Q&A with the director of The Rings of Power

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When Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy reached its conclusion in 2003, the running time for the theatrical release of the films was nine hours and 17 minutes. Coincidentally, that’s also about how long the first season of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power will take to unspool on Prime Video. The first two episodes are a little over an hour each, with six more to arrive weekly starting on Friday, Sept. 9. At least four more seasons are planned.

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Unlike the original Lord of the Rings, however, The Rings of Power is based not on J.R.R. Tolkien’s popular novel but on the author’s appendices and notes for the Second Age of Middle-earth, thousands of years before the events in the trilogy. Though owing to the longevity of Elves, younger versions of several familiar characters, including Galadriel (played by Morfydd Clark) and Elrond (Robert Aramayo), will appear in the new series.

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The National Post’s Chris Knight sat down (via Zoom) to talk to Spanish director J.A. Bayona (The Impossible, A Monster Calls), who helmed the first two episodes of The Rings of Power. Future instalments will be directed by Britain’s Wayne Yip and Swedish-born Charlotte Brandstrom.

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Chris: Were you familiar with the books and movies before starting this project?

J.A.: I was very little when I saw the first animated movie, the 1978 one. And I was very attracted to it. I thought it was very unique. And then when I was a teenager I read the books and I became a fan. I really admire the books. I read them again now, when I was preparing the show, and I found them very different. Probably when I read them for the first time I was more into the action and the fun. And when I just read them again I saw the complexity of them.

Chris: And the newer movies?

J.A.: I love them. I think Peter Jackson did fantastic work in capturing the spirit of Tolkien. He really understood who Tolkien was and what his books meant. And to me, it was a very good reference. I tried to do the same. I tried to go back to the source material, and to be as faithful as he was.

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Chris: Was it difficult or more freeing to work from appendices rather than a finished novel?

J.A.: Actually, I think that what [showrunners and head writers] Patrick McKay and J.D. Payne did was even more difficult, because if they would have a book, they would have a very complete guide to follow. And the appendices are just like a series of events, a chronological history. They had the big events, the big landmarks, and they completed the gaps with new characters and new storylines. I think it was really hard work, finding a story that felt original, and felt right and truthful to what Tolkien designed.

Chris: The pressure to get it right must have been intense.

J.A.: Yeah, you could feel the pressure. You really want to get it right. And in this case, the expectations around it are so big that you focus on the source material and try to dig into that and get as much information as you can in order to put those worlds again on the screen.

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Chris: Do you have a favourite moment from the episodes you directed?

J.A.: In the first episode there’s a very long bit of dialogue, almost seven minutes, between Galadriel and Elrond. And I was so thrilled with every single line. I thought, this is great. This is something interesting. It’s not just about the action, it’s not just about the set pieces – sometimes these huge blockbusters, you know, it’s a collection of set pieces – but you could tell that there was a story, there were characters, there was something in there that put the stories together in a very different way.

Chris: Do the think Rings will lose something for being viewed on small screens?

A.J.: Well, if you want to watch it on your telephone that’s your problem. But when you read the books you can see how cinematic Tolkien was, the way he used the landscape, reflecting the mood of the characters. So when you’re working on it you’re not thinking small screen, you’re thinking big story.

The first two episodes of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power are available now on Prime Video. Additional episodes will be released each Friday.