The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Premiere Date Pushed Up

The Lord of the Rings fans will get to see The Second Age of Middle-earth a day earlier than expected. Prime Video today announced that The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power will debut on September 1st, one day earlier than its previously announced September 2nd premiere. Two episodes will debut on that Thursday at 9 p.m. ET, and new episodes will premiere weekly on Friday mornings at midnight E.T. until the season finale is released on October 14th. 

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is set thousands of years before The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, 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 Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power features an ensemble cast.It 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.

Amazon Studios produces The Rings of Power. J.D. Payne & Patrick McKay are the showrunners. Payne and McKay lead the series as executive producers with Lindsey Weber, Callum Greene, J.A. Bayona, Belén Atienza, Justin Doble, Jason Cahill, Gennifer Hutchison, Bruce Richmond, and Sharon Tal Yguado. Ron Ames and Christopher Newman are producers. Wayne Che Yip is a co-executive producer and directs along with J.A. Bayona and Charlotte Brändström. 

Bayona previously revealed the guiding rule the producers have followed in expanding on the established canon of Middle-earth. "When you read Tolkien's books, you can tell how much he appreciates beauty, so the show is full of beauty," Bayona told SFX Magazine. "Tolkien is inherently optimistic, warm and emotional. This is a man who went through some of the darkest things in human history [in the First World War] and he didn't come out of that and write a despairing, awful story."

"[Tolkien] wrote a story about hope, and a little guy succeeding," Bayona continued. "We always felt that it was rule number one that there needed to be true optimism and love, even in the darkest, scariest moments of the show."

Prime Video already renewed The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power for a second season. The series premieres on Prime Video on September 1st.