The tales of Middle Earth May still be in production, but Amazon has already confirmed that its new Lord of the Rings series will be getting a second season. The adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s fantasy novels has called back the writers of the series to start developing season 2. 

The news of the season pickup was confirmed by Deadline this afternoon via a statement from Amazon Studios head Jennifer Salke. The early season 2 pickup for the show will allow for a shorter hiatus between seasons 1 and 2. However, the production of season 1 will be taking an approximately 4 month break after filming the first 2 episodes, as show runners and executive producers Patrick McKay and J.D. Payne work on breaking the stories for season 2. Deadline speculates that with parts of season 2 written, the second season might be able to begin production in conjunction with season 1, following in the footsteps of Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings franchise that used a similar production strategy.

As for what we know of the series so far, the plot of Amazon’s Lord of the Rings will not be rehashing the classic Peter Jackson stories, but rather will explore new stories in the time period preceding Fellowship of the Ring. The series will star Markella Kavenagh, Will Poulter, and, most recently announced, Joseph Mawle. The show also has many prominent creatives as part of the crew including costume designer Kate Hawley of Suicide Squad, production designer Rick Heinrichs of The Last Jedi, and visual effects supervisor Jason Smith of The Revenant. The Lord of the Rings series is currently in production in Auckland, New Zealand, the same country where the original films were produced. The presence of a high-budget Lord of the Rings production in New Zealand once again brings up questions of the economic impact this series may have on the small country that already relies heavily on “Hobbit tourism,” and questions of whether the series will have the same negative impact The Hobbit series had on the country’s film industry.

The Lord of the Rings series is set to premiere some time in 2021. Further details have not yet been announced.