The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is one of the biggest and most expensive shows in the history of television, so there is a lot of pressure on it to deliver with fans.
The series is under the Amazon Prime Video umbrella and already released Season 1 (which cost an incredible $456 million to produce) in late 2022, which was ultimately nominated for six Emmy awards.
Season 2 was already greenlit and is currently in production in the United Kingdom.
Prime Video's Major Plans for The Rings of Power
Season 2 of The Rings of Power is already in production, but Amazon Prime Video has major plans for the series beyond the upcoming installment.
When Amazon Studios made an agreement with the Tolkien Estate and purchased the rights to make The Rings of Power, it promised the Estate that five total seasons, or 50 hours of content, would be released to cover the Second Age of Middle-earth.
That essentially means that even though only one season of the show was already released and Season 2 is in production, Seasons 3, 4, and 5 were already greenlit and mapped out.
There has been no indication as to when fans can expect to see the finished product of The Rings of Power Season 2, but Co-Head of Television at Amazon Studios Vernon Sanders stated in a December 2022 interview with Collider that it could take "a smidge longer than" a year from when Season 1 was released:
"I don’t know that I can say… It would be amazing if we could get Season 2 out within a year of Season 1’s release. It may take a smidge longer than that, but we're doing everything we can, and we're going to get better and faster as we go."
Seeing as how Season 1 ended on October 14, 2022, that would mean that Season 2 was initially set to come out sometime in early 2024.
Luckily, reports stated in July that Season 2 completed filming prior to the start of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG-AFTRA) strike, indicating that it could still be on track for an early-mid 2024 release.
Sanders also revealed in a separate interview with Collider that "conversations about Season 3" already took place and that Amazon will "announce Season 3 when [it's] ready:"
"There have been some conversations about Season 3, and we are making some investments to make sure that we are ready for Season 3. We are committed to JD (John D. Payne) and Patrick [McKay’s] vision for this, and I'm confident that we'll be making many more seasons to come, but we'll announce Season 3 when we're ready, even as we continue to put stakes in the ground for that. We're very excited about our future with this one."
After Season 2 is completely finished and ready to be released, fans will likely know more about the status of Seasons 3 and 4.
Other Lord of the Rings Projects in Development
The Rings of Power isn't the only Lord of the Rings title that is in development or being planned out.
While The Rings of Power is an Amazon production, that company only has the rights to certain stories and characters that it is using in that particular show.
Warner Bros. made a deal with a media company called Embracer so that Warner Bros. could develop films in the Lord of the Rings franchise.
In February, Warner Bros. Pictures executives Michael De Luca and Abdy revealed that they plan to make future films in "the vast, complex, and dazzling universe" of Middle-earth, especially since a large portion of it is "unexplored:"
"But for all the scope and detail lovingly packed into the two trilogies, the vast, complex and dazzling universe dreamed up by J.R.R. Tolkien remains largely unexplored on film. The opportunity to invite fans deeper into the cinematic world of Middle-earth is an honor, and we are excited to partner with Middle-earth Enterprises and Embracer on this adventure."
The executives didn't give any details on what the films could be about, but due to the success of franchises such as the MCU and Star Wars, fans could have another interconnected cinematic universe to look forward to.
However, one movie that was already confirmed to be released soon is the animated The War of the Rohirrim film produced by Warner Bros.
That title will be set over 175 years prior to The Lord of the Rings trilogy about Frodo Baggins destroying the One Ring and will be centered around the character Helm Hammerhand and his creation of Helm's Deep, a fortress seen in Peter Jackson's The Two Towers.
The War of the Rohirrim was initially supposed to hit theaters on April 12, 2024 but was ultimately delayed due to the strikes, so it is now expected to be released on December 13, 2024.
In short, The Lord of the Rings franchise will be expanding more than ever with Amazon's The Rings of Power series and Warner Bros.' future films.
That leaves plenty of content for fans to be anticipating, and more news will likely come on each respective project as time passes.
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