Our friends at Weta Workshop have sent us the amazing looking King Aragorn Classic Series statue to review here at TheOneRing.net. This version of Aragorn captures him as he takes the crown of Gondor, becoming King Elessar, at the end of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. For me it is without a doubt one of the best versions of this character we’ve gotten from Weta. The Classic Series is a fantastic series of statues that really highlight each character in classic poses, allowing the character to really shine. I would highly encourage anyone to get this right now – for the price of $399 USD with free shipping.
With thousands of votes over all the pairings, Round One of Middle-earth March Madness 2025: The Art of Middle-earth is done; and half the wondrous works of art have been eliminated. If you joined us for any of our livestreams, you’ll know how tricky those choices were; and from here on, it only gets tougher! Voting is open now for Round Two!
Round One saw some VERY close battles – and indeed, few works won by really wide margins. In the ‘Landscapes’ bracket, Mary Fairburn’s Gandalf on the Tower of Orthanc beat Federico Cimini’s Rhosgobel by less than 1% of votes cast! That same bracket, however, saw one of the biggest victories: Alan Lee’s Edoras took 86% of votes, to defeat Paul Gregory’s Caradhras – a beautiful work which might well have made it through to Round Two, had we not set it up with such a challenging opening round battle!
Edoras by Alan Lee
Check out the bracket now, to see which pieces made it through. Then we hope you may linger a while, spending some time with the 32 remaining pieces, before you place your next votes.
How you choose is up to you! How you vote is explained below:
How does it work, you ask? Simple! Click on the button below. This will take you to the voting site, where you can view the entire bracket, and also view individual works in all their glory (and details of the artist). Place your votes for Round Two!
You have until the end of the day Wednesday March 26th to vote in Round Two; on Thursday 27th we’ll open voting for Round Three! We’ll have more livestream discussions of the featured art – and look out for some very special guests coming up, as well as some giveaways! Join us on Tuesday 25th for TORn Tuesday where Jerry VanderStelt will be our guest, to discuss his piece in the ‘Montages’ bracket, The Fellowship of the Ring. We hope to see you then – perhaps you may want to wait to vote until after that stream, in case it changes your mind…?
As you no doubt know, March 25th is Tolkien Reading Day – a tradition begun by The Tolkien Society in 2003. Not that we need any excuse to celebrate the works and worlds of the Professor! But on Reading Day – and the days around it – there are often special events. And this year is no exception!
You may recall that last year, composer and sound engineer Jordan Rannells (the creator of the Long-expected Soundscape: music and ambient sounds to create a world around you, as you read The Lord of the Rings) teamed up with ArdaCraft to bring us a live stream event, where parts of The Fellowship of the Ring were read over the corresponding chapters of the Soundscape. This year, Rannells is doing it again!
On Sunday 23rd March you can listen along to readings from The Return of the King, surrounded by ambient sound – immerse yourself in Middle-earth! Enjoy readings from folks such as artist Ted Nasmith, composer Stephen Gallagher, and TORn’s own Quickbeam and greendragon – plus a whole host of familiar faces and wonderful folks from the fandom.
The whole thing kicks off at 12pm EST on Sunday, and you can find it here. Set your calendar – get ready to spend the day in Middle-earth!
Spring is springing in the Northern Hemisphere, and that means it is time for March Madness! We here at TheOneRing.net always like to join in the fun; and this year, we bring you Middle-earth March Madness 2025: The Art of Middle-earth.
As those who joined us for the livestream launch yesterday know, this year we’ve chosen 64 works of art – artists’ imaginings of the realms and characters created by The Professor. These are then divided into four ‘Regions’: Landscapes, Portraits, Story Moments, and Groups/Montages.
As you can imagine, it was very difficult to narrow the field to 64 artists and then to choose just ONE work from each artist! (But we certainly had fun, exploring and perusing and immersing ourselves in Middle-earth art!) Now we hand the difficult decision making over to YOU! As ever, our March Madness plays out in six rounds, with half the entries getting knocked out each round. So right now you have the challenging task of voting to reduce 64 wonderful art works down to just 32!
