Start the countdown. An Amazon series inspired by J.R.R. Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" and "The Hobbit" novels will premiere in September 2022.
The date was announced Monday as filming in New Zealand concluded for the as-yet untitled series, which Amazon said will relate the "fabled Second Age of Middle-earth's history."
The story is set thousands of years before the events of Tolkien's famed fantasy-adventure works and will follow new and familiar characters confronting the "long-feared re-emergence of evil to Middle-earth," ground that has yet to be covered on screen, the streaming service said
The series will debut in more than 200 countries and territories with a large ensemble cast that includes Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Morfydd Clark, Ismael Cruz Córdova, Sophia Nomvete and Lloyd Owen.
New Zealand also was the home for taping of director Peter Jackson's "Lord of the Rings" and prequel "The Hobbit" film trilogies.
The series will debut Sept. 2, 2022.
Harvey Weinstein hit with new sex crime charge in New York
Harvey Weinstein pleaded not guilty Wednesday to a new sex crime charge in New York, as he awaits retrial in his landmark #MeToo case.
Details of the new allegations were not immediately available. He was charged with committing a criminal sex act.
The jailed ex-movie mogul has long maintained that any sexual activity was consensual.
Prosecutors revealed last week that Weinstein had been indicted on additional sex crime charges that weren't part of the case that led to his now-overturned 2020 conviction. But the new indictment was sealed until his arraignment.
Prosecutors have said that the grand jury heard evidence of up to three alleged assaults — two in hotels in the Tribeca neighborhood and one at a lower Manhattan residential building. The purported incidents took place from the mid-2000s to 2016, prosecutors said.
But it's not clear whether any of those allegations underlie the new indictment.
While bracing for the new charges, Weinstein also is awaiting retrial after New York state's highest court this spring overturned his 2020 conviction on rape and sexual assault charges involving two women. The high court, called the Court of Appeals, ordered a new trial, which is tentatively scheduled to begin Nov. 12.
The Court of Appeals ruled that the then-trial judge unfairly allowed testimony against him based on allegations that were not part of the case. That judge's term expired in 2022, and he is no longer on the bench.
Prosecutors have said they'll seek to fold the new charges into the retrial, but Weinstein's lawyers say it should be a separate case.
Weinstein, who also was convicted in 2022 in a Los Angeles rape case, remains behind bars while awaiting his New York retrial.
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