What’s Going On With Amazon’s “Lord of the Rings” Series?

We are still anxiously awaiting any official news or visuals for Amazon’s upcoming epic “The Lord of the Rings” series. It’s like they know we want info, and are keeping it secret, keeping it safe.

Last we heard, the official cast for “The Lord of the Rings” series (which doesn’t have an official name yet) included 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, Daniel Weyman, Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Maxim Baldry, Ian Blackburn, Kip Chapman, Anthony Crum, Maxine Cunliffe, Trystan Gravelle, Sir 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.

Yeah. That’s a lot of folks.

We do know that since those original casting announcements that Will Poulter, who was widely believed to be playing young Elrond, left the show due to scheduling conflicts. Producers have exited, which isn’t necessarily a sign of something being wrong. Tom Shippey, one of the most respected Tolkien scholars around, left the project as well.

And now, according to a discovery by our friends over at TheOneRing, yet another actor has departed Middle Earth too.

Tom Budge is an extremely talented actor who has worked with Spielberg over his 20-year acting career, a consummate pro, so his very public announcement leaving Amazon’s LOTR belies something bigger going on…

This long-troubled production is still finding its footing. pic.twitter.com/5qf4bYamLm

— TheOneRing.net (@theoneringnet) March 14, 2021

We DO know that at least the 2-episode pilot of the 8-episode first season have been completed, including basic VFX. Knowing this, its a safe assumption that we will probably not be seeing the finished series until sometime next year at the earliest. Of course this is possible to change, but prepare yourselves.

The official synopsis for the “Lord of the Rings” series reads as follows:

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Amazon Studios’ forthcoming series brings to screens for the very first time the heroic legends of the fabled Second Age of Middle-earth’s history. This epic drama is set thousands of years before the events of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, and will take viewers back to an era in which great powers were forged, kingdoms rose to glory and fell to ruin, unlikely heroes were tested, hope hung by the finest of threads, and the greatest villain that ever flowed from Tolkien’s pen threatened to cover all the world in darkness. Beginning in a time of relative peace, the series follows an ensemble cast of characters, both familiar and new, as they confront the long-feared re-emergence of evil to Middle-earth. From the darkest depths of the Misty Mountains, to the majestic forests of the elf-capital of Lindon, to the breathtaking island kingdom of Númenor, to the furthest reaches of the map, these kingdoms and characters will carve out legacies that live on long after they are gone.

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We will of course let you know what else we hear about this and other projects.

Don’t forget to pick up the GORGEOUS 4K extended editions of Peter Jackson‘s incredible pair of trilogies.