The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power Image Teases A Cinematic Return To Middle-Earth, Episode 1 Title

"The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power" will hit Prime Video on September 2, 2022. Today we not only have a new image (and some close up shots) giving us a look at the loveliness of the elves on Instagram, but the title of the first episode has been revealed by Empire Magazine. Not only that, but we have a little more information about the series from showrunner John D. Payne from the Empire article. 

Payne explains that Tolkien's history of Middle-earth (and I will never get used to not capitalizing the "e" in that) spans for nine thousand years. There is the First Age where the elves battled with the Dark Lord Morgoth, and that apparently lasted for centuries. The Peter Jackson "The Lord of the Rings" film trilogy as well as "The Hobbit" trilogy are set in The Third Age. What we're looking at in the new series is "The Second Age," which Payne says, "contains some of the greatest stories from Tolkien's mythos ... It's the story fans have always wanted to see fleshed out, but until now has only really been told in whispers."

Those rings that caused so much trouble — you know, the ones that the One Ring could control — we're going to see how they were created, and how that ultimately caused the dramatic battles in "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy. We'll also see how Sauron came to power and how Númenor fell. There are 19 rings, and listen, if someone is just giving you a shiny thing and you're not about to get married, there's probably a diabolical reason. That's what I'm taking from this. 

We recently got a look at the first image of a pivotal character Celebrimbor, played by Charles Edwards, the elf who was manipulated into helping Sauron (then known as Annatar) to create the 19 rings. Do not feel bad if your "LOTR" lore knowledge doesn't contain this stuff. I had to look it up as well. I love the books and the movies, but there is 9,000 years of history here, and no one is going to be able to hold that in a brain already stuffed with Marvel, Star Wars, DC, and so many other franchises. 

The new images could be the elf Galadriel — played by Cate Blanchett in the film trilogy, and by Morfydd Clark in the series — being crowned. The pic comes to us from J.A. Bayona, who directed the first two episodes. You can see the full image in all its glory below.

It's really lovely. Those costumes ... I'm a sucker for a fantasy drama series, and considering how much was spent on these episodes, I'm glad to see they're not skimping on fabric. Make sure to scroll through the three pics because there are two closer shots. I'm assuming it's from the one very short clip of the scene under some golden trees in the trailer, which you can see below. 

The name of the first episode is "Shadow of the Past," which is sort of generic, but makes total sense. I mean, we're traveling way into the past with this series, so this episode is almost definitely going to set up a lot of what we're going to see. There are reportedly already five seasons mapped out for the series, which is some major commitment. 

The series is created by showrunners J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay. The cast includes Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Robert Aramayo, Owain Arthur, Maxim Baldry, Nazanin Boniadi, Morfydd Clark, Ismael Cruz Córdova, Charles Edwards, Trystan Gravelle, Sir Lenny Henry, Ema Horvath, Markella Kavenagh, Joseph Mawle, Tyroe Muhafidin, Sophia Nomvete, Lloyd Owen, Megan Richards, Dylan Smith, Charlie Vickers, Leon Wadham, Benjamin Walker, Daniel Weyman, and Sara Zwangobani.

"The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power" will premiere on Amazon Prime Video on September 2, 2022. Interestingly, September 2, 1973 is the date of J.R.R. Tolkien's death.