Sauron's confirmed absence from Amazon's The Lord of the Rings season 1 throws up an early pacing issue that may harm the series. With a firm release date set for September 2022, Amazon has begun drip-feeding information regarding its The Lord of the Rings prequel series, including J.R.R. Tolkein's novel excerpts and the reimagined maps of Middle Earth's Second Age kingdom Númenor. The streaming giant has also released a brief yet potentially scintillating premise for The Lord of the Rings, which states: "Set in the Second Age of Middle-earth, thousands of years before the events of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, the series follows an ensemble cast of characters as they confront the re-emergence of evil in Middle-earth."
Yet, there remains something of a paradox in this synopsis, given Amazon has also revealed the titular dark lord, Sauron, will not make an appearance in the inaugural season of The Lord of the Rings. Sauron is a central component to almost the entirety of Middle Earth's Second Age history, shaping events that eventually culminate in the first The War of the Ring. Additionally, Sauron goes through several form changes across the course of the Second Age, from a beautiful Maia to iron-clad evil incarnate before his defeat at the hands of Isildur.
In this way, Sauron's season 1 absence causes a pacing issue for The Lord of the Rings series, with Amazon's TV prequel looking increasingly prone to a protracted narrative. The decision not to include Sauron in the first season suggests there will be swathes of preamble from the show, especially given his centrality to almost every subplot in Tolkien's original Second Age story. This omission also begs the question as to what The Lord of the Rings season 1 will actually focus on, with Sauron's lack of screentime likely a tactic to preserve long-term viewership for the series.
Given The Lord of the Rings synopsis, and their subsequent factoids confirming Sauron won't appear immediately, the series looks to be tumbling headfirst into a big pacing problem. Sauron's rise to power is a long and winding road that comprises almost the entire Second Age, meaning the series' scope will have to initially be very limited to avoid conflicting with Sauron's narrative. The revelation of Sauron in his "beautiful" Ainu form is the catalyst for the Second Age's conflicts between the worlds of men, elves and dwarves, which means holding back his appearance will delay vital narratives from the beginning.
With Sauron's confirmed season 1 omission, the question then becomes what Amazon's The Lord of the Rings will look to portray instead. The original dark lord Morgoth's fall seems a good place to start, with the grandeur of this conflict set to evoke memories of Peter Jackson's opening sequence in The Fellowship of the Ring. The Amazon show may also look to use their first season to establish canonical grounds for The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, with the founding of Númenor as one such example. With this being said, it does feel a gamble to hold back Sauron as the primary antagonist for future seasons given The Lord of the Rings' reliance on the conflicts and lore he brings to almost all facets of Middle Earth's history.