Amazon gives its ‘Lord of the Rings’ series a redundant name

Amazon’s The Lord of the Rings series is scheduled to debut on Prime Video in September, which might just be far enough away to get used to the unwieldy title. The company revealed the full name of the show — The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power — in a short video.

“This is a title that we imagine could live on the spine of a book next to J.R.R. Tolkien’s other classics,” showrunners J.D. Payne & Patrick McKay said in a statement. “The Rings of Power unites all the major stories of Middle-earth’s Second Age: the forging of the rings, the rise of the Dark Lord Sauron, the epic tale of Númenor and the Last Alliance of Elves and Men. Until now, audiences have only seen onscreen the story of the One Ring — but before there was one, there were many… and we’re excited to share the epic story of them all.”

The video shows what looks like a few valleys with wispy fog before we see what’s actually going on. Molten metal fills in the grooves before it’s cooled with water. The camera then zooms out to reveal the show’s name. The clip was shot using practical effects instead of CGI.

The teaser doesn’t feature any characters or provide plot details. There’s plenty of time for that in future trailers. However, the narration underscores the fact the show will once again focus on the 20 rings at the heart of the LOTR saga — just in case the title didn’t do enough to hammer that home.

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