How will you choose? That is entirely up to you! But first, a word about OUR choices:
You will notice the absence of Tolkien himself in this ‘contest’. We decided it would be unfair to include The Professor’s own art work – for surely he would be the clear winner! So the pool is made up of artists INSPIRED by Middle-earth, not the creator of Middle-earth himself. We also have not included art from film. There is of course art inspired by film – you can see a clear influence of Peter Jackson’s movies on some of these works – but we have not included, for example, stills from the recent, beautiful anime movie The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim, nor from Ralph Bakshi’s 1978 The Lord of the Rings (though you will find the poster from that film in one of the brackets!)
This year’s March Madness, more than ever, is very much ‘for fun’. We didn’t seed our choices this year; we felt it was impossible to create any kind of ‘rank’ for these stunning visuals. Likewise, your vote will be entirely about your own personal taste. There is no ‘best’ piece amongst these 64 – only the ones YOU like best. So, vote however you would like. Toss a coin, if it comes down to it! But DO take some time enjoying all of the art. Our hope is that fans will take pleasure in revisiting familiar works, and also that many people will be introduced to artists whose work they do not already know. We’ve made sure to include links where available, so perhaps you’ll head off down a rabbit hole to explore more pieces by a painter you’ve just discovered. Maybe you’ll even buy some works from that artist, for your own wall! (And that’s actually quite a good ‘yard stick’ for decision making – ‘Would I like to hang this on my living room wall?’)
In short, treat the voting brackets like an art gallery. Stay a while! (You have until midnight EST at the end of March 22nd to vote in Round One.) Gaze, reflect, ponder, enjoy. And then VOTE.
How does it work, you ask? Simple! Click on the button below. This will take you to the voting site, where you can view the entire bracket, and also view individual works in all their glory (and details of the artist). So let’s get voting!
You have until the end of the day Saturday March 22nd to vote in Round One; on Sunday 23rd voting will open for Round Two! Look out for more livestream discussions of the featured art, coming from our TORn Tuesday team, where we’ll also have some very special guests – and some giveaways! Keep an eye on our socials for all details. We hope you enjoy exploring this Art of Middle-earth; let the games begin!
EXCLUSIVE – Pippin as a ruthless leader? Alfrid the woodland elf? Colour us intrigued!
Billy Boyd (LOTR) and Ryan Gage (The Hobbit) star in a new fantasy feature film called WARLORD. Gamers may recognize the rest of the cast too – Jennifer English is Shadowheart in Baldur’s Gate 3, and Aliona Baranova is in Cyberpunk 2077: The Phantom Liberty.
Director & actor Stuart Brennan jumped into our instagram comments this week to let fans know the movie trailer “will release in a few weeks time.”
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE First Look: Warlord Brings a Gritty Wood Elf Fantasy Thriller to Screens This May
London, UK – February 20, 2025 – The highly anticipated fantasy thriller Warlord is set to premiere on May 15, 2025, ahead of its global release on May 16th, 2025. Helmed by award-winning writer-director Stuart Brennan (Kingslayer, Assassin’s Guild), Warlord promises a dark and immersive journey into a mystical forest realm where war, rebellion, and power struggles unfold in uncompromising fashion.
Starring an ensemble cast led by Billy Boyd (The Lord of the Rings), along with Ryan Gage, known for his role as Alfrid in the The Hobbit; Warlord delivers a fresh take on medieval fantasy. With cinematography by Doug Milsome BSC, ASC (Full Metal Jacket, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves), the film boasts a striking visual aesthetic reminiscent of classic epic filmmaking.
Set in a world rife with injustice, Warlord follows a peaceful Wood Elf leader forced to take up arms against an oppressive Sheriff and his mercenaries. As rebellion stirs, alliances are tested, and the elves’ true motives come into question, setting the stage for a thrilling battle for justice and survival.
Director Stuart Brennan shares his vision: “I grew up inspired by stories like Robin Hood, and I wanted to craft a film that explores timeless struggles—oppression, resistance, and the cost of war. Warlord is an intense, character-driven journey that I feel is timely and dealing with themes that are current real world issues. Having been a big fan of Warhammer growing up, Wood Elves were always my army of choice and so getting a chance to bring wood elves into my universe has been particularly special.”
A first-look at the poster of the film has been released today with exclusive images of Billy Boyd as The Sheriff and Ryan Gage as The Brute. Brennan was very excited about the casting; “I love Lord of the Rings, so working with Billy was very cool. He’s incredibly detail orientated and a very prepared actor. He arrived on set excited to be playing a dark and richly complex character. We’d had a few video calls to talk through the part and once he was in costume, on location it was genuinely one of the highlights of my career being able to capture him bringing this role to life. It’s very different from anything he’s done before.”
This was the third movie he had got to work with Gage; “Ryan is a superb actor, he’s also very prepared, very specific and creative with his choices. He was one of the first people I sent the script and this character really jumped out at him. He’s a lot of fun in this movie, very dark, very wicked.”
Further details will be revealed in the coming weeks.
Join the fan conversation about all things Tolkien on Discord.
We were pretty sure it was coming, but today Prime Video have officially confirmed that The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power will return for a third season.
Of note – director Charlotte Brändström is back for more; and the show has moved its production home, remaining in the UK but heading over to Shepperton Studios. No word on any new casting as yet. Prime Video did share this on X, re plotline: Jumping forward several years from the events of Season 2, Season 3 takes place at the height of the War of the Elves and Sauron, as the Dark Lord seeks to craft the One Ring that will give him the edge he needs to win the war and conquer all Middle-earth at last.
Here’s the official press release:
Prime Video Confirms Season Three Of The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power
Acclaimed directors Charlotte Brändström, Sanaa Hamri, and Stefan Schwartz set for upcoming season
Award-winning series is currently in pre-production at new production home,Shepperton Studios
CULVER CITY, California – February 13, 2025 – Today, Prime Video confirmed Season Three of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is in pre-production and will begin filming this spring in the series’ new production home at Shepperton Studios in the UK. Additionally, we are announcing three directors, two returning and one new, Charlotte Brändström, Sanaa Hamri, and Stefan Schwartz will be a part of this season. The globally successful series, which has attracted over 170 million viewers worldwide, continues to be one of Amazon’s strongest drivers for new Prime membership sign-ups.
“The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power continues to captivate audiences worldwide, and we’re thrilled that a third season is underway. The creative team has an extraordinary vision of what’s to come with stories that have left us enchanted and enthralled,” said Vernon Sanders, head of television, Amazon MGM Studios. “We look forward to continuing this epic journey, for our global customers, delving even deeper into the legendary tales that shaped Middle-earth.”
Charlotte Brändström, who served as co-executive producer and directed multiple episodes in Seasons One and Two, returns as executive producer and director for the third season. She is joined by returning director Sanaa Hamri, who helmed several episodes in season two, and veteran director Stefan Schwartz, marking his first involvement with the series. Each director will oversee multiple episodes in the upcoming season.
Brändström’s extensive directing credits include Shōgun (FX), Scarpetta (Prime Video), The Outsider (HBO), The Witcher (Netflix), and The Man in the High Castle (Prime Video). Hamri, an acclaimed director known for her work on The Wheel of Time (Prime Video) and Empire (Fox), brings extensive experience spanning television, music videos, and feature films, having recently directed The Bondsman (Prime Video) pilot while continuing her creative relationship with Amazon MGM Studios through an overall deal. Schwartz, whose credits include The Boys (Prime Video), The Walking Dead (AMC), Luther (BBC), and The Americans (FX), rounds out the talented directorial team.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power has been an unprecedented success, with a broad, highly engaged, global fan base. Critics have praised the series for its epic scope and production values, and Seasons One and Two are Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. Season One remains the biggest TV premiere in the history of Prime Video and Season Two the most-watched returning season by hours watched.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is produced by showrunners and executive producers J.D. Payne & Patrick McKay. They are joined by executive producers Lindsey Weber, Justin Doble, Kate Hazell, and executive producer-director Charlotte Brändström. Matthew Penry-Davey is producer and Ally O’Leary, Tim Keene, and Andrew Lee are co-producers.
