If you’ve spent any time on Twitter throughout the past few days, you might have seen a swathe of people mocking a video of the entire main cast of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.
The video shows the entire lead cast one by one against a black background, which each of them turning to stare directly into the camera before fading away, only to be followed by another cast member. It is peak 90s-era TV cringe. However, rumors have been swirling that this is legitimately the Amazon Prime Video series’ official main title intro.
For a show that set back the mega-corporation at least $1 billion, you would hardly be remiss if you were peeved that this was the title intro you received, especially for a franchise as beloved as The Lord of the Rings. Needless to say, people were annoyed.
But, we’re here to set the record straight: this is not the official intro to the series. Not even close.
It is, however, a digital cover to Entertainment Weekly‘s feature on the series, which hit the internet over a month ago. Now, with the first two episodes of the show having finally hit Amazon Prime Video, we know exactly what the intro title does look like.
We first see the title intro in episode two, “Adrift”, and it is incredibly reminiscent of what we’ve been accustomed to with shows like Game of Thrones and its prequel, House of the Dragon. A camera spans over animations of dust, gravel, and rubble, blowing into the formation of rings. Doesn’t take a genius to figure out the rest.
There you have it. Is it the most original main title? No. But is it as bad as some trolls on Twitter would have you believe? Definitely not.
Watch the first two episodes of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, including the main title, on Amazon Prime Video. And, you can read our review of the series, dubbing it a worthy predecessor to Peter Jackson’s original trilogy, here.