Amazon is hard at work making a Lord of the Rings show set during the Second Age of Middle-earth, back when elves were plentiful and Sauron was getting really into homemade jewelry. That also means the show is set thousands of years before characters like Bilbo, Frodo and Aragorn were born, so this is not the story fans are used to.
And yet, we’re still calling the show “The Lord of the Rings,” even though that story won’t happen for millennia. Even Elijah Wood, who played Frodo Baggins in Peter Jackson’s movie trilogy, thinks it’s weird. “I find it very bizarre that they’re calling it Lord of the Rings as a shorthand, because it’s not Lord of the Rings!” he said a couple weeks back.
Now, technically we don’t know the official title. Maybe Amazon will end up calling the show “The Second Age” or something. Or it could take cues from middlearth_family on Instagram, who mocked up a couple of sweet posters complete with title suggestion:
The One Ring. Not bad. What do you think?
What should Amazon call its Lord of the Rings series?
That’s a Ring Wraith on the first poster, by the way. Nice work all around.
The One Ring forged by Sauron certainly plays a role in the events of the Second Age, but I dunno if it’s big enough to justify naming the whole show after it. Then again, The Lord of the Rings is named after Sauron even though we spend a lot more time with Frodo, Aragorn, Gandalf and friends. I wouldn’t mind “The Second Age” as a title, but Amazon might not think it’s evocative enough of The Lord of the Rings. I’m sure it wants people to know they’re watching a Lord of the Rings-related thing right from the jump.
Or just call it The Magical Adventures of Baron Twunkleboots. It’ll make sense when you see it.
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h/t HITC