A New Audio Venture from ScreenRant

Even before Amazon’s Lord of The Rings: The Rings of Power aired its first episode, the TV series faced intense skepticism from online critics, detractors, and even fans fearful of any adaptation of Tolkien’s beloved lore. Ultimately, these sky-high stakes and incendiary reactions have dominated many conversation of the series itself, replacing any thorough, thoughtful, or nuanced discussion. And it’s that problem which ScreenRant’s new The Rings of Power Podcast seeks to fix.

With The Rings of Power season two on the way (premiering August 29, 2024), it’s a sad reality that the loudest criticisms hurled at the series and its creators have managed to stick, regardless of how accurate, how incomplete, or in some cases entirely misinformed they really are. And fans of fantasy deserve a better level of discourse.

Which is why ScreenRant’s Andrew Dyce and Stephen Colbert, two podcast veterans with a passionate (even obsessive) love for Tolkien, storytelling, and divisive adaptations seek to set the record straight. Because The Rings of Power Podcast will begin by addressing the show’s biggest conversations and debates head-on.

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The Rings of Power season 2 trailer made it look like a Tolkien secret would be ruined in the coming episodes, but that might not be the case.

As the next chapter of the Prime Video series approaches, the show’s most confusing pieces of canon (drawn directly from Tolkien’s own writings), possible conflicts with existing Lord of the Rings ‘canon,’ and the most controversial story choices and characterizations have returned to the spotlight once again. So there’s no better time to help set the record straight, with a lengthy series of discussions from a pair of hopelessly devoted Tolkien die-hards.

The identity of the mysterious Wizard (Daniel Weyman), the plausibility of Sauron’s disguise for the debut season, the precedent for a battle-hardened Galadriel (Morfydd Clark) and more will be explored at length, allowing Tolkien’s own writing (and missing chapters) to lead the discussion alongside the TV series. The first such discussion, “Is The Stranger Young Gandalf, a Blue Wizard, or Neither?”is available to listen below:

Whether you are loving the series as a fantasy tale all its own and seeking to learn more about the lore it’s adapting, or were left confused by elements of the series (and found only hyperbolic ragebait when seeking out explanations), The Rings of Power Podcast hosts aim to make the discussions engaging, rewarding, and illuminating.

Fans have plenty of Rings of Power coverage to enjoy on ScreenRant, so be sure to follow and subscribe to The Rings of Power Podcast wherever podcasts are served.

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power

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The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power brings to screens the heroic legends of the fabled Second Age of Middle-earth’s history for the very first time. Set thousands of years before the events of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, The Rings of Power will explore a time in the franchise where kingdoms rose and fell, where The One Ring itself was forged and tells the tale of the rise of the greatest foe in the Lord of the Rings Franchise, the Dark Lord Sauron. Beginning in a time of peace, the series follows an ensemble cast of familiar and new characters as they confront the long-feared reemergence of evil in Middle-earth. From the depths of the Misty Mountains to the forests of the elf-capital of Lindon, to the island kingdom of Númenor, to the farthest reaches of the map, The Rings of Power promises to condense the extended works of Tolkien in a condensed but all-encompassing TV show format. The first season of The Rings of Power began airing exclusively on Prime Video on September 2, 2022