An eagle told us that the early reviews are in, and as we gear up to return to Middle-Earth, we now know what to expect to find once we finally press play on the first two episodes of Lord of The Rings: The Rings of Power – or watch them on the big screen, as some people will. The prequel series centers around Middle-Earth’s Second Age, meaning that the story is set thousands of years before The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies. The show will chronicle the rise of Sauron and the early life of some fan-favorite characters, including Galadriel (Morfydd Clark) and Elrond (Robert Aramayo).
Unlike previous J.R.R. Tolkien stories centered around hobbits and elves, Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is not based on a specific novel written by the English author, but rather on the mythology created by Tolkien in order to provide a rich background for all his stories. Season 2 is already in early production in the United Kingdom – which marks the first time a Middle-Earth story will not be filmed in "Hobbiton" New Zealand.
The fantasy series is a landmark in terms of TV production, as it reportedly cost close to half a billion dollars to produce Season 1. Its production values were hyped up by trailers and TV spots that came out throughout the year – all of which showed breathtaking locations, impressive GCI work, and stunning costume and production design, as we became used to in the film series that practically dictated the norms for epic TV and movie productions of the 21st century.
Collider’s own Steve Weintraub, Perri Nemiroff, and Carly Lane praised Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power and highlighted both the production value and the costuming as stand-out attributes of the series.
With a franchise of this depth and scope, it's understandable that the first two episodes might not be enough to fully establish the world that the series will be introducing fans to, some for the first time. Most critics seem to acknowledge the arduous task of world building, like Brandon Katz who praised the new series for its unrivaled "scale, scope, ambition and grandiosity." While others like Rob Keyes pointed out that there is still work to do to make the plot exciting, which was echoed by Meghan O'Keefe who theorized that the plot could either fall apart or rule after the second episode.
Lyra Hale praised the storytelling, while Trent Moore highlighted how it fits nicely with Peter Jackson's world.
With only two episodes into The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power it doesn't seem like anyone has anything negative to say about the series, mostly people seem keen to see how the established plots play out.
Prime Video premieres Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power with two episodes on September 2.