Sharjah24 – AFP: Nomadic hobbits, bearded female dwarves and enslaved elves -- Amazon finally lifted the lid on its highly anticipated "Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power" TV series at Comic-Con on Friday.
The enormously ambitious small-screen saga set in the world of J.R.R. Tolkien's books has been in the works since Amazon Prime bought the rights for $250 million almost five years ago.
Fans, many of whom camped in line overnight at the world's most famous pop culture gathering, were treated to a first look at footage, plus interviews with the creators and a 21-strong cast of hobbits, dwarves and elves in a packed presentation hosted by comedian and Tolkien-enthusiast Stephen Colbert.
"As fans and as viewers and lovers of Middle Earth and Tolkien, we didn't want to do a side thing, or a spin off, or the origin story of something else," said co-creator Patrick McKay.
"We wanted to find a huge Tolkienian mega epic. And Amazon were, wonderfully, crazy enough to say 'yes, let's do that.'"
Amazon is reportedly spending more than $1 billion to make five seasons -- each running for 10 hours -- the first of which launches on its streaming platform September 2, and which "reintroduces" Tolkien's world of Middle Earth, said McKay.
Younger versions of elves Galadriel and Elrond -- familiar characters to fans of Peter Jackson's Oscar-winning "Lord of the Rings" trilogy -- will be played by Morfydd Clark and Robert Aramayo.
But with the new TV show set 4,000 years before Jackson's trilogy, in a fictional "Second Age" -- a historical period sketched out in less detail by Tolkien's writings -- the creators had license to create many new characters.
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