The Lord of the Rings, the Rings of Power, is the unwieldy title of Amazon's most expensive

series ever.

It's prequel to JRL Tolkien's Lord of the Rings set thousands of years before Bilbo

and Frodo first blistered their Harry Hobbit feat trudging across the endless landscapes

of Middle-earth.

The story takes place in various locals around Tolkien's world, places both familiar and

unfamiliar and introduces us to a new cast of characters with some friendly faces thrown

into the mix.

I'm Glenn Weldon and today we're talking about the Lord of the Rings, the Rings of Power

on Popculture Happy Hour from NPR.

Joining us today is the host of NPR's Weekend Edition, Sunday, Ayushar Asco.

Hey, Ayusha, welcome.

Hey, glad to be here.

Glad to have you also with us as Vulture, TV, Critic Roxana, Haddadi, welcome back Roxana.

Thank you.

I'm glad to have you.

Okay, so to start off, you can't talk about this damn show without talking about its

price tag.

Amazon reportedly spent over $700 million to produce this series.

It's mostly based on the appendices of the Lord of the Rings and the story traces the

early-ish history of Tolkien's world after a great battle in which elves and men defeated

an evil godlike being called Morgoth.

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