The creators of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power have explained why the show is set in the Second Age of Middle-Earth. The Prime Video series, which is set to premiere on September 2, 2022, is the third big-budget live-action project to be developed from J.R.R. Tolkien's literary classic following Peter Jackson's pair of trilogies adapting The Lord of the Rings and its prequel The Hobbit. The show is set thousands of years before the events of either trilogy, though it will include several familiar characters who were alive at the time, particularly the immortal elves Galadriel (Morfydd Clark) and Elrond (Robert Aramayo).
The time period in which The Rings of Power is set is known as the Second Age of the land known as Middle-Earth. As laid out by Tolkien in his elaborately detailed appendices, Middle-Earth's history contains four grand epochs. The Second Age covers the creation of the titular Rings of Power, the rise of the dark lord Sauron, and the establishment of Númenor. It was preceded by the First Age, in which the elves awoke, and followed by the Third Age, which contains the events of The Lord of the Rings, and the Fourth Age, which begins with the Dominion of Men.
Today at San Diego Comic-Con 2022, Prime Video hosted a panel celebrating the impending release of The Rings of Power. During the panel, the show creators discussed why the decision was made to set the series in Middle-Earth's Second Age. They explained that the story is much more human, asking the audience to imagine feeling at home and facing the impending threat that all of it will be taken away. The world of the Second Age is different than what's been seen before and is about to be introduced to a great evil. The show aims to explore how far into the darkness people are willing to go to protect what they love.
Rings of Power co-creator J. D. Payne went on to insist that the show was always going to be about the Second Age. He describes the period as Tolkien's awesome untold story, detailing Sauron's rise to power and possessing the proper scope for the story they hope to tell. He gratefully explained that "they have let us make the show we want to make," as they wanted to make a "huge Tolkien mega epic" rather than a side thing or a spinoff.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is certainly setting out to carve out its own space in the world of Tolkien. While it does contain echoes of the characters and events of the films, it is also jam-packed with original characters living in the grand drama of Middle-Earth history. Considering the epic scope of the story they are adapting, the show will likely thrill fans of the saga of Middle-Earth to no end.