ONE SHOW TO RULE THEM ALL
TEARS ARE STREAMING DOWN Ismael Cruz Córdova’s chiseled cheekbones. Somehow, hardly anyone notices. I’m at San Diego Comic-Con, halfway through 96 hours spent shadowing the cast and creators of The Rings of Power, Amazon’s highly anticipated Lord of the Rings prequel series. Tomorrow, franchise superfan Stephen Colbert will debut a trailer for the series to 6,500 screaming attendees, many wearing pointy wizard hats. But tonight, at a private dinner, journalists are getting an early preview of the video in a golden faux forest constructed by Amazon for the occasion.
After a day spent among the convention crowd in 80° heat, sweaty, sneaker-clad members of the press mingle with actors dressed in cocktail attire: Córdova has chosen a sharp suit with a black leather harness pulled tight across his chest. A 16-person choir and 25-piece orchestra—fronted by a violinist decked out in Middle-earth regalia—perform music from the series.
With ethereal features and perfect posture, Córdova is an ideal choice for a warrior elf named Arondir. The 35-year-old actor had warned me the day before that he teared up several times on the show’s New Zealand set and would likely do so again at Comic-Con. And though he’s heard the score before, the swelling strings add particular drama to the occasion, a lifetime in the making for Córdova, the first person of color to portray one of J.R.R. Tolkien’s elves onscreen. Though the stakes feel particularly high for the actor, he’s far from alone in his elation and anxiety. Nearly every person I encounter, from the cast to the showrunners to the executive producer, seems to teeter on the verge of some cathartic break.
After five years of development, will finally premiere Sept. 2 on Amazon Prime Video. With a record-setting price tag of $1 billion, it will be the most expensive show ever made. No other series in the history of television has been this sprawling, this cinematic, this massive—or launched with such secrecy under such external pressure. “The jewels of the crown are the big tentpole shows that invite in the whole family,” says Jennifer Salke, head of Amazon Studios. “And this is the
