HBO Max trolls Lord of the Rings in new Game of Thrones ad

HBO Max is merging with Discovery+ to form a new streaming service, one that will give you access to both the high-quality dramas HBO is known for as well as the home makeover reality filler that Discovery+ is famous for. To make sure that the HBO name isn’t overly sullied by living side by side with the Property Brothers Cinematic Universe, the service will be rebranded as just Max starting on May 23.

To get the word out, parent company Warner Bros. Discovery is rolling out a bunch of ads for Max. The ads all kind of have the same theme: they hit us with quick clips from a bunch of TV shows and movies while text tells us that one series or another is “the one to watch” when you want to cry, scream, learn, etc. An example:

Max stayed true to that formula across its social media channels, and even got a little cheeky in some cases. For instance, when tweeting about Game of Thrones, Max said that it’s “the one to watch when you want to rule them all.” They said it on their Instagram too.

Max pokes fun at Game of Thrones–Lord of the Rings rivalry

You might recognize the phrase “the one to rule them all” from another major fantasy franchise: The Lord of the Rings. That line is part of a poem describing Sauron’s famous ring, which he plans to use to dominate all life on Middleo-earth. “One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.”

Max is almost certainly having a little fun here by referencing this iconic line from The Lord of the Rings, which is the only other fantasy franchise in the same league as Game of Thrones when it comes to popularity. The Lord of the Rings franchise has been resurgent in recent years, with Amazon currently making an expensive TV show set during the Second Age of Middle-earth: The Rings of Power. Lots of pundits have compared that show to HBO’s Game of Thrones prequel series House of the Dragon. So this is HBO having some fun with the rivalry, real or imagined.

Another wrinkle is that Warner Bros. Discovery is itself making new Lord of the Rings movies, so it could soon be competing with itself. How meta will the social media posts get? Stay tuned.

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