When it was first announced that Amazon had paid hundreds of millions of dollars to the Tolkien estate to acquire the rights to “The Lord of the Rings” for a new streaming TV series, it was revealed that part of the deal was that there would be a multi-season commitment. However, that didn’t mean that Amazon already began working on Season 2 alongside Season 1. Instead, the producers and writers of ‘Rings’ had to wait for the streaming service to officially approve a Season 2 before work could be done.
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Well, according to Deadline, that approval has been given, as Amazon has officially renewed “The Lord of the Rings” for a second season. The announcement comes during the pre-production phase of Season 1, with production still not begun on the massive fantasy series that is expected to cost upwards of $1 billion. So, why the early renewal? The report says that it was important for Amazon to give the go-ahead for Season 2 right now so that the ‘Rings’ writers could already begin work on Season 2 so that there isn’t a huge gap between groups of episodes.
The way it will work is a bit unorthodox, but will actually work out well for fans of the franchise, as well as the writers hired to craft the series. The schedule for Season 1 will begin, as expected. However, after the second episode of Season 1 is finished, with both episodes being directed by J.A. Bayona, the series will take a hiatus (which is normal for a series, as it allows the producers a chance to craft the first two episodes and see what they’re working with moving forward). However, instead of the writers having a break during that hiatus, they’ll immediately begin work on Season 2, breaking the story and writing the bulk of the new season’s episodes.
Long story short, this accelerated schedule will allow Amazon to have Season 2 of ‘Rings’ ready to get in front of cameras sooner than if the streamer waited until the completion of Season 1. Theoretically, this means that fans won’t have to wait long for the second batch of episodes to drop on the streaming service.
As mentioned, Amazon is putting a lot of money into this ‘Rings’ adaptation and is hoping that it can be a TV sensation like “Game of Thrones.” The story of the ‘Rings’ TV series is still largely unknown but is said to take place well before the events of the novels and focus on the fall of Sauron. With filming beginning soon, it’s expected that we could see “The Lord of the Rings” arrive in late 2020 or early 2021.