'The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power' S2 has a starry cast; Yasen Atour, Ben Daniels in lead roles

The return of dragons on the small screen has been a huge hit in 2022, but now it's time for the return of the elves and dwarves. So get ready for The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power! But before you grab your popcorn and binge the series, here are a few things you should know.

The ambitious series was years-in-the-making and also very expensive salvo that will go head-to-head with another costly streaming fantasy epic: HBO’s 'Game of Thrones' spinoff 'House of the Dragon', which recently became the most-watched series premiere in HBO history.

The series is based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s writings and asides about Middle-earth’s Second Age, which preceded the Third Age’s 'Lord of the Rings' and 'Hobbit' films and books. Tolkien’s grandson, Simon Tolkien, was a creative consultant.

Amazon Prime Video will debut both the first two 'The Rings of Power' episodes on Friday. After that, the remaining six episodes arrive weekly on Friday. The hour-long episodes are stuffed with action and humor.

Despite being set centuries before the books and films that make up the Tolkien's canon, fans of 'The Lord of the Rings will notice some familiar characters, based on the long lifespan of some of the creatures, including Galadriel, Elrond and Isildur.

The show’s tone shifts depending on which place is being visited. Harfoots, who have Irish accents, are whimsical, communal and clever, while dwarves have Scottish accents, are fond of a drink and are a little rough.

Whereas the elves are elegant and elite, with upper English class accents and a fondness for billowing cloaks and long, elaborate ceremonies. Choir music swells during breathtaking panoramas and the dialogue is thunderous and portentous.

The new series debuts in the long shadow left by Peter Jackson, whose film trilogy adaptation of Tolkien's books won critical and commercial praise in the early 2000s and claimed the best picture Oscar for 'Return of the King'. For the series, there was more freedom to create as long as it was true to the author.

The cast - a massive ensemble of 22 actors - is multiethnic and composed of actors of different ages and fame, from Tony-nominated Benjamin Walker to up-and-coming Charlie Vickers, who graduated from drama school in 2017. The cast filmed in New Zealand during the pandemic and were away from loved ones for almost two years. The actors rarely visited the sets of rival fictional races, but all gathered for potluck lunches and holidays, according to a report in AP.