Amazon hints that Ents will feature in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power
By Dan Selcke
We’re coming up on the premiere of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, Amazon’s wildly expensive series about the Second Age of Middle-earth, when Sauron was just getting his sea legs as a Dark Lord. Based on the trailer and other advance looks, we know that many races of Middle-earth will feature in the show, including humans, elves, Dwarves and hobbits. But those aren’t the only fantasy races J.R.R. Tolkien came up with.
What of Ents, the sentient tree people who helped fight Saruman in The Two Towers? There’s no guarantee that they’ll show up in The Rings of Power, although they were definitely around during the time the series is set; Ents are among the oldest peoples in Middle-earth.
A new commerical for Amazon Prime Video seems to hint that Ents could turn up on the show. The ad is about a nerdy kid who falls in love with The Lord of the Rings books before going to see The Rings of Power premiere at a theater (apparently unaccompanied by his parents, but that’s beside the point). At one point, he’s daydreaming about the books and sees a tree turn into an Ent outside his classroom window. Watch the ad below:
Ents could show up in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power
Now, like a lot of advertisements, this is manipulative tosh. Do you wanna belong? Do you wanna feel like less of an outcast? Then you better pay for our subscription streaming service. Also note that the kid orders his elf cosplay stuff from Amazon, because of course.
But we’re losing focus: Ents. Are they in the show? At the least, this ad shows that Amazon has the right to use Ents, which wasn’t a given considering how narrow their deal with the Tolkien estate was to make The Rings of Power. Apparently, they only bought the rights to adapt the appendices from The Lord of the Rings books. So if Ents are mentioned anywhere in there, Amazon should be clear to use them.
See what orcs look like in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power
We can see how it shakes down for ourselves when The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power premieres on Amazon Prime Video on September 2. In the meantime, IGN got its hands on some images of orcs from the new show. Check them out below:
It’s the grimaces for me.
To stay up to date on everything fantasy, science fiction, and WiC, follow our all-encompassing Facebook page and sign up for our exclusive newsletter.
Get HBO, Starz, Showtime and MORE for FREE with a no-risk, 7-day free trial of Amazon Channels