The Lord Of The Rings Has Found Its Perfect Next TV Show

Published Aug 23, 2026, 4:00 PM EDT Lewis is a Lead Writer for Screen Rant and has written for the site since 2022. This has allowed Lewis to explore a vast array of films, TV shows, books, comic books, and games from across the mainstream world of pop culture, reflecting his lifelong love of all media and typifying his experience in the world of fiction storytelling. To top this off, Lewis graduated from Northumbria University with First Class Honours in Film & TV Studies, truly exemplifying his experience in the medium. Sign in to your ScreenRant account A Lord of the Rings TV show may currently be ongoing, but the franchise has already found its next perfect one. The Rings of Power season 3 is set to be released on Prime Video in November 2026, continuing the epic saga of the War of the Elves and Sauron. That is just one of many upcoming Lord of the Rings projects in development as Warner Bros. looks to return the franchise to the big screen with Peter Jackson once more involved. Despite many big franchises recently using TV to expand their storytelling, The Lord of the Rings is slightly different. Yes, The Rings of Power is one of the biggest, most ambitious TV shows ever produced, but that is only because of Prime Video's acquisition of the franchise's small-screen rights. Unlike Star Wars, Marvel, DC, and Harry Potter, though, the future of The Lord of the Rings seems less likely to utilize more TV stories once The Rings of Power concludes. That is not to say that the potential for more Lord of the Rings TV stories is not huge, however. Recently, in 2026, the franchise itself teased a perfect story that could be suited to a TV adaptation in the unlikeliest of places: the world of video games. In August of that year, The Lord of the Rings: War in the North was re-released on current-generation consoles, 15 years after its original release. What this proves above all else is that demand for the story is still there, and this could translate perfectly to a TV adaptation. The video game's story takes place concurrently with the original Lord of the Rings trilogy, as an elven, dwarven, and human warrior seek to dismantle the armies of Agandaûr, a Black Númenórean, who wages war on Middle-earth's northern regions in Sauron's name. As an original story featuring original characters that still has ties to the original stories, War in the North could make a great TV show. A few criticisms of the video game were the surface-level quality of the characters and story, which a long-form TV show would excel at fleshing out. Also, from a wider, business-minded perspective, the story's focus on The War of the Ring and the crossovers this allows for would align with the current strategy for the franchise; with new movies being produced that are set in that timeline featuring characters from the original trilogy, War in the North is a perfect expansion of that. With a full TV budget, a talented creative team, and a story that is not as widely known in the franchise, The Lord of the Rings: War in the North would be perfect for a TV adaptation. The Lord Of The Rings: War In The North Could Set Itself Apart From The Rings Of Power If The Lord of the Rings: War in the North were to become a TV show, it would need to set itself apart from The Rings of Power. The main way the former could do this relates to its scale, which is suitably smaller than the latter's. In essence, The Rings of Power is grand in every sense of the word; it focuses much more on epic fantasy, from the huge sets and CGI vistas to the massive battle sequences and extended cast. Even in its story, The Rings of Power reflects this grand scale. It spans thousands of years and some of the most consequential events of Middle-earth's timeline, including the forging of the titular rings, Sauron's creation of the One Ring, and even the War of Wrath that concluded the First Age. The Lord of the Rings: War in the North would have aspects of this if it were adapted, but it is much more focused on the central trio of characters and their personal story, allowing for a tighter narrative that would separate it from the spectacle of The Rings of Power. A War In The North TV Series Could Continue A Growing Industry Trend Via MovieStillsDB Looking at the wider TV landscape, a War in the North TV series could continue a positive trend. Despite decades of video games receiving terrible adaptations in live-action, the industry has gotten notably better at doing so of late. Especially in the realm of TV, video game adaptations have become much better, from HBO's The Last of Us to Prime Video's Fallout and Netflix's Cyberpunk: Edgerunners. With these in mind, there has never been a better time to make a War in the North show. Like Fallout, War in the North has an added edge. The former is an original narrative that takes place within the same continuity of the game series, meaning it has received less negativity by way of comparison, as audiences are not expecting fidelity to any one game's story. Lord of the RIngs: War in the North wouldn't have this exactly, but it would still blend the worlds of the video game and the original movies as Fallout does. All of this just proves that The Lord of the Rings' next TV show should be War in the North. Movie(s) The Lord of the Rings (1978), The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim TV Show(s) The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Video Game(s) The Lord of the Rings Online (dupe), Middle-Earth: Shadow of War, The Lord Of The Rings: Gollum, The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria First Film The Lord of the Rings (1978) Cast Norman Bird, Anthony Daniels, Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Liv Tyler, Viggo Mortensen, Sean Astin, Cate Blanchett, John Rhys-Davies, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan, Orlando Bloom, Christopher Lee, Hugo Weaving, Sean Bean, Ian Holm, Andy Serkis, Brad Dourif, Karl Urban, Martin Freeman, Richard Armitage, James Nesbitt, Ken Stott, Benedict Cumberbatch, Evangeline Lilly, Lee Pace, Luke Evans, Morfydd Clark, Mike Wood, Ismael Cruz Cordova, Charlie Vickers, Markella Kavenagh, Megan Richards, Sara Zwangobani, Daniel Weyman, Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Lenny Henry, Brian Cox, Shaun Dooley, Miranda Otto, Bilal Hasna, Benjamin Wainwright, Luke Pasqualino, Christopher Guard, William Squire, Michael Scholes, John Hurt Created by J.R.R. Tolkien