The much-anticipated Amazon The Lord of the Rings series will take place during the Second Age of Middle-earth, but we know much more than that after a released synopsis. TheOneRing.net reports that it acquired and verified the synopsis, and IGN supports its veracity. The full summary follows:
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.
While the description does not mention Sauron by name, he rose as the main threat to Númenor during the Second Age, eventually causing the drowning of the island nation and the recreation of the world. These events are chronicled in brief in The Silmarillion, though with the show expected to last multiple seasons, that book will likely provide only a loose framework.
The first season of the Amazon The Lord of the Rings show is currently in post-production and currently expected to premiere on Amazon Prime later this year.
