With "The Lord of the Rings" at the helm, the great novelties in series for 2022

The multimillion-dollar series "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 big tanks stand out like the “Game of Thrones” prequel , the highly touted “Obi-Wan Kenobi” and the “Halo” video game adaptation .

The so-called "streaming war", with gigantic players such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney +, Star +, HBO Max, Paramount + or Apple TV +, derives in the multiplication of series and in the escalation of budgets. A “bubble” that until now has grown and has not burst, and which 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 successful series, spin-offs of popular franchises, purchase of intellectual property of comics, video games, literature; and even original ones -because aside from "revivals" and "remakes", Hollywood still has screenwriters with their own ideas-, they give shape to an endless, enormous... and attractive offer.

A list of the most relevant, necessarily arbitrary, begins with the resounding "The Lord of the Rings", which will arrive on Amazon Prime Video.

  
"House of the Dragon".

For more than four years, when it became known that the platform had acquired the rights to Tolkien's work for 250 million dollars, it became one of the audiovisual proposals that generates the greatest expectation. And even more so when it was learned that the first season had a cost that exceeded 450 million, making it easily the most expensive series in history.

  
Jean-Pierre Noher and Manuel Callau, De la Rúa and Alfonsín in "December 2021"..

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series whose first episodes were directed by the Spanish director Juan Antonio Bayona will present a whole range of new unpublished characters on the screen who will have to confront the resurgence of Evil in this narrative universe.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 the six spin-offs of "Game of Thrones" that works as a prequel to the series based on the books by George RR Martin.

It will tell the story of the tragic Targaryen house, 200 years before the events known by 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, the more.

In the same vein -because everyone wants their own "Game of Thrones"-, Netflix will have "The Witcher: Blood Origin" , a prequel to its "The Witcher" franchise, and the live-action adaptation of the animated series "Avatar: The Last Airbender” .

Another theme that brings novelties 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 played by John Cena who was already in theaters this year in "The Suicide Squad."From the Stars Wars universe to six national

“The Sandman” , based on the iconic graphic novel by Neil Gaiman , will arrive on Netflix, while Disney+ prepares a new wave of series of its Marvel characters: in 2022 they will see the light “Moon Knight”, “She-Hulk”, “Secret Invasion” and “Ms. Marvel”.

Mickey Mouse's platform will also bring two new series from the "Star Wars" narrative universe, started two years ago by "The Mandalorian": the most anticipated is "Obi-Wan Kenobi," which brings Ewan McGregor back to the role he he played in the prequel trilogy directed by George Lucas between 1999 and 2005. He will

also present "Andor" , located chronologically before the film "Rogue One", which recovers the MexicanDiego Luna in the title role.

In the category of video-game-adaptation series, the exclusive leading role is held by “Halo” , Paramount+'s great bet of the year. With Pablo Schreiber, Natascha McElhone and Bokeem Woodbine in the lead roles, it reprises the Xbox console's blockbuster title about a war between humanity and an alien race in the 26th century. A series from the "Resident Evil"

franchise is also coming in 2022. that Netflix is ​​preparing and “The Last of Us” , another of the titles 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-AmericanPedro Pascal and for HBO.

Among the historical or biographical series, “Pam & Tommy” stands out , about 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+.

  
Dario Grandinetti and Natalia Oreiro in "Santa Evita".

Also “Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty ,” created by Adam McKay about Magic Johnson's historic 1980s LA Lakers (in March on HBO Max); the crime miniseries “Love and Death ,” starring Elizabeth Olsen and produced by “Big Little Lies” creator David E. Kelley (also HBO); and “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 by Jeff Bridges .and that it will surely be seen in these latitudes by Star +; and “Gaslit” , a miniseries about the political scandal of Watergate that will come to Starzplay with none other 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 and Sebastián Borensztein and cast by figures such as Mercedes Morán and Natalia Oreiro (both for Amazon Prime Video ).

Also “María Marta, the country crime” , with Laura Novoa as María Marta García Belsunce and Jorge Marrale as Carlos Carrascosa (HBO and HBO Max); "Santa Evita" , based on the book by Tomás Eloy Martínez with Natalia Oreiro as Eva Perón , "December 2001", inspired by the critical events that took place in the country during that time, and the comedy "The Manager" with Guillermo Francella (the three for Star+).

The scenario is completed with dozens of returns from established series, including "Euphoria" (9/1, HBO), the fourth installment of“Stranger Things” and the final seasons of “Better Call Saul”, “Ozark” and “Peaky Blinders” (these four on Netflix), the sixth and last of “This Is Us” (Star+), or “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” (2/18, Amazon Prime Video).

Telam