If you're wondering how to watch all the Lord of the Rings movies in order and the Lord of the Rings TV shows, then you've come to the right place. Though there are only six movies to make sense of, they weren't released in chronological order, which can make knowing the right place to start tough.
Then there's the fact that The Hobbit book was split into three separate films, even though it's just one novel. There's also a string of upcoming movies on their way, and The Lord of the Rings timeline gets even more tricky when you consider that Amazon Prime's series, The Rings of Power season 3, is also likely on the horizon. It's enough to get anyone in a muddle.
So, to make your time with JRR Tolkien's epic saga easier, we've made a handy 'how to watch' guide to truly "Rule Them All" (though, just a note that we've stuck solely to live-action for our list).
Below, we've explained everything you need to know for a Middle-earth marathon. Adventure awaits!
The Lord of the Rings movies and shows in order – release order
- 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)
- 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 Rings of Power season 1 (2022)
- The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 2 (2024)
There are two main ways to navigate your journey into Middle-earth: in release order, or in chronological order. Here’s your guide to the former, which is how most people familiar with the world already will have watched them.
We’ve got to admit this is probably the most satisfying way to tackle the saga as it's the way it was intended to be watched. And you won't miss much as you don’t get a huge amount of context that you’ll need later on from the prequels, they just add more to it once you’ve seen it.
The Lord of the Rings movies and shows in order – chronological order
- The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 1 (2022)
- The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 2 (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 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)
The other major way to get your head around The Lord of the Rings saga is to tackle it in the order of events. This means starting with the television series The Rings of Power, which is set thousands of years before the movies in the Second Age of Middle-earth and tells the origins of characters like Galadriel and Sauron.
However, for all you Tolkien purists, if you start with The Rings of Power, be warned that it doesn't really stick to Tolkien's canon. In fact, in its current state, it breaks canon. The "prequel" series implies that Celeborn isn't alive (despite him appearing in The Fellowship and therefore also implying that his granddaughter Arwen won't be born either). So keep that in mind if you include it in your marathon.
Then, going back to the movies, there’s a very big jump ahead to The Hobbit trilogy, which takes place in the Third Age of Middle-earth and around 60 years before The Lord of the Rings Movies. Watching it in this order will mean you have a lot more context for some of the big events and main characters by the time you reach The Fellowship of the Ring.
So, if you’re a viewer who likes to know the whole picture first, then this might be the way for you to tackle it.
Where to watch the Lord of the Rings movies in order
Unfortunately, not all of The Lord of the Rings movies and shows are available in one place. So you’ll have to do a bit of streaming platform hopping to be able to stay on top of your watching saga.
Luckily, most are on the same platform. All of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit movies are available to watch on HBO’s streaming platform MAX in the US. Meanwhile, if you’re in the UK, you’ll need to have NOW TV in order to stream them.
The Rings of Power is only available on Amazon Prime Video so you’ll need a subscription to that streaming service to be able to watch it. If you want to keep it all in one place, you can buy the movies on Amazon as well so you don’t have to keep switching apps.
For more on Middle-earth, we've got a guide to the best Lord of the Rings games for you to play right now. Or you can check out our Rings of Power season 2 review if you fancy hearing about Amazon Prime's latest Tolkien outing.
