Netflix Officially Brings Back a Billion-Dollar Fantasy Franchise After 14 Years

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Published Nov 9, 2026, 9:00 AM EST

Lade Omotade is a News and Features Author at Collider, covering everything from casting announcements and streaming trends to behind-the-scenes stories and the cultural impact of today's biggest film and TV franchises. Since joining the team in 2024, she has written more than 1,000 news stories, with her work also cited by outlets like AOL and IMDb.

A legendary fantasy franchise is making a comeback on Netflix just as its spin-off prepares for a highly anticipated return on Prime Video. As one of the greatest franchises of all time, The Lord of the Rings has expanded from J.R.R. Tolkien's bestselling novel into multiple screen adaptations, bringing Middle-earth's beloved history to life. Its latest TV entry is Amazon's The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, set thousands of years before the book.

The Rings of Power depicts key events of Middle-earth's Second Age, beginning after the defeat of the Dark Lord Morgoth and his army of Orcs, as Morgoth's lieutenant, Sauron, rises to become a new Dark Lord. The series premiered on September 1, 2022, drawing massive viewership: 25 million people worldwide watched in its first 24 hours, making it the streamer's biggest premiere ever. The fantasy series is now expected to return for Season 3 in a few days.

As anticipation builds for The Rings of Power Season 3, an older franchise hit is climbing streaming charts worldwide. More than a decade after its release, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is among Netflix's most-watched titles, consistently ranking in the Top 10 this week. The adaptation is experiencing a resurgence after dividing critics and fans at release, as reflected on Rotten Tomatoes. The review aggregator gives the film a 64% critics' score based on 302 reviews, while audience reception is more positive at 83%.

COLLIDER Middle-earth

Personality Quiz

Collider/ Movies/ The Lord of the Rings/ Which Character Are You

Ten Questions · One Fate Which Lord of the Rings Character Are You? The Road Goes Ever On

From the green hills of the Shire to the fires of Mount Doom, every soul in Middle-earth carries a destiny. Ten questions stand between you and the truth of who you are. Answer honestly, because the Ring has a way of revealing what we most want to hide.

The Eight Fates

💍Frodo

🌿Samwise

👑Aragorn

🔥Gandalf

🏹Legolas

🪓Gimli

👁Sauron

🪨Gollum

Begin Your Quest

Stage 1 of 10Burden

You are handed a responsibility that could destroy you. What do you do? The weight of the world falls on unlikely shoulders.

AAccept it. Someone has to, and running changes nothing. BStay by the side of whoever carries it. They should not go alone. CStep forward and lead. This is exactly what I was made for. DIt is mine now. I will not let anyone else have it.

Press 1 to 4 to chooseNext

Stage 2 of 10Loyalty

Your closest companion is heading into terrible danger. You: True loyalty is revealed not in comfort, but in crisis.

AFollow them without hesitation. I would rather die beside them than live without them. BRally others and forge a plan to help. There is strength in numbers. COffer wisdom and guidance. My counsel may save them where swords cannot. DLet them go. Only the strong survive, and sentiment is a weakness.

Press 1 to 4 to chooseNext

Stage 3 of 10Power

Enormous power is within your reach. Your instinct is: Power corrupts, but only those who reach for it.

ADestroy it. Nothing good comes from power this absolute. BUse it to protect those I love, just this once. CWield it wisely. I have the will and the knowledge to do good with it. DSeize it. I have waited long enough. It belongs to me.

Press 1 to 4 to chooseNext

Stage 4 of 10Home

What does home mean to you? Where we long to return reveals who we truly are.

AA simple, peaceful place. Green hills, good food, no adventure required. BWherever the people I love are. Home is a feeling, not a place. CA kingdom I must earn before I can truly claim it as mine. DI lost it long ago. That loss is what drives everything I do.

Press 1 to 4 to chooseNext

Stage 5 of 10Combat

When a battle is upon you, your approach is: War reveals what we are made of, whether we like it or not.

ASurvive by any means. I am not a fighter, but I will do what I must. BFight for the person beside me, not for glory or honour. CLead the charge. Nothing inspires an army like a king at the front. DStrike from range, fast and precise. Never let them get close.

Press 1 to 4 to chooseNext

Stage 6 of 10Wisdom

Someone comes to you for advice in their darkest hour. You: Wisdom is not knowing all the answers. It is knowing which questions to ask.

AListen, then offer honest encouragement. Sometimes people just need belief. BGive them practical help. Words are fine, but action is better. CSpeak carefully. I have seen much, and I know what counsel can cost. DTell them what they want to hear. Trust is a tool like any other.

Press 1 to 4 to chooseNext

Stage 7 of 10Identity

How do you see yourself, honestly? Self-knowledge is the most dangerous kind.

ASmall and ordinary, but perhaps that is exactly why I was chosen. BDefined entirely by who I serve and love. I am nothing without them. CForged by hardship into something the world has not yet fully seen. DDiminished from what I once was, and consumed by the need to reclaim it.

Press 1 to 4 to chooseNext

Stage 8 of 10Nature

Which of these best describes your relationship with the natural world? Middle-earth speaks to those who know how to listen.

AI find peace in it. Forests, rivers, open skies. Nature restores me. BI prefer the earth underfoot. Stone, mines, solid and real things. CI have watched the world change for longer than most can comprehend. DNature offers hiding places, cold water, raw fish. That is enough for me.

Press 1 to 4 to chooseNext

Stage 9 of 10Mercy

You meet a wretched, pitiable creature who has done terrible things. You: How we treat the fallen reveals the height of our character.

