‘The Rings of Power’ Announces Bear McCreary as Composer, Howard Shore Wrote the Main Theme
We are now six weeks away from the release of the new Amazon Prime series The Rings of Power, the first-ever television entry from Middle-earth.
After releasing the main teaser trailer last week, Amazon has confirmed now, via Rolling Stone UK, that Howard Shore has returned to Middle-earth to write the main theme for the show, while Emmy winner Bear McCreary (The Walking Dead, Snowpiercer) will be credited as the main composer for the series. McCreary said in a statement to Rolling Stone:
“As I set out to compose the score for this series, I strove to honor Howard Shore’s musical legacy. When I heard his majestic main title, I was struck by how perfectly his theme and my original score, though crafted separately, fit together so beautifully. I am excited for audiences to join us on this new musical journey to Middle-earth.”
Rumors about Shore’s return have been circulating for months, and at some point, it was even believed that he would score the entire first season. Shore, of course, created the legendary score for Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy, and won three Oscars while doing it — for Fellowship of the Ring, Return of the King, and for the song “Into the West”, which he shares with Annie Lenox and Fran Walsh.
Amazon has also released two tracks from McCreary’s score, titled “Galadriel” and “Sauron”. You can check them out here:
This is certainly interesting, as Amazon has been dodging the character of Sauron while promoting The Rings of Power. The show has a mystery man that, as seen in the trailers, arrived on Middle-earth via meteorite, and who some believe could be Sauron in disguise. The creators have talked at length about how his presence is felt throughout the first season, but if the composer is giving him a theme, maybe we are in for more Sauron than we initially expected.
It’s also possible that we’ll just get to see him in flashbacks — we already know, since the reveal of Finrod in the first teaser trailer released during the Super Bowl, that we will get to see key moments from the First Age. For now, there are plenty of theories surrounding the show, and we won’t have to wait much longer to see how they pan out.
It’s also very interesting the timing of this announcement, the day before Amazon’s Comic-Con panel. It was believed they were saving this for the panel, so one has to wonder now what else they are planning to reveal there. It’s very possible they will show new footage for the people at Hall H, though it’s unknown if that will be released online. A reveal about distribution plans for the series, including the possibility of a theatrical release for the first two episodes, is in the cards as well.
Stay tuned for more news on The Rings of Power very soon!
Miguel Fernández is a Spanish student that has movies as his second passion in life. His favorite movie of all time is The Lord of the Rings, but he is also a huge Star Wars fan. However, fantasy movies are not his only cup of tea, as authors like Scorsese, Fincher, Kubrick or Hitchcock have been an obsession for him since he started to understand the language of filmmaking. He is that guy who will watch a black and white movie, just because it is in black and white.
