For two decades, there was one trilogy to rule them all.
But now, prequel series are all the rage and, starting Sept. 1, Amazon's The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power will be unpacking the goings-on in Middle-earth that preceded the epic events of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings by thousands of years. (Which theoretically should quash any clamor for Walter White-style cameos in the new series, but probably won't—Gandalf the Gray is more than 2,000 years old, after all, and elves are immortal.)
With Prime Video already committed to five seasons, The Rings of Power—which expands upon Tolkien's copious footnotes within the pages of LOTR—is poised to be the most expensive TV show ever made. "They knew from the beginning that was the size of the canvas—this was a big story with a clear beginning, middle and end," co-creator J.D. Payne told Empire. "There are things in the first season that don't pay off until season five."
So, feel free to get attached.
Meanwhile, though Peter Jackson's LOTR films were as lavish and technologically advanced as moviemaking could get at the time, the first installment of the trilogy, LOTR: The Fellowship of the Ring is somehow now 21 years old (we blame the dark magic of Sauron). It was followed by The Two Towers in 2002 and The Return of the King in 2003, the mission rewarded at the end with 11 Oscars, including Best Picture.
And while Tolkienites will just have to overlook Jackson's lack of involvement in the new series—the Oscar winner says he was approached, promised a couple of scripts to look over and then never heard from the production again—it's never a bad time to pay homage to the stunning trilogy that started it all.
No disrespect, of course, to the three films that Jackson subsequently squeezed out of the much shorter Tolkien novel The Hobbit. They also made almost $3 billion. But you never forget your first cinematic foray into Middle-earth.
And not least because it was packed with stars. So before you delve back into the all-consuming world of elves, mystical islands, dark lords and fearsomely powerful jewelry, see what the impressive ensemble who populated Jackson's original films are up to now:
The first season of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power starts streaming Thursday, Sept. 1, at 9 p.m. ET on Amazon Prime Video.