First Look: Lord of the Rings Images For ‘Rings of Power’ Force Us to Side With Sauron This Time Around

Considering that Amazon’s Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is the most expensive season of television ever produced, it’s safe to say that the series has high expectations. Despite last month’s title announcement, real-life supervillain Jeff Bezos shocked everyone by announcing that he’s secretly playing Gollum in the new series with a creepy announcement photo. 

Now, Vanity Fair has revealed first look images from the new series, and boy are they a doozy. Based on these images for The Rings of Power, the would-be streaming giant looks to be putting together the most expensive Live Action Role Playing session ever conceived.

For those who are unaware, the series is set in Tolkien’s second age. For those keeping score at home, that’s some 2000 years before the events of Lord of the Rings & The Hobbit. What this means is that the prequel series will be largely filled with new faces. At the same time, the series will also introduce a few new characters who aren’t white. Not only is this great for representation, but it will surely piss off the racist Lord of the Rings fans (of which there are surprisingly many). 

Even though the lighting in these images is obviously the highlight, the thing that stands out the most is the quality of just about everything else. In many ways, The Rings of Power first look images feel reminiscent of big-budget comic con cosplay that happened to cost close to $1 billion. Hopefully, it’s worth it when the first season drops on September 2, 2022. If not, The Rings of Power might force us to side with Sauron this time around.

Cover Photo: Amazon Studios