Back in 1937, an Oxford professor published the first installment in what would become the greatest fantasy series of all time. That person was J. R. R. Tolkien, and that first entry was The Hobbit, with the later publication of The Lord of the Rings launching a bona fide franchise. While bibliophiles everywhere have been in love with Tolkien's work for decades, Peter Jackson's trilogy of The Lord of the Rings movies ensures that even those "I haven't read a book since high school" people still get to experience the magic of Middle-earth.
Honestly, you'd probably have to live in The Shire to have not heard (or seen) The Lord of the Rings movies by now. However, the cinematic universe has gotten a bit more complex since the early 2000s, with The Hobbit adaptations and prequels. If you want to watch The Lord of the Rings in chronological order, you most certainly can, like this:
- The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (2022-Present)
- The Lord of the Rings: The War of Rohirrim (2024)
- The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012)
- The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013)
- The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (2014)
- The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum (2027)
- The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
- The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
- The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
That said, I'd argue that release order is the best way to watch the franchise, especially for LOTR newcomers. Jackson's trilogy not only offers the best story of the lot, but it also provides a strong introduction to the world and characters. Yes, The Hobbit came before it, but I'd argue the plot carries more weight when you understand how Bilbo's game of riddles kickstarts one of the most epic battles of good versus evil to ever grace film.
If you're asking me, the Fellowship is the true heart of the story, and the only reason (most) of us even care about the supplementary material is because of them. So, here are all The Lord of the Rings movies and shows in order by release date and how to watch them on streamers like HBO Max, Prime Video, and more.
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
While the story doesn't chronologically start here, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring is undeniably the best place to begin the franchise. If you don't fully understand who this Sauron guy is and exactly how the One Ring became lost and then found, Peter Jackson lays it all out for you. You'll also get an introduction to Frodo, Gandalf, Aragorn, and other members of the Fellowship before bearing witness to one of the greatest sacrifices in all of fiction.
The Fellowship of the Ring is less action-packed when compared to its sequels. However, it's one of the things I've come to appreciate most about it. The whimsical, carefree start in The Shire gets a dark, almost horror movie tonal change about an hour in (depending on which version you watch), and boy, is it effective. That stark contrast perfectly captures the impending evil of Sauron while letting you empathize with Frodo, an innocent Hobbit thrust into a journey that forces him way beyond his comfort zone. Any fantasy lover will appreciate this movie, but if you're a Game of Thrones (2011) fan who wants to see where George R. R. Martin found inspiration for his own epic fantasy, The Fellowship of the Ring will carry extra appeal.
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
As the immediate sequel to The Fellowship of the Ring, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers lets you know exactly what happens to Frodo and Sam after they separate from the rest of the Fellowship, and it involves Gollum. The former Hobbit turned Ring-obsessed menace plays a major role (and major mind games) in The Two Towers as he struggles with the Ring's persistent corruption. As a result, this middle movie takes on a darker tone than its predecessor and offers a healthy dose of psychological tension.
While Gollum's moral grayness is one of my favorite parts of this movie, the real star, of course, is the Battle of Helm's Deep. Spanning about 40 minutes total, the events of Helm's Deep are every bit as tense and anxiety-inducing as Tolkien wrote. It's easily one of the best big-screen battles in cinema history, which makes The Two Towers the ultimate movie for fans of action, gritty war, and all the Hollywood pizzazz and spectacle that comes with them.
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King continues the story, with the big climax involving Frodo and Sam (finally) making it to Mount Doom as Aragorn and Co. buy time at the gates of Mordor. Like The Two Towers, The Return of the King is dark, action-packed, and suspenseful. Multiple antagonists and conflicts only raise the stakes as Frodo and Sam contend with their main mission of destroying the One Ring.
Those missing Boromir after The Fellowship of the Ring will also get a look into his family. Denethor and Faramir's strained relationship proves family dysfunction works just as well in high fantasy as it does in TV dramas. At this point, I shouldn't even have to tell you why to watch The Return of the King. If you've watched the first two trilogy movies, this final installment is the closure you'll need. Prepare to make The Lord of the Rings your entire personality from this point onward.
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012)
Listen, I'm not here to rag on The Hobbit trilogy any more than necessary. If you're new here, it won't take you long to discover that the vast majority of LOTR fans were massively disappointed in The Hobbit adaptations. Why? Well, for starters, a single children's book never needed three theatrical movies. That said, anyone who loved The Lord of the Rings trilogy will probably want to watch these films at least once, considering they provide a more in-depth look at how Bilbo found the One Ring.
The good news is that Bilbo's acquisition of the Ring happens right in the first movie, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, when he crosses paths with Gollum. Personally, I think the movie's adaptation of "Riddles in the Dark" is a highlight. Gollum's CGI benefits from newer technology, and Andy Serkis delivers another phenomenal performance as LOTR's twisted yet sympathetic villain. If you wanted to see what Bilbo was like when he was young or how Gollum acted while still in possession of the Ring, An Unexpected Journey offers both, just prepare yourself for a lot of singing in the beginning.
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013)
While Gollum is a delightfully demented antagonist, his inclusion in The Hobbit (both books and movies) is relatively brief. Really, he becomes a catalyst for how Bilbo found the Ring and explains where Sauron's most beloved piece of jewelry has been for 500 years. The real scene-stealer of this story is Smaug, the giant dragon curled beneath the Lonely Mountain.