AShow mercy. Even the most broken souls deserve a chance at redemption. BPity them, but never trust them. They made their choices. CSee them as a tool. Their knowledge or skills may still serve a purpose. DDeal with them before they cause more harm. Mercy is a luxury we cannot afford.

Press 1 to 4 to chooseNext

Stage 10 of 10Legacy

When the quest is over and the songs are sung, what do you hope they say about you? In the end, we are all just stories.

AThat an ordinary person did an extraordinary thing, and came home. BThat I never abandoned the person who needed me most. CThat I was worthy of the crown, and everything it demanded. DNothing. I do not need songs. I needed it, and now it is gone.

Press 1 to 4 to chooseReveal My Fate

The Fellowship Has Spoken Your Place in Middle-earth

💍 Frodo Baggins The Ring-bearer You carry it alone, even when you do not have to.

You carry something heavy, and you carry it alone even when you do not have to. You were not born for greatness, and that is precisely why greatness chose you. Your courage is not the roaring, sword-swinging kind. It is quiet, stubborn and terrifying in its refusal to quit. The Ring weighs on you more than anyone can see, and still you walk toward the fire. That is not weakness. That is the rarest kind of strength there is.

QuietStubbornBurdenedUnbreakable

🌿 Samwise Gamgee The Gardener Not the most powerful. Easily the most essential.

You are, without question, the best of them. Not the most powerful, not the most celebrated, but the most essential. Your loyalty is not a trait, it is a force of nature. You would carry the person you love up the slopes of Mount Doom if it came to that, and we both know you would do it without being asked. The world needs more people like you, and the world is lucky it has even one.

LoyalSteadyWarmDevoted

👑 Aragorn The King in Waiting The crown was always yours. The worthiness you had to earn.

You were born to lead, and you have spent years running from it. The crown is yours by right, but you know better than anyone that right means nothing without the will and the worthiness to back it up. You are tempered by loss, shaped by long roads, and defined by a code of honour you hold to even when nobody is watching. When you finally step forward, the world shifts, because it was always waiting for you.

NobleReluctantHonourableTested

🔥 Gandalf The Grey Pilgrim You do not fight the battle. You light the people who will.

You have seen more than you let on, and you say less than you know, which is exactly as it should be. You are a catalyst. You do not fight the battles yourself, you ignite the people who can. Your wisdom comes not from books but from an age of watching what happens when it is ignored. You arrive precisely when you mean to, and your presence alone changes what is possible.

WisePatientGuidingFormidable

🏹 Legolas The Elf of Mirkwood You see it coming long before anybody else looks up.

Graceful, perceptive and almost preternaturally calm under pressure, you see things others miss and act before others react. You do not need to make a scene to be remarkable, your presence speaks for itself. You are loyal to those you choose to stand beside, and that choice is not made lightly. You have lived long enough to know that the most beautiful things in this world are also the most fragile, and that is why you fight to protect them.

PreciseWatchfulGracefulUnhurried

🪓 Gimli Son of Gloin You arrived suspicious of everyone and left ready to die for an elf.

You are loud, proud and absolutely formidable, and beneath all of that is one of the most fiercely loyal hearts in Middle-earth. You do not do anything by half measures. Your friendships are forged like iron, your grudges run as deep as mines, and your courage in battle is the kind that makes legends. You came into this fellowship suspicious of everyone and ended it willing to die for an elf. That is not a small thing. That is everything.

FierceProudBluntDevoted

👁 Sauron The Dark Lord You think in centuries and act in absolutes.

You think in centuries and act in absolutes. Order, dominion, control, not because you are cruel by nature but because you have decided that the world left to itself always falls apart, and you are the only one with the vision and the will to hold it together. You were not always this. Something was lost, or taken, or betrayed, and the version of you that stands now is the answer to that wound. The tragedy is that you are not entirely wrong, just entirely too far gone to course-correct.

AbsolutePatientRelentlessConsumed

🪨 Gollum What Is Left of Smeagol Two voices, and the better one does not win often enough.

You are a study in contradiction, pitiable and dangerous, cunning and broken, capable of both cruelty and something that once resembled love. You are defined by loss: of innocence, of self, of the one thing that gave your existence meaning. Two voices war inside you constantly, and the tragedy is that the better one sometimes wins, just not often enough and never at the right moment. You are a warning, yes, but also a mirror.

DividedCunningHauntedPitiable

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Quest recorded by COLLIDER Collider.com · Middle-earth

'The Lord of the Rings' Franchise Is Making a Major Comeback on Netflix

Released in 2012, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey premiered nearly nine years after The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. Despite mixed reviews, it grossed more than a billion dollars at the box office, becoming the fourth-highest-grossing film of 2012. The movie also earned numerous accolades, including multiple Oscar nominations. Two sequels, The Desolation of Smaug and The Battle of the Five Armies, followed in 2013 and 2014, respectively.

As the first installment in The Hobbit trilogy, An Unexpected Journey follows young Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman), who lives a quiet life among his fellow Hobbits in the Shire. That's until the wizard Gandalf (Ian McKellen) arrives and persuades him to join a band of Dwarves on a quest to reclaim Erebor. Bilbo's journey leads him through treacherous lands filled with Orcs, Goblins, and other dangers. Among them is an encounter with Gollum (Andy Serkis) and a simple gold ring, whose connection to Middle-earth's fate is beyond Bilbo's imagination. Peter Jackson directed the film.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey streams on Netflix.