Lord of the Rings show release date revealed — and fans are freaking out over this photo

Lord of the Rings Prime Video show
(Image credit: Amazon Prime Video)

The first Lord of the Rings TV show photo is here, and people are freaking out — for a good reason. Hidden in the glorious horizon shot, which appears to show an idyllic sun if you're just a n00b like I am, is a pair of huge pieces of Middle-Earth lore. 

Those who don't know any better may just be excited about the news of an announced release date (Sept. 2, 2022). But this single photo is proving to be the kind of thing that should make J.R.R. Tolkien super-fans super-excited about the upcoming series.

Look closely at that solar-flare blast of light in the distance, and you'll see what some online believe to be The Two Trees of Valinor. They, in fact, provided the light for both day and night (one each) before the First Age of Middle-Earth, and out of them came the sun and the moon.

Oh, and incredibly important gems, too. The Silmarils, also known as Jewels of Fëanor, were crafted from these trees. This took place before the First Age, and those gems are among the most precious in the land. 

They also led to a lot of strife in Tolkien's The Silmarillion, which you may have read and whose events take place thousands of years before those of The Lord of the Rings book trilogy.

This matches previous leaks that suggested elements & passages from The Silmarillion and Tolkien's Unfinished Tales were licensed by Amazon Studios for this adaptation. (Although the TV series is called The Lord of the Rings, it won't have much to do with the plot of the book trilogy or of the Peter Jackson movies.)

If that bit of lore doesn't strike your imagination, I'll just let you in on a moment that clued me into the importance. 

I asked my colleague Jordan Palmer (a Tolkien fan through and through) about the Trees of Valinor — which he described as a "HUGE" deal, before helping explain the lore I unpacked above. 

Also, Twitter user @lukeisamazing did a good job of amping up excitement here:

Amazon's Lord of the Rings series has, aside from the rumbling rumor that it will eventually show us how Sauron became Sauron, mostly been the stuff of insider speculation and casting news.

For example, Amazon's budget for the series looks colossally huge. The first season is reportedly costing the streamer $465 million. As for who's in it, Joseph Mawle (Benjen Stark), was recently announced to be joining a cast so huge you'd think they were filming three seasons at once.

TOPICS
Henry T. Casey
Managing Editor (Entertainment, Streaming)

Henry is a managing editor at Tom’s Guide covering streaming media, laptops and all things Apple, reviewing devices and services for the past seven years. Prior to joining Tom's Guide, he reviewed software and hardware for TechRadar Pro, and interviewed artists for Patek Philippe International Magazine. He's also covered the wild world of professional wrestling for Cageside Seats, interviewing athletes and other industry veterans.

Read more
L-R: Galadriel (Morfydd Clark), High King Gil-galad (Benjamin Walker), and Arondir (Ismael Cruz Córdova) in "The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power" season 2
'The Rings of Power' season 3: Everything we know so far
Rosamund Pike in The Wheel of Time season 2
'The Wheel of Time' season 3 release date, trailer and everything we know
How to watch Harry Potter movies in order
Harry Potter TV show — everything we know about HBO television reboot
A composite image featuring Rand (Josha Stradowski) carrying a female figure from "The Wheel of Time" season 3 key art, Ser Duncan the Tall (Peter Claffey) in HBO's "A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms", and Percy (Walker Scobell) in armor in "Percy Jackson & The Olympians" season 2 (L-R)
5 fantasy TV shows I can't wait to see in 2025
Long Bright River; John Mulaney; The Wheel of Time
6 top new TV shows to stream this week on Netflix, Prime Video and more (March 10-16)
Our first image from "A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms" featuring Dunk (Peter Claffey)
George R. R. Martin has already seen the next 'Game of Thrones' spin-off — here's his review
Latest in Prime Video
Titus Welliver in Bosch Legacy season 3
‘Bosch: Legacy’ season 3 preview: 5 things to know before the final season on Prime Video
A first look at Amazon's Fallout TV series coming to Prime Video
‘Fallout’ season 3 plans are reportedly being made — while season 2 is still filming
Kat Graham and Meagan Tandy in Tyler Perry's "Duplicity" on Prime Video
Prime Video’s latest hit thriller proves that bad movies can still win — and I’m sick of it
(L-R) Carey Mulligan as Cassandra and Bo Burnham as Ryan in "Promising Young Woman"
I haven’t stopped thinking about this thriller for 5 years — and it’s steaming for free on Prime Video right now
Glen Powell and Daisy Edgar-Jones sit on the hood of a truck in "Twisters"
Prime Video top 10 movies — here's the 3 worth watching now
Miracle Mile
Prime Video has one of the most unsettling apocalyptic thrillers I’ve ever watched — here's why you should stream it
Latest in News
Bill Gates in 2019
Bill Gates just predicted the death of every job thanks to AI — except for these three
NYTimes Connections
NYT Connections today hints and answers — Wednesday, March 26 (#654)
Gemini screenshot image
Google unveils Gemini 2.5 — claims AI breakthrough with enhanced reasoning and multimodal power
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 review.
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7 design just teased in new cases leak — and the outer display is huge
Google Chrome
Chrome failed to install on Windows PCs, but Google has issued a fix — here's what happened
nyc spring day AI image
OpenAI just unveiled enhanced image generator within ChatGPT-4o — here's what you can do now