'House of the Dragon' vs 'The Rings of Power': Amazon, HBO in race to create the next GoT-level show

Fantasy fans have a reason to cheer this weekend with the release of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.  The video series, which will be aired on Amazon Prime Video from Friday, is a big-ticket investment for Amazon. Jeff Bezos' company will be spending nearly $1 billion on the series based on J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings book trilogy. The first season has cost Amazon $465 million.

The show is significant as Amazon is bidding high on it to stand out in the streaming business against Netflix, Disney+, and HBO Max at the global level. Last week, millions tuned in for the premiere of House of the Dragon on HBO. The HBO series has got an overwhelming response and the creators of the show have already announced the second season of the Game of Thrones spinoff.  Amazon Prime is also hoping that its most expensive show will get similar numbers as it goes head-to-head with HBO’s show.  

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The series and the storyline 

The Rings of Power will revolve around the events that took place thousands of years before the Lord of the Rings trilogy and The Hobbit. The series will focus on Tolkien’s Middle-earth, during its Second Age. Some familiar characters of The Lord of the Rings, such as Galadriel and Elrond, will be making an appearance. 

Season 1 will have eight episodes in total. Amazon Studios has already said that they are hoping the series would run for five seasons at least, according to news reports. Filming for Season 2 is set to begin in October 2022. 

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Bezos’s big bet 

Amazon has hosted glamorous premieres for The Rings of Power in three different cities, Los Angeles, New York, and Mumbai, to grab global attention. The show’s lavish promotions are just a small glimpse of the whole production cost of the series, which is dubbed as the most expensive show ever on television. Not only that, Amazon has spent a whopping $250 million to buy the rights from Tolkein’s estate.