Lord of the Rings Trilogy Star Forgot About the TV Show, Still Plans to Watch

Prime Video’s upcoming The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power series promises to be an epic undertaking, but it will be very different from the trilogy Peter Jackson made in the early 2000s. The new show is set 1,000 years before Lord of the Rings, and concept artist John Howe recently teased, “This isn’t the Middle-earth you remember.” The upcoming show has caused some reactions from the previous movies’ stars, including Sean Astin (Samwise Gamgee), who has expressed his excitement for the show. Another Lord of the Rings alum, Viggo Mortensen (Aragorn), spoke with The Hollywood Reporter and admitted he forgot the series was happening but said he does plan to watch.

“What is that?”, Mortensen replied when asked about The Rings of Power. “The TV thing? It is with Apple, or something?” After getting a little background on the show, which is coming to Prime Video, he added “Oh, right. Yeah, I’ll watch that … Do you know what source material they’re using? What were they allowed to use?” After learning the show is connected with the Tolkien estate, Mortensen replied, “That’s cool … It’ll be fun to see.”

Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is set during Middle-earth’s Second Age. It begins during a time of relative peace following the defeat of Morgoth, Sauron’s master. The series chronicles the lives and adventures of its ensemble cast and promises to visit the Misty Mountains, the forest elf-capital of Lindon, and the shores of the island kingdom of Númenor.

The show’s full cast includes Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Robert Aramayo, Owain Arthur, Maxim Baldry, Nazanin Boniadi, Morfydd Clark, Ismael Cruz Córdova, Charles Edwards, Trystan Gravelle, Sir Lenny Henry, Ema Horvath, Markella Kavenagh, Joseph Mawle, Tyroe Muhafidin, Sophia Nomvete, Lloyd Owen, Megan Richards, Dylan Smith, Charlie Vickers, Leon Wadham, Benjamin Walker, Daniel Weyman, and Sara Zwangobani.

“I for one am excited,” Astin previously shared. “I saw the preview for it, and it gave me chills. It looked like they got it. I’ve been saying the whole time, they’re gonna do it right. There’s no way Amazon is gonna pay almost a billion dollars for a franchise just to screw it up.” He added, “You just think, how long before it will be fresh? For an entire, at least one or two generations, it’ll be brand new … They’ll end up discovering our version of The Lord of the Rings as a consequence of seeing what will be new to them.”

Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power will debut on Prime Video on September 2nd.