Development Initial announcements was personally involved in negotiating the deal to make
The Rings of Power, and was later said to be protecting the series from cancellation. In July 2017,
a lawsuit was settled between
Warner Bros., the studio behind
Peter Jackson's
The Lord of the Rings (2001–2003) and
The Hobbit (2012–2014) film trilogies, and
the estate of author
J. R. R. Tolkien upon whose books those films were based. With the two sides "on better terms", they began offering the rights to a potential television series based on Tolkien's
The Lord of the Rings (1954–55) to several outlets, including
Amazon,
Netflix, and
HBO, with a starting price of . HBO
pitched a remake of the
Lord of the Rings films which the estate was not interested in. Netflix pitched multiple connected series focusing on characters such as
Aragorn and
Gandalf which "completely freaked [them] out". Amazon did not pitch a specific story but promised to work closely with the estate to "protect Tolkien's legacy", which the estate felt they were unable to do with previous adaptations. Amazon emerged as the frontrunner by September 2017 and entered negotiations. Uncommonly for programming developments, Amazon CEO
Jeff Bezos was personally involved with the negotiations. A noted fan of
The Lord of the Rings, Bezos previously gave
Amazon Studios a mandate to develop an ambitious fantasy series of comparable scale to HBO's
Game of Thrones (2011–2019). On November 13, 2017, Amazon acquired the global television rights for close to . Industry commentators described this amount, before any production costs and without any creative talent attached, as "insane", although some considered the project to be more of a reputational risk for Amazon than a financial one due to Bezos's wealth. Amazon's streaming service
Amazon Prime Video gave a multi-season commitment to the series that was believed to be for five seasons, with the possibility of a spin-off series. Despite this, Prime Video had to give a formal
greenlight to future seasons before work could begin on them. The budget was expected to be in the range of per season, and was likely to eventually exceed which would make it the
most expensive television series ever made.
Warner Bros. Television was not involved in the project because Amazon Studios wanted to produce it themselves. Amazon was working with the Tolkien Estate, the
Tolkien Trust,
HarperCollins, and
New Line Cinema. New Line, the Warner Bros. division that produced the films, was reportedly included to allow the use of material from the films in the series. The estate imposed creative restrictions, and the deal stipulated that production begin within two years. The
first season was reported in May 2018 to be focusing on a young Aragorn. Jennifer Salke, the head of Amazon Studios at the time, said a month later that the deal for the series had only just been officially completed. The studio met more than 30 potential writers, including the
Russo brothers and
Anthony McCarten, and asked for story pitches based on anything in Tolkien's
The Hobbit (1937),
The Lord of the Rings, and its
appendices. These included prequel stories focused on characters such as Aragorn,
Gimli, and Gandalf.
J. D. Payne and Patrick McKay pitched a series covering the major events of
Middle-earth's
Second Age, thousands of years before
The Lord of the Rings, including the forging of the
Rings of Power, the rise of the Dark Lord
Sauron, the fall of the island kingdom of
Númenor, and the last alliance between
Elves and
Men. These events were covered in a five-minute prologue in the
Lord of the Rings films, and the pair wanted to expand this into "50 hours of television". Payne described the Second Age as "an amazing, untold story", and McKay said, "We didn't want to do a side thing. A spin-off or the origin story of something else. We wanted to find a huge Tolkienian mega epic". Unlike the other writers being interviewed, Payne and McKay had only done unproduced or uncredited work. They were championed by director
J. J. Abrams, who worked with them on
an unproduced Star Trek film, and were hired to develop the series in July 2018. They were confirmed as
showrunners and executive producers a year later, when the full creative team was revealed. Additional executive producers included Lindsey Weber, Callum Greene,
J. A. Bayona, Belén Atienza, Justin Doble,
Jason Cahill,
Gennifer Hutchison, Bruce Richmond, and
Sharon Tal Yguado. Prime Video announced the full title,
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, in January 2022. Payne and McKay felt this title could "live on the spine of a book next to J. R. R. Tolkien's other classics". They initially considered using a different subtitle for each season.
Subsequent seasons Prime Video officially ordered a
second season in November 2019, ahead of filming for the first season. Jackson initially said he and his producing partners would read scripts for the series and offer notes, but after the first season was produced he said this did not happen. Amazon explained that the deal with Tolkien's estate required the series to be kept distinct from Jackson's films. The estate were also reportedly against Jackson being involved. Amazon spent producing the first season in New Zealand, where the films were made, before moving production on subsequent seasons to the United Kingdom. A third season had not been ordered by the second season's premiere in August 2024, leading to speculation about the series' future amid concerns about its quality and viewership. When the showrunners were asked if they had any contingency plans should Amazon decide to end the series before their five-season plan was complete, McKay stated: "We're not anticipating that. We're making our show and going all the way." Amazon was soon reported to be committed to the five-season plan, and the
third season was officially confirmed by Prime Video in February 2025.
Charlotte Brändström, a director on all three seasons, and Kate Hazell were made executive producers for the season. In October, following the departures of Salke and television co-head Vernon Sanders from the renamed Amazon MGM Studios, Lesley Goldberg at
The Ankler discussed industry questions about whether the series should be cancelled by Amazon. She reported that production costs for the second and third seasons had been "dramatically reduced" due to the UK's tax incentives, that viewer retention was improved with the second season, and that Amazon had to pay a "kill fee" to the Tolkien estate for each season that was not produced out of the five season plan. Goldberg further reported in April 2026 that the series was being protected by Bezos, regardless of cost, and Amazon's new television head Peter Friedlander was committed to the original plan. However, Amazon no longer planned to develop a spin-off series.
Writing The Lord of the Rings and
The Hobbit are set during the Third Age of Middle-earth, while the First and Second Ages are primarily explored in
The Silmarillion (1977),
Unfinished Tales (1980), and
The History of Middle-earth (1983–1996). Because Amazon only acquired the television rights to
The Lord of the Rings and
The Hobbit, the writers had to identify all of the references to the Second Age in those books and create a story that bridged those passages. These are mostly in the appendices of
The Lord of the Rings. The estate was prepared to veto any changes from Tolkien's narrative, including anything that contradicted what he wrote in other works. The writers were free to add characters and details, and worked with the estate and
Tolkien scholars to ensure these were "Tolkienian". They referenced letters that Tolkien wrote about his mythology for additional context on the setting and characters.
Simon Tolkien, a novelist and the grandson of J. R. R. Tolkien, helped develop the story and character arcs. He is credited as a "series consultant". Tolkien scholar
Tom Shippey worked on the series early on, but left after revealing details without permission. Griff Jones was hired as a Tolkien "loremaster", approaching
The Lord of the Rings and its appendices like a historical advisor would treat real history. Payne and McKay knew the series was expected to run for five seasons and were able to plan elements of the final season, including the final shot, while working on the first. The Second Age takes place over thousands of years in Tolkien's history; the writers were concerned that human characters would be frequently dying due to their relatively short lifespans, and that key humans from the end of the Second Age would not be introduced until late in the series. They considered using non-linear storytelling to solve this issue, but felt that would prevent the audience from emotionally investing in the series. Instead, they compressed the timeline so all the major events of the Second Age take place within a short period of time. The Tolkien estate approved this change, as long as the major events still took place in the same order as in Tolkien's history, and the showrunners felt they were still respecting the "spirit and feeling" of Tolkien's writings despite this change. They structured the series so each season would be built around several "major tentpole moments" from the Second Age. Because they were unable to adapt dialogue from Tolkien's Second Age stories, the writers attempted to repurpose dialogue that they did have access to. Leith McPherson returned from the
Hobbit films as dialect coach and guided the use of
Tolkien's fictional languages in the series. She established different dialects for each culture of Middle-earth.
Carl F. Hostetter, a Tolkien scholar and the head of the
Elvish Linguistic Fellowship, also consulted on the use of Tolkien's languages and provided translations. After the crew for the first season was revealed to include
Jennifer Ward-Lealand as an
intimacy coordinator, Tolkien fans expressed concern that it would include
Game of Thrones-style graphic sex and violence. Payne and McKay said this would not be the case and the series would be family-friendly. They hoped to evoke the tone of Tolkien's books, which can be "intense, sometimes quite political, sometimes quite sophisticated—but it's also heartwarming and life-affirming and optimistic." They felt it was important to embrace the hope and earnestness in Tolkien's works, and said they did not want to be influenced by contemporary politics, aspiring to tell a timeless story that matched Tolkien's own intention to create a mythology that would always be applicable. The showrunners disagreed with suggestions that the series is only "vaguely connected" to Tolkien's writings. McKay said in August 2022 that they felt it was "deeply, deeply connected" and a "story we're stewarding that was here before us and was waiting in those books" to be told. He elaborated on their position in August 2024, explaining that they wanted to honor the tone, themes, and spirit of the source material but their priority was to make an entertaining television series that worked for casual viewers as well as Tolkien fans. He said they chose to tell a story in the Second Age because Tolkien "never wrote a fixed version" of the time period and they felt they could create an "epic version of this story". A disclaimer is featured in the end credits stating that some elements are "inspired by, though not contained in, the original source material".
