascending evil presence as he continues his vengeful quest for power.

Continue reading ‘The Lord Of The Rings’ Trailer: ‘The Rings of Power’ & Dark Lord Sauron Return August 29 at The Playlist.

Following a successful inaugural season of “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power,” Prime Video’s expensive, big genre series returns in August. And today, out of San Diego Comic-Con, the studio released the new full trailer for the series, teasing that “darkness will bind them” all in Middle Earth.

What’s to know about the last season? For one, Suaron (Charlie Vickers) was unmasked, initially disguising himself as the human Halbrand and now posing as the elf Annatar to deceive the people of Middle-earth.

Continue reading ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power’ Trailer’: Sauron Returns On August 29 For Season 2 [SDCC] at The Playlist.

The wildly successful premiere of “House of the Dragon,” the prequel to HBO’s “Game of Thrones,” was criticized by some viewers for being a bit too overly familiar. Anyone who felt that way about the origin story of the Targaryens is likely to have a similar response to Prime Video’s “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power,” the streaming giant’s incredibly expensive tale of the early days of Middle-earth and the characters created by J.R.R.

Continue reading ‘The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power’ Review: Massive Production Gets Off To A Promising Start at The Playlist.

There are few series that have been cloaked in as much secrecy as “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.” Amazon Prime Video acquired the rights in 2017 for a massive $250 million and in the years since all of Hollywood (and “LOTR” fandom) have been curious about the creative direction for the prequel to J.R.R. Tolkien’s seminal masterwork. Those details will slowly come to light once the program finally has its moment in the sun on Sept.

Continue reading Don’t Look For A Rivalry Between ‘Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power’ & ‘House of Dragons’ [TCA] at The Playlist.

The world of Middle-Earth created by Professor J.R.R. Tolkien has always fascinated the literary world. Still, after Peter Jackson’s epic live-action “Lord of The Rings” trilogy, the popularity of his tales skyrocketed to unimaginable levels. Amazon recently spent a lot of money to secure the television rights for new Middle-Earth adventures during the Second Age. This would take place long before the events of “Lord of The Rings” and “The Hobbit.” Allowing for new characters, battles, and events to be explored over the planned five-season arc before the defeat of the evil Dark Lord Sauron and the ring of power is lost only to fall into the hands of Gollum. 

READ MORE: ‘Lord Of The Rings’ TV Series Inspired By Led Zeppelin, Peter Jackson & The Original ‘Hobbit’ Cartoon

Amazon has brought the fantasy series to Hall H at San Diego Comic-Con and revealed what feels like the umpteenth trailer.

Continue reading ‘Lord Of The Rings’ Comic-Con Trailer: The Tolkien Legend Begins Again With ‘The Rings Of Power’ at The Playlist.

Amazon has decided to pummel into submission with teaser after teaser of their new “Lord Of The Rings” series and still has not yet revealed a full official trailer (this one’s 2 minutes and 31 seconds, what’s the difference!), and hell we may be posting these all summer long until the series arrives in September.  Subtitled ‘The Rings of Power,’ this new series is led by showrunners and executive producers J.D.

Continue reading ‘The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings of Power’ Teaser: Galadriel Can See The New Threat Rising at The Playlist.

Could Robert Eggers‘ “The Northman” release have sparked renewed interest in revisiting “Hamlet”? The Viking epic is based on the original Scandinavian tale that directly influenced William Shakespeare’s beloved story of revenge and murder. Now, a new modern film version of “Hamlet” is on the horizon from Oscar-winners Riz Ahmed and Aneil Karia.

The duo recently won Oscars for Best Short Film thanks to the terrific picture “The Long Goodbye,” and Deadline reports they are now looking to re-imagine the “Hamlet” story with a thriller edge.

Continue reading ‘Hamlet’: Riz Ahmed, Morfydd Clark & Joe Alywn To Star In Modern Version From Oscar-Winner Aneil Karia at The Playlist.

Two decades ago, Peter Jackson‘s “The Lord Of The Rings” trilogy ushered in a new age of big-budget filmmaking. On a $286 million budget, Jackon’s films brought in nearly $3 billion in the worldwide box office and won 17 Academy Awards. Jackson’s later “The Hobbit” trilogy failed to measure up to those films, but all six left a lasting influence on 21st-century cinema.

READ MORE: The 70 Most Anticipated TV Shows & Mini-Series Of 2022

So, how does one follow up two Tolkien-based projects of such colossal scale and technical wizardry?

Continue reading ‘Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power’ Trailer: Amazon’s Billion-Dollar Tolkien Adaptation Hits Prime This September at The Playlist.

