MIDDLE-EARTH TIMELINE
Here is every Lord of the Rings film and series in the order of the story, from the Second Age to the War of the Ring:
Two older animated films tell the same story in their own way: Ralph Bakshi's The Lord of the Rings (1978), which ends at Helm's Deep, and Rankin/Bass's The Return of the King (1980).
In release order, the Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001-2003) comes first, then The Hobbit (2012-2014), The Rings of Power (2022) and The War of the Rohirrim (2024). For a first viewing, release order is the classic choice: The Hobbit films were made knowing the audience had already seen the trilogy. The full list with every entry is below, or see the Peter Jackson movie timeline and the standalone adaptations.
The Hobbit happens first in the story, 77 years before Frodo leaves the Shire, but the films were released a decade after The Lord of the Rings. For a first viewing, many fans recommend release order, starting with The Fellowship of the Ring.
The Rings of Power is set in the Second Age, thousands of years before The Hobbit, when the Rings of Power are forged. It is not part of the Peter Jackson film continuity, so it can be watched before or after the films.
It comes before The Hobbit. In Tolkien's Appendix A, Helm Hammerhand's war and the Long Winter happen in the years 2758 and 2759 of the Third Age; Warner Bros. presents the film as set 183 years before The Lord of the Rings.
The extended editions of The Lord of the Rings add scenes and character moments that many fans consider the definitive version, at the cost of a much longer running time. The Hobbit films also have extended editions.
Warner Bros. has scheduled The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum for 17 December 2027. It is set before The Fellowship of the Ring.