Casting Salke stated in June 2018 that the series would include some characters from the films, and the showrunners intended for the new actors to look like they could feasibly grow up to be their film counterparts. In January 2020, Amazon announced that the series' main cast would include
Robert Aramayo,
Owain Arthur,
Nazanin Boniadi,
Tom Budge,
Morfydd Clark,
Ismael Cruz Córdova,
Ema Horvath,
Markella Kavenagh,
Joseph Mawle, Tyroe Muhafidin, Sophia Nomvete, Megan Richards,
Dylan Smith,
Charlie Vickers, and
Daniel Weyman. Aramayo and Clark were cast as younger versions of the film characters
Elrond and
Galadriel, respectively. Sanders noted that there were still some key roles that had yet to be filled. In December, Amazon announced 20 new cast members:
Cynthia Addai-Robinson,
Maxim Baldry, Ian Blackburn, Kip Chapman, Anthony Crum, Maxine Cunliffe,
Trystan Gravelle,
Lenny Henry,
Thusitha Jayasundera, Fabian McCallum,
Simon Merrells,
Geoff Morrell,
Peter Mullan,
Lloyd Owen,
Augustus Prew, Peter Tait,
Alex Tarrant,
Leon Wadham,
Benjamin Walker, and
Sara Zwangobani. Baldry, Owen, and Walker portray
Isildur,
Elendil, and
Gil-galad, respectively, characters that appear in the films during flashbacks. Budge revealed in March 2021 that Amazon had decided to recast his character after filming several episodes.
Charles Edwards was cast to replace him that July. Will Fletcher, Amelie Child-Villiers, and Beau Cassidy were also added to the cast then. Boniadi chose not to return for the second season and her character
Bronwyn was not recast. In early December 2022,
Sam Hazeldine was revealed to have replaced
Joseph Mawle in the role of
Adar for the second season. Amazon also announced the casting of Gabriel Akuwudike, Yasen "Zates" Atour,
Ben Daniels, Amelia Kenworthy, Nia Towle, and
Nicholas Woodeson. Daniels portrays
Círdan, a character who briefly appears in the films. A week later, Amazon further announced the casting of Oliver Alvin-Wilson,
Stuart Bowman, Gavi Singh Chera, William Chubb,
Kevin Eldon,
Will Keen,
Selina Lo, and
Calam Lynch. Amazon announced the casting of
Ciarán Hinds,
Rory Kinnear, and
Tanya Moodie in March 2023. The second-season finale reveals that Weyman is portraying an earlier version of
Gandalf in the series. In February 2025, Amazon announced the casting of
Jamie Campbell Bower and
Eddie Marsan for the third season. In June, Amazon further announced the casting of Andrew Richardson,
Zubin Varla, and Adam Young.
Design was one of several creatives who returned from Peter Jackson's Middle-earth films to work on
The Rings of Power. Although the series is not connected to the films, the showrunners intended for it to be visually consistent with them. Illustrator
John Howe, one of the main conceptual designers on the film trilogies, returned to work on the series. He said in August 2019 that it would remain faithful to the films' designs. In August 2022, Amazon explained that the deal with Tolkien's estate required the company to keep the series distinct from Jackson's films, though the showrunners still intended for it to be visually consistent with them. Also returning from Jackson's films to work on the series were costume designer
Kate Hawley and special effects company
Wētā Workshop. Wētā provided props, weapons, and prosthetics for the first season.
Rick Heinrichs was initially announced as production designer, but was soon replaced by Ramsey Avery. The showrunners gave Avery several "guideposts" when he joined the series: they wanted the series to feel like a real world that the characters lived in rather than a fantasy world; as many of the sets needed to be built for real as possible, using visual effects only when necessary; the audience should be able to easily identify the different cultures of Middle-earth; and the series had to be true to Tolkien. A "war room" was assembled where the
design language for each culture was defined. The series' designs reflect that it is set thousands of years earlier than the films and depicts a "golden age" of Middle-earth. Avery and Hawley did not return for the second season. They were replaced by Kristian Milsted and Luca Mosca, respectively.
Filming In June 2018, Salke said the series could be produced in New Zealand, where the film trilogies were made, but Amazon was also willing to shoot in other countries as long as they could "provide those locations in a really authentic way, because we want it to look incredible". Amazon confirmed in September 2019 that filming for the first season would take place in New Zealand.
Scotland had also been considered as a location. Filming for the season began in
Auckland in February 2020, with J. A. Bayona directing the first two episodes. Production was placed on hold in mid-March due to the
COVID-19 pandemic, and this shutdown segued into an already planned production break that allowed footage from the first two episodes to be reviewed and writing on the second season to begin. Filming resumed at the end of September.
Wayne Che Yip and Charlotte Brändström directed the rest of the season's episodes. Around a third of filming took place on location around New Zealand. Production for the first season officially
wrapped on August 2, 2021. The week after filming ended for the first season, Amazon announced that it was moving production of the series to the United Kingdom starting with the second season. Factors that played a role in the change included Amazon already heavily investing in UK studio space for other productions as well as New Zealand's restrictive pandemic-era border policies. Tolkien's estate also wanted the series to be filmed in the UK since Tolkien was inspired by locations there when writing his books. Pre-production for the second season was expected to begin in the UK in the second quarter of 2022, taking place concurrently with post-production for the first season which was continuing in New Zealand until June 2022. Filming on the second season began on October 3, with Brändström,
Sanaa Hamri, and Louise Hooper directing. Filming took place primarily at
Bray Film Studios and
Bovingdon Airfield outside of London, with location filming around the UK and in the
Canary Islands. Production for the season wrapped in June 2023, amid the
2023 Writers Guild of America strike. Production on the third season moved to
Shepperton Studios in
Surrey, after Amazon signed a long-term deal for exclusive use of new facilities at Shepperton in 2022. Pre-production was underway there by February 2025. Filming was reported to be starting on April 30, and was confirmed to have begun in May, with Brändström, Hamri, and
Stefan Schwartz directing. Filming was reported to have wrapped at the end of October, and the end of production for the season was officially confirmed in mid-December.
Visual effects Amazon provided unlimited
cloud-based storage for the production, allowing all technical data and footage to be accessible to anyone working on the series around the world. It was the first production to be completely cloud-based, which became crucial during the COVID-19 pandemic. The primary visual effects vendors for the first season were
Wētā FX, returning from Jackson's films, and
Industrial Light & Magic (ILM). All the vendors were overseen by visual effects supervisor
Jason Smith. The season's effects include characters appearing at different sizes, augmented environments, fantasy creatures, and magic.
Title sequence The series' opening title sequence was directed by Katrina Crawford and Mark Bashore of the creative studio Plains of Yonder. They did not see any material from the series when starting work on the sequence and instead took inspiration from Tolkien's writings. Based on
the author's creation story in which the world is created from music, the pair suggested the title sequence be "built from the world of sound". They investigated
cymatics, using a homemade
Chladni plate and slow motion footage to test what shapes could be formed from sand particles using the vibrations of different sounds. These included
Gregorian chants, Angelic music,
rock and roll, and whale calls. For the final sequence, Crawford and Bashore used a wide rig and programmed tones to create basic cymatic patterns such as diamonds and swirls. These were filmed practically, and then the Plains of Yonder visual effects team attempted to replicate the "flawed, wild motion" of the real photography for shots that feature iconography from Tolkien's writings, including the
Two Trees of Valinor; the eight-pointed star associated with the character
Fëanor; different parts of Middle-earth's geography; and each set of the Rings of Power—nine rings for Men, seven for Dwarves, three for Elves, and the ruling One Ring. The sequence took seven months to complete. It was updated for the second season, introducing red sand grains that form "evil tendrils" to indicate Sauron's influence, as well as imagery that represents the
Doors of Durin,
the Balrog, and
Morgoth's crown.
Music Howard Shore, the composer for the
Lord of the Rings and
Hobbit films, was reported to be in discussions with Amazon about working on the series in September 2020. He was said to be interested in developing musical themes but not necessarily composing the entire score. Shore was confirmed to be in talks for the series a year later, when composer
Bear McCreary was reported to be involved as well. Their hiring was officially announced in July 2022, with McCreary composing the score and Shore writing the main title theme. McCreary was contractually prohibited from quoting any themes that Shore wrote for the films. He said the series was a "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity" to work on such an ambitious score, and he hoped to create a "continuity of concept" between the series and Shore's work on the films. He wrote more than 15 new themes for the series. == Marketing ==