The multi-million dollar series of “The Lord of the rings”, which recovers epic adventures of elves, humans and orcs by JRR Tolkien prior to those popularized in Peter Jackson’s films, leads the list of the most anticipated novelties on the small screen for 2022, where large tanks such as the prequel to “Game of Thrones”, the highly promoted “Obi-Wan Kenobi” and the video game adaptation “Halo”.
The so-called “streaming war”, with gigantic players like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney +, Star +, HBO Max, Paramount + or Apple TV +, derives in the multiplication of series and in the escalation of the budgets. A “bubble” that has been growing so far and has not been broken, and that leads the media giants to bet more and more on bulking up catalogs with the intention of gaining the public’s attention.
New seasons of hit series, spin-offs of popular franchises, purchase of intellectual property of comics, video games, literature; and even originals -because apart from the “revivals” and “remakes”, Hollywood still has scriptwriters with their own ideas-, they give shape to a vast, enormous… and attractive offer.
An enumeration of the most relevant, necessarily arbitrary, begins with the resonant “The Lord of the rings”, coming to Amazon Prime Video September 2.
For more than four years, when it became known that the platform had acquired the rights to Tolkien’s work for $ 250 million, It became one of the audiovisual proposals that generates the greatest expectations. And even more so when it was learned that the first season had a cost that exceeded 450 million, which is easily the most expensive series in history.
Set in the Second Age of Middle-earth, thousands of years before the events known in “The Hobbit” and “The Lord of the Rings”, the series whose first episodes were directed by the Spanish director Juan Antonio Bayona will present a whole range of new unreleased characters on screen who must confront the resurgence of Evil in this narrative universe.
Within this genre of epic fantasy HBO and HBO Max will present for their part in 2022, still without a confirmed date, “House of the Dragon”, the first of six “Game of Thrones” spin-offs to function as a prequel to the series based on the books by George RR Martin.
It will tell the story of the tragic house of Targaryen, 200 years before the events known to millions of fans in “Game of Thrones”, and will feature a cast of figures such as Paddy Considine, Olivia Cooke, Matt Smith, Rhys Ifans, Sonoya Mizuno, between more.
In the same vein – because everyone wants their own “Game of Thrones” – Netflix will have “The Witcher: Blood Origin”, a prequel to its franchise “The Witcher”, and the live-action adaptation of the animated series “Avatar: The Last Airbender”.
Another theme that brings news with legions of fans are those based on comics, some of which are also expansions of film franchises. In that section the first to arrive will be “Peacemaker” (1/13 on HBO Max), about the DC character embodied by John Cena which was already in theaters this year in “The Suicide Squad.”
From the Stars Wars universe to six nationals
“The Sandman”, based on the iconic graphic novel by Neil gaiman, will arrive on Netflix, while Disney + prepares a new barrage of series of its Marvel characters: in 2022 they will see the light “Moon Knight”, “She-Hulk”, “Secret Invasion” Y “Ms. Marvel “.
The Mickey Mouse platform will also bring two new series from the narrative universe of “Star Wars”, started two years ago by “The Mandalorian”: the most anticipated is “Obi-Wan Kenobi”, which brings Ewan McGregor back to the role he played in the prequel trilogy directed by George Lucas between 1999 and 2005.
It will also present “Andor”, located chronologically before the tape “Rogue One”, which recovers the Mexican Diego Luna in the title role.
In the category of videogame adaptation series, the exclusive role is played by “Halo”, big bet of the year from Paramount +. With Pablo Schreiber, Natascha McElhone Y Bokeem woodbine In the lead roles, take up the Xbox console blockbuster title about a war between humanity and an alien race in the 26th century.
A series of the franchise will also arrive in 2022 “Resident Evil” what Netflix prepares and “The Last of Us”, another title that brings together hundreds of thousands of followers on the console and that after years of rumors will be translated to the small screen. It will be from the hand of Craig mazin (the creator of “Chernobyl”), with the Chilean-American Pedro Pascal and for HBO.
Among the historical or biographical series stands out “Pam & Tommy”, on the tumultuous and publicized relationship between Pamela Anderson and drummer Tommy Lee (played by Lily James and Sebastian Stan), which will be seen on Star +.
Too “Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty”, created by Adam McKay on Magic Johnson’s historic LA Lakers in the ’80s (in March on HBO Max); the criminal miniseries “Love and Death”, with Elizabeth olsen and produced by the creator of “Big Little Lies”, David E. Kelley (also from HBO); Y “Vikings: Valhalla”, derived from the popular “Vikings” (Netflix).
On the other hand, 2022 will continue to attract the great figures of Hollywood to the series format, as evidenced by the action drama “The Old Man”, which will present the first leading role on TV of Jeff Bridges and that will surely be seen in these latitudes by Star +; Y “Gaslit”, a miniseries about the Watergate political scandal that will hit Starzplay with nothing less than Julia Roberts and Sean Penn.
It will also be a year packed with national premieres, with productions by the vast majority of platforms. Some of them are “Supernova”, directed by Ana Katz, and “Iosi, the repentant spy,” an eight-episode thriller directed by Daniel Burman Y Sebastian Borensztein and cast of figures like Mercedes moran Y Natalia Oreiro (both by Amazon Prime Video).
Too “María Marta, the crime of the country”, with Laura Novoa like María Marta García Belsunce already Jorge Marrale as Carlos Carrascosa (HBO and HBO Max); “Santa Evita”, based on the book of Tomás Eloy Martínez with Natalia Oreiro What Eva Peron, “December 2001”, inspired by the critical events that occurred in the country during that time, and the comedy “The one in charge” with Guillermo Francella (all three for Star +).
The stage is completed with dozens of returns of established series, among which are “Euphoria” (9/1, HBO), the fourth installment of “Stranger Things” and the final seasons of “Better Call Saul”, “Ozark” and “Peaky Blinders” (these four by Netflix), the sixth and last of “This Is Us” (Star +), or “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” (2/18, Amazon Prime Video).
