The Lord of the Rings: what order to watch the movies and series
Short answer: for a first watch, start with the Lord of the Rings trilogy in release order — The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), The Two Towers (2002), The Return of the King (2003) — then move on to the Hobbit trilogy. Not the other way round, even though The Hobbit takes place earlier.
Here are the details, including where the Rings of Power series and the animated film The War of the Rohirrim fit, plus what is coming in 2026 and 2027.
The 7 films in release order
| # | Film | Release |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Fellowship of the Ring | 2001 |
| 2 | The Two Towers | 2002 |
| 3 | The Return of the King | 2003 |
| 4 | The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey | 2012 |
| 5 | The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug | 2013 |
| 6 | The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies | 2014 |
| 7 | The War of the Rohirrim (animated) | 2024 |
Add to that Amazon's series, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power — two seasons so far (2022 and 2024), with the third arriving on 11 November 2026.
Middle-earth in chronological order
The story itself unfolds in a completely different order. Tolkien divides his universe into Ages, and the adaptations span several millennia:
| Era | Work | Release |
|---|---|---|
| Second Age | The Rings of Power | 2022- |
| Third Age, year ~2759 | The War of the Rohirrim | 2024 |
| Year 2941 | The Hobbit trilogy | 2012-2014 |
| Year ~3009-3017 | The Hunt for Gollum | due 2027 |
| Year 3018-3019 | The Lord of the Rings trilogy | 2001-2003 |
Useful landmark: The Hobbit happens about sixty years before The Lord of the Rings, The War of the Rohirrim nearly two centuries before, and The Rings of Power several thousand years before — back when the rings are forged.
Why start with The Fellowship of the Ring?
Because Peter Jackson's trilogy is the peak of the saga, and it is entirely self-sufficient. Everything you need to know about Bilbo, the ring and Gollum is told in a ten-minute prologue.
The Hobbit trilogy, shot ten years later, works the other way round: it is full of nods to The Lord of the Rings and brings its characters back assuming you already know them. Watching it first means getting the callbacks before the story. As for The Rings of Power, the series is written for viewers who have already seen the films: save it for afterwards.
Theatrical or extended editions?
Every film in the trilogy exists in two cuts, and the question has divided fans for twenty years.
For a first watch: the theatrical cuts. They already run three hours each, and the story is perfectly complete.
For a second journey: the extended editions. Nearly two extra hours of scenes across the trilogy, mostly deepening the supporting characters — and regarded by connoisseurs as the "real" cut. The Hobbit trilogy has extended editions too, though far less essential.
What about the books?
| Book | Published |
|---|---|
| The Hobbit | 1937 |
| The Lord of the Rings (3 volumes) | 1954-1955 |
| The Silmarillion | 1977 (posthumous) |
The ideal reading order follows publication: The Hobbit, a tale accessible from childhood, then The Lord of the Rings. The Silmarillion — the complete mythology of Middle-earth, and the source of most of what The Rings of Power draws on — is for the devoted: it reads more like scripture than an adventure novel.
What comes next
- The Rings of Power