By Dominic Patten , Anthony D'Alessandro

SPOILER ALERT: This podcast contains details of the first two episodes of Prime Video’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, which debuted Thursday night. For more on the epic series, watch Deadline’s Inside The Ring: The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power after-show that launches Saturday. 

“The first thing I would say is we don’t really think of it as a prequel, though it is before,” The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power executive producer Lindsey Weber says about the sprawling multi-season Prime Video series based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s epics that debuted Thursday night. “Something about the word prequel seems to suggest you need to know what comes later to appreciate it. It’s sort of like an appendage to a preexisting thing, and we don’t feel that way about this.”

Related Story ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power’ Season 1 Photo Gallery - Spoilers

‘The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power’ Season 1 Photo Gallery – Spoilers

“This is a story that you can appreciate if you’ve not read the books, if you’ve not seen the movies, there is an on-ramp for you,” Weber says with a shout-out to Peter Jackson’s award-winning big-screen trilogy as part of her exclusive sit-down with Hero Nation about all thing LOTR. “This could be your first introduction to Middle-earth and we would be honored if it does become that for people, and it winds up turning people on to read the books – it would be a thrill for us.”

In that thrilling vein, take a listen to our wide-ranging LOTR branded podcast here:

Set thousands of years before the sagas of Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, the J.D. Payne- and Patrick McKay-showrun The Rings of Power is partially a posthumous collaboration process of adaptation and “adjustments,” as Weber notes, coming off a week of premieres across the globe.

‘The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power’ Episode 1 Recap: Return To Middle-earth

Out of the Second Age era of relative peace, the New Zealand-shot eight-episode Season 1 follows Morfydd Clark’s Galadriel, commander of the Elves’ northern armies, and an ensemble cast of characters both familiar and new as they face the re-emergence of the evil Morgoth, his disciple Sauron, and the Orcs in Middle-earth.

The biggest swing yet by the Jeff Bezos-founded streamer, Rings of Power was picked up for an initial five-season run with a budget estimated to run into the billions. “The real number has never been reported…and it is significantly lower than the numbers that get bandied about,” Weber told us today on the podcast. “Your goal as a producer is to put the money on the screen …and just wait until things get going.”

Touching on franchise management lessons learned during her fruitful executive stint at JJ. Abrams’ Bad Robot shingle, Weber also teased some new characters coming in Season 2 and talked about the capacity now to write in part to the vast cast’s innate strengths going forward after working so closely with them on Season 1.

“Where the story might go in its planned 50 hours, I would hate to limit anyone with my answer here,” she said, speaking literally from production on the second season in the UK.

‘The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power’ Episode 2 Recap: Lost At Sea, Return To Khazad-dum & Rise Of Evil

Putting a circumspect spotlight on the character of The Stranger, who fell from the stars in Episode 1, Weber said “the idea that this sort of miraculous event would occur in the Harfoots’ backyard was one of the sort of foundational ideas from the showrunners when I joined the project.” She added about the Daniel Weyman-portrayed role: “And what I can say about this character is that he is a bit of an onion with many layers to peel – and I think it will be a fun journey for fans to peel as the season goes.”

Having launched with two episodes on Thursday, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power will be dropping new episodes every week.

“It’s a relief to some degree, just to have it out there this thing that we’ve worked on and talked about for so many years now,” Weber forthrightly notes of the much anticipated Rings of Power. “It’s very humbling to be part of this thing that is so much bigger than all of us.”

Take a listen to the full interview in the podcast above. And, shameless plug, don’t miss the upcoming Deadline Inside the Ring:

📣 ‘Deadline's Inside The Ring’ video series with @DeadlineDominic and @AwardsTony debuts on September 3 with deep dives into Episodes 1 and 2 of #TheRingsOfPower. We're talking with the stars of the @PrimeVideo series and more! Stay tuned! pic.twitter.com/oCCPD3iGP6

— Deadline Hollywood (@DEADLINE) September 1, 2022

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