The Rings of Power: Same game, beautiful but thoughtful new moves

Web series format facilitates deep dive into Tolkien universe, but the danger of having too much fun with new characters lurks beyond the frame

The Rings of Power (ROP) is not part of the The Lord of the Rings (LOTR) film trilogy. And that’s not bad, not bad at all! The last time Peter Jackson tried to capture lightning in the bottle, he stretched The Hobbit into the no-sense zone. Thankfully, Jackson isn’t running the show, J D Payne and Patrick MacKay are. And they present a new tapestry of Middle Earth.

From the very first scene, the audience encounters a very different texture, a finer weave of plots that also leaves enough space for the overall fabric of tales to breathe. We meet