LORD OF THE RINGS: RINGS OF POWER is based on J. R. R. Tolkien‘s history of Middle-earth, primarily material from the appendices of the novels The Lord of the Rings (1954–55). The series is set thousands of years before the novel and depicts the major events of Middle-earth‘s Second Age.

“Amazon acquired the television rights for The Lord of the Rings from the Tolkien Estate in November 2017, making a five-season production commitment worth at least $1 billion. This would make it the most expensive television series ever made.” (Wikipedia)

Only the first of 8 episodes is available on AMAZON Prime Video–new episodes are available each Wednesday. I’ve only watched the first episode so it’s too soon for me to deliver an informed opinion. But, The Guardian had no such reservations: “They’ve sidelined the harfoots, introduced a Stranger Things star and thrown in full-blooded romance. It’s probably not enough to stop the fantasy prequel feeling boring, though…”

Harfoots are one of the three ancestral branches of Hobbits in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth, known as the most numerous and typical of the Hobbit kindreds. I’m not sure their absence will be fatal to this prequel, but something is definitely missing! GRADE: INCOMPLETE, but trending towards a C