Why LOTR: Rings of Power is Set in Middle Earth's Second Age
The creators of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power have explained why the show is set in the Second Age of Middle-Earth. The Prime Video series, which is set to premiere on September 2, 2022, is the third big-budget live-action project to be developed from J.R.R. Tolkien's literary classic following Peter Jackson's pair of trilogies adapting The Lord of the Rings and its prequel The Hobbit. The show is set thousands of years before the events of either trilogy, though it will include several familiar characters who were alive at the time, particularly the immortal elves Galadriel (Morfydd Clark) and Elrond (Robert Aramayo).
The time period in which The Rings of Power is set is known as the Second Age of the land known as Middle-Earth. As laid out by Tolkien in his elaborately detailed appendices, Middle-Earth's history contains four grand epochs. The Second Age covers the creation of the titular Rings of Power, the rise of the dark lord Sauron, and the establishment of Númenor. It was preceded by the First Age, in which the elves awoke, and followed by the Third Age, which contains the events of The Lord of the Rings, and the Fourth Age, which begins with the Dominion of Men.
Related: Is Sauron In The Rings Of Power? Where Is He During LOTR's Second Age?
Today at San Diego Comic-Con 2022, Prime Video hosted a panel celebrating the impending release of The Rings of Power. During the panel, the show creators discussed why the decision was made to set the series in Middle-Earth's Second Age. They explained that the story is much more human, asking the audience to imagine feeling at home and facing the impending threat that all of it will be taken away. The world of the Second Age is different than what's been seen
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