Amazon’s long-awaited Lord of The Rings television series is now confirmed to have a September 2022 release date. Only over a year to go.

According to Amazon, filming for the series wrapped in New Zealand on Monday this current week. Not much has been confirmed about the series, not the plot, not even what its actual title will be but we do know it’ll take place thousands of years before the events of The Hobbit or Lord of The Rings. It’ll also apparently feature both new and returning characters from across Middle-Earth.

They have also shared a teaser image for the series. It depicts a figure in a white cloak standing against the backdrop of a pristine castle bathed in the sun. There’s a feeling of both mystery and fantasy within the image that certainly feels like something out of a Peter Jackson movie.

Big Tolkien buffs may have also notice that the light source in the picture is not a sun but in fact, the Two Trees of Valinor, likely making this image set in the land of Valinor, aka the Undying Lands. This is a place that has often been referenced in Lord of The Rings but never before shown partially because it’s more or less the Middle-Earth’s equivalent to Heaven or Avalon. If this is where Amazon’s Lord of The Rings is heading, it would certainly be an interesting tale to tell.

The ensemble cast confirmed for the show includes some big-name actors: Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Robert Aramayo, Owain Arthur, Maxim Baldry, Nazanin Boniadi, Morfydd Clark, Ismael Cruz Córdova, Charles Edwards, Trystan Gravelle, Sir Lenny Henry, Ema Horvath, Markella Kavenagh, Joseph Mawle, Tyroe Muhafidin, Sophia Nomvete, Lloyd Owen, Megan Richards, Dylan Smith, Charlie Vickers, Leon Wadham, Benjamin Walker, Daniel Weyman, and Sara Zwangobani.

The series’ showrunners are J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay who have previously worked on Star Trek, Godzilla vs. Kong and the recently released Disney film, Jungle Cruise. Needless to say, they have experience with Franchise IPs.

They also acted as two of the many executive producers of the series. The others being Lindsey Weber, Callum Greene, J.A. Bayona, Belén Atienza, Justin Doble, Jason Cahill, Gennifer Hutchison, Bruce Richmond, and Sharon Tal Yguado. Further crew include co-executive producer Wayne Che Yip, director Charlotte Brändström, and producer Christopher Newman.

J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle Earth remains one the most successful media franchises of all time. The most prominent of its adaptations being the Lord of the Rings Trilogy and Hobbit Trilogy directed by Peter Jackson but it has also be turned into a number of video games, comic books and board games not to mention basically being the inspiration for every other fantasy series under the sun.

If you’re interested in playing some Lord of The Rings video games, Warner Bros recently announced Lord of The Rings: Rise of War.