The best order to watch the Lord of the Rings movies in, where they’re streaming, and other resources to catch up before the Rings of Power.
This weekend sees the release of Prime Video’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. Amazon’s mega-sized series is one of The Big TV Events of the Year, and it’s also a great reason to revisit earlier entries in J.R.R. Tolkien’s universe.
Believe it or not, it’s been nearly a decade since Peter Jackson’s third and final Hobbit movie, The Battle of the Five Armies, was released in theaters. It’s been a long wait for more entertainment set in that world, and it’s exciting just to be able to return (and Rings of Power is not all; an anime is on the way).
There’s also a lot to catch up on! While Rings of Power may take place thousands of years before the movies, it’s natural to want to revisit the earlier editions of the franchise and brush up on some of your Middle-earth knowledge. So here’s a guide to watching the movies, or a cheat sheet of key clips to watch before the new show.
If you’re looking to watch just the Peter Jackson saga, you have two options. You can watch them in chronological order, narratively:
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (watch on Prime Video and HBO Max)
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (watch on Prime Video and HBO Max)
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (watch on Prime Video and HBO Max)
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (watch on Prime Video and HBO Max)
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (watch on Prime Video and HBO Max)
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (watch on Prime Video and HBO Max)
Alternatively, you could watch them in release order:
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
If you’re a completionist, you can also throw in the animated movies from the late 1970s and early 1980s.