An Unexpected Journey showed him waking up, but Smaug's best moments undoubtedly occur in The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. Bilbo finds himself in a similar situation to Gollum, with Smaug pegging the Hobbit as a thief. As the two talk, Smaug begins to piece together Thorin's plan to take back the Lonely Mountain, which results in Smaug's retaliation against Lake-town. It's here that the movie makes its biggest mistake by relegating Smaug's attack to another movie instead of tying up the story here. If you're interested in Smaug's cleverness and cunning, you'll get that, but the ending will most likely leave you frustrated.
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (2014)
At this point, it's okay to admit you're exhausted. But, hey, The Desolation of Smaug ends on quite the cliffhanger that makes The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies a must-watch if you're craving closure for that storyline. The goodish news: The Smaug attack comes to a fiery conclusion at the beginning of The Battle of the Five Armies. The bad news: The rest of the movie is about the titular battle.
While the battle itself is a significant part of Middle-earth history, the movie fails to do it justice. Nonsensical, over-the-top action can be a blast in films like John Wick (2014) and First Blood (1982), but it feels out of place in Tolkien's high fantasy world. Not to mention, the inclusion of orchestrated subplots and characters add nothing to the story except to fill The Battle of the Five Armies' two and a half hour runtime. For completionists, it can be an okay time if you want turn-your-brian-off action. However, if you're hoping for canonical lore, The Battle of the Five Armies resembles little of what Tolkien actually wrote.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (2022-Present)
On paper, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is brilliant. After all, the Appendices of The Lord of the Rings contain enough juicy lore and worldbuilding for longform storytelling. In reality, though, Amazon Prime Video's series is divisive, to say the least. As one of the most expensive TV shows ever made, The Rings of Power is inarguably beautiful. If the series excels at anything, it's creating the majesty of Tolkien's world, especially the Elven realm of Lindon and the island kingdom of Númenor. The writing is where more fans tend to take issue, with plot changes and character choices frequently under fire for those familiar with the source material.
The real draw here is the less adapted side of Tolkien's work. Set in the Second Age, the series can properly flesh out lore surrounding Númenor, the Southlands, and Eregion, all important places that don't get the proper attention in The Lord of the Rings or The Hobbit because of their Third Age settings. So, if you want to know more about the universe and how Sauron's Rings came to be, consider The Rings of Power as Middle-earth's history channel.
The Lord of the Rings: The War of Rohirrim (2024)
Chronologically set a couple of hundred years before The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings: The War of Rohirrim adapts sections from The Lord of the Rings Appendices to tell the story about how an accidental death sparks a war between the Rohirrim and the Dunlendings. What's unique about The War of Rohirrim is its anime aesthetic. It's a fun turn for the franchise that doesn't necessarily succeed, but that also doesn't entirely fail either.
If anime or animated projects in general aren't your thing, it's totally safe to skip The War of Rohirrim. However, hardcore LOTR fans might be interested in seeing more of Rohan's history and the importance Helm's Deep played in another war. Style-wise, think something similar to Princess Mononoke (1997) but steeped in The Lord of the Rings lore.
The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum (2027)
Like The Rings of Power and The War of Rohirrim, The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum pulls from the Appendices of Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. Set for a tentative 2027 release date at the time of writing, The Hunt for Gollum will see Gollum actor Andy Serkis direct. Ian McKellen is also set to reprise the role of Gandalf.
The Hunt for Gollum takes place between The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies and The Fellowship of the Ring. Once Gandalf suspects Gollum has found the One Ring, he "teams up" with Aragorn to track him down. Unknown to most casual LOTR fans, both Gandalf and Aragorn interrogate Gollum. (It isn't just Sauron who does this, as The Lord of the Rings movies lead you to believe.) Thus, it seems pretty likely the movie will cover these events while also chronicling Gollum's further descent into madness after being separated from his "precious."
Optional Watches - The Animated Trilogy
Ask most people about The Lord of the Rings adaptations, and they'll talk about Peter Jackson's movies. Fair? Absolutely. However, although Jackson helped launch LOTR into mainstream pop culture, his trilogy isn't the only one to exist. Decades prior, Rankin/Bass delivered the first ever adaptation of Tolkien's work with The Hobbit in 1977. A sequel came in 1980 with The Return of the King, which only provided a brief summary of The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers during the movie's beginning. While undoubtedly strange, the reason for that involved rights issues. Ralph Bakshi's 1978 animated movie, The Lord of the Rings, adapted the first and second installments of the trilogy, leaving Rankin/Bass with only The Return of the King up for grabs.
While this early trilogy of movies is nowhere near as polished or scaled as Peter Jackson's movies, they still have a certain charm. Rankin/Bass' adaptations weren't quite as well-received as Bakshi's The Lord of the Rings, which still has quite the cult following to this day. (A day doesn't go by that I don't see the "Gandalf scaring Frodo" meme from this movie on socials.) Still, I'd argue Rankin/Bass' The Hobbit is a fun animated adaptation that makes a decent entry point for young kids. If you want a dose of nostalgia, or just want to watch The Hobbit in 78 minutes versus three movies, consider checking out the animated trilogy when you can in the following order:
