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Why Amazon’s Lord of the Rings Show Needs To Reference Tolkien’s Wider World
Amazon's The Lord of the Rings series has the perfect opportunity to reference the wider world of Tolkien's Middle-earth and beyond. The ambitious and expensive project is quickly becoming one of the most-anticipated streaming series of all time, with Amazon's record-breaking $1 billion-dollar plans including a total of five seasons and hours worth of content. With all of this LOTR on the horizon, Amazon would be wise to include as much of Tolkien's mythos as possible.
Although specific details for Amazon's adaptation of Lord of the Rings are still under wraps, it's known that the series will take place during the Second Age of Middle-earth, and will feature a cast of mostly fresh faces along with a few returning characters that fans of the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy will recognize. The plot for the series is still unknown, but given its place in the timeline, it could deal with the earliest appearances of Sauron or even the forging of the Rings of Power. The first season of eight episodes is set to air on Amazon Prime Video on September 2, 2022.
With so much of the series still shrouded in mystery, there's no way of knowing just how the story for this take on Lord of the Rings will play out. However, given the scope of Amazon's plans for the series, it would be a shame for the streamer to not take advantage of the possibilities inherent in Tolkien's work. The setting of the Second Age gives the series a chance to delve into stories, characters, places, and mythologies that the iconic film versions couldn't or didn't, and proves that Amazon's Lord of the Rings needs to embrace the world (and fresh storytelling potential) outside of Hobbits, quests, and perhaps even Middle-earth itself.
As described in the "Tale of Years" appendix within The Lord of the Rings, the Second Age was a time of rising evil and great war. It was during this age that Sauron appeared in Middle-earth, and the first wars for control over the Rings of Power were waged. However, this era also included another fascinating piece of Tolkien lore: the rise and fall of the great human continent of Númenor. Located to the west of Middle-earth, Númenor was an Atlantis-like island nation that ultimately fell to a great flooding cataclysm. In fact, it was the destruction of Númenor that robbed Sauron of his physical body and forever rendered him a wandering spirit.
The story of Númenor is just one example of the kind of mythos that should be included in Amazon's LOTR show, alongside characters like Tom Bombadil. By focusing on new characters and taking advantage of the unique time period of the story, the series can delve into the truly massive world that Tolkein created, and bring the story to places beyond Middle-earth and the familiar vistas that were already depicted so beautifully in the films. However, with the focus of the series still so vague, whether or not Amazon uses this opportunity to delve deeper into the rich (and as yet un-filmed) areas of Lord of the Rings lore remains to be seen.