Charlotte Brändström is an award-winning director and graduate of the directing program at the American Film Institute. Recent projects include Shōgun for FX, The Continental with Mel Gibson for Starz, the upcoming Scarpetta with Nicole Kidman and Jamie Lee Curtis for Prime Video, and a pilot for Netflix Sweden titled The Unlikely Murderer. Her other directing credits for television include The Outsider for HBO; Jupiter’s Legacy, The Witcher, and Away for Netflix; The Consultant and The Man in the High Castle for Prime Video; and Outlander and Counterpart for Starz. Brändström also directed the entirety of two European limited series: Conspiracy of Silence for Viaplay and Disparue for FR2, and has also directed over 30 feature films, miniseries, and movies-of-the-week. Additionally, Brändström is an international Emmy award nominee for Julie, Chevalier de Maupin.
Sanaa Hamri is a renowned film, television, music video, and commercial director from Tangier, Morocco. She is currently in an overall deal with Amazon MGM Studios. She recently directed the pilot and episode 2 of Prime Video’s The Bondsman starring Kevin Bacon, as well as episodes from Seasons 2 and 3 of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. Previously she was EP/Director of Season 2 of Prime Video’s The Wheel of Time. Hamri was also EP/Director of the blockbuster series Empire on Fox from 2015 to 2020. As an acclaimed music video director, Hamri’s prolific career boasts collaborations with high profile hip hop/R&B musicians including Prince, Common, Lenny Kravitz, Rihanna, Justin Bieber, Snoop Dogg, Jay Z, and Mary J. Blige. Hamri has been awarded the NAACP Image Award for India Arie’s 2003 and an MTV VMA for Nicki Minaj’s 2010 blockbuster hit “Super Bass”. Hamri also directed Mariah Carey’s sold-out live arena concert documentary, The Adventures of Mimi. Hamri’s past episodic work includes Shameless, Rectify, Nashville, Elementary, Glee, Hit The Floor, and Desperate Housewives. Some of her feature film credits include Something New, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, and Just Wright.
Stefan Schwartz is an award winning British/Canadian film and television director, writer, and producer. He has directed episodes of The Boys and My Lady Jane for Amazon MGM Studios, as well as The Americans, The Walking Dead, Fear the Walking Dead, Dexter,White Collar, Those Who Kill, Black Sails, and the BBC’s Luther and Spooks. He served as executive producer and directed episodes of Apple TV’s The Mosquito Coast, the Starz series Camelot, and the pilot of the CBC Television series Fortunate Son. His feature film directing debut was Soft Top Hard Shoulder, which starred Peter Capaldi and won two BAFTA Awards in Scotland and the prestigious audience prize at the London Film Festival. He also directed the films Shooting Fish (which he also wrote), The Abduction Club, and The Best Man, starring Stuart Townsend, Amy Smart, and Seth Green.
About Prime Video
Prime Video is a first-stop entertainment destination offering customers a vast collection of premium programming in one app available across thousands of devices. On Prime Video, customers can customize their viewing experience and find their favorite movies, series, documentaries, and live sports – including Amazon MGM Studios-produced series and movies Red One, Road House, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, Fallout, Reacher, The Boys, Cross, and The Idea of You; licensed fan favorites; Prime member exclusive access to coverage of live sports including Thursday Night Football, WNBA, and NWSL, and acclaimed sports documentaries including Bye Bye Barry and Kelce; and programming from partners such as Apple TV+, Max, Crunchyroll and MGM+ via Prime Video add-on subscriptions, as well as more than 500 free ad-supported (FAST) Channels. Prime members in the U.S. can share a variety of benefits, including Prime Video, by using Amazon Household. Prime Video is one benefit among many that provides savings, convenience, and entertainment as part of the Prime membership. All customers, regardless of whether they have a Prime membership or not, can rent or buy titlesvia the Prime Video Store, and can enjoy even more content for free with ads. Customers can also go behind the scenes of their favorite movies and series with exclusive X-Ray access. For more info visit www.amazon.com/primevideo.
Our friends at Weta Workshop have sent us the amazing looking King Aragorn Classic Series statue to review here at TheOneRing.net. This version of Aragorn captures him as he takes the crown of Gondor, becoming King Elessar, at the end of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. For me it is without a doubt one of the best versions of this character we’ve gotten from Weta. The Classic Series is a fantastic series of statues that really highlight each character in classic poses, allowing the character to really shine. I would highly encourage anyone to get this right now – for the price of $399 USD with free shipping.