Rights to the “The Lord Of The Rings” properties are not easy to suss out. Film rights have lapsed from Warner Bros. apparently, video game rights are up for sale, but the TV rights to tell Tolkien-approved “Lord Of The Rings” lies with Amazon Prime. And in true, big Jeff Bezos fashion, the company has pulled out all stops to try and create what might be the biggest and most expensive show on television: Amazon wants their own “Game of Thrones” essentially, and ‘LOTR’ might just be the way to achieve that goal.

Continue reading First Look: Amazon’s ‘The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power’ Shows Off Its Billion-Dollar Scope at The Playlist.

Matt Smith and Morfydd Clark are already set to be part of the casts of two of the biggest TV series of 2022. Smith is one of the stars of HBO’s first “Game of Thrones” spinoff, “House of the Dragons.” Clark, on the other hand, is part of the cast of Amazon’s highly anticipated “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.” And now, they’re set to cross paths in the new horror film, “Starve Acre.”

READ MORE: Matt Smith Says His Scrapped ‘Rise Of Skywalker’ Role Was “Transformative” & Would Have Meant “A Shift In The History of The Franchise”

According to THR, Morfydd Clark and Matt Smith are set to lead the cast of “Starve Acre,” a new horror film from director Daniel Kokotajlo.

Continue reading ‘Starve Acre’: Matt Smith & Morfydd Clark To Star In Daniel Kokotajlo’s New Horror Film at The Playlist.

Before the pandemic shut theaters down last March, if you went to watch a film on the big screen, odds are you saw the disturbing trailer for “Saint Maud.” Unfortunately, when COVID-19 began to wreak havoc in the US, A24’s planned release kept getting delayed. Now, a year later, the horror-thriller is arriving in select theaters and on EPIX. And in this episode of The Playlist Podcast, Charles, Mike, and Brian discuss the new film and speak with Morfydd Clark, the star of “Saint Maud.”

LISTEN: Joel Kinnaman Talks ‘Brothers By Blood,’ ‘The Suicide Squad’ & How He’d Do ‘RoboCop’ Differently Today [The Playlist Podcast]

“Saint Maud” tells the story of a reclusive nurse/caregiver, Maud, who is a devout Christian (taking everything very, very literally) goes to extremes to attempt to save the soul of Amanda, her newest patient.

Continue reading Morfydd Clark Talks A24’s ‘Saint Maud,’ Recapturing The Peter Jackson Magic In ‘Lord Of The Rings’ TV Series & More [The Playlist Podcast] at The Playlist.

A new synopsis from Amazon’s ridiculously expensive “Lord of The Rings” series has made its way online. First posted by The One Ring, it has been authenticated by Deadline and IGN. The synopsis has plenty of hints of what is going to happen in the high-fantasy show that takes place during The Second Age of Middle-earth, thousands of years before the events of Peter Jackson’s “The Hobbit” or “The Lord of Rings” trilogies.

Continue reading ‘The Lord Of The Rings’: Series Synopsis Teases Tolkien’s “Greatest Villain” & The Fall of Númenor at The Playlist.

There is much about Rose Glass’ “Saint Maud” that’s horrifying and unimaginable, so let’s begin with its most poignant, relatable moment: the title character sitting in a bar, alone, just trying to be a person. She nurses a beer and glances around the room; she tries to make connections, trading flirty looks with a handsome young guy, trying to laugh along with a table of contemporaries nearby. None of it takes.

Continue reading ‘Saint Maud’ Is A Stunning Debut From An Electrifying Filmmaker [Review] at The Playlist.

We live in an age where big properties are announced with huge fanfare, only to go quiet for a few months before we finally start hearing details. But few projects got as much fanfare as Amazon Studios‘ “Lord of the Rings” TV show, which has gone quiet for a while as casting and plot details are kept secret. This is to say that, when star Morfydd Clark even teased at the scope of the show, it’s a cause for discussion.

Continue reading ‘The Lord Of The Rings’ Star Morfydd Clark Says The Show Is “Continually Mind-blowing” at The Playlist.

Amazon’s knee-deep in pre-production on the upcoming “Lord of the Rings” TV series, and while the show recently lost one of its leads, apparently, it found another. According to Variety, actress Morfydd Clark has been added to the cast of “Lord of the Rings,” and she’s going to portray a character that fans of the Peter Jackson films and Tolkien novels will be very familiar with.

Continue reading ‘His Dark Materials’ Actress Morfydd Clark Signed To Play Galadriel In Amazon’s ‘Lord Of The Rings’ Series at The Playlist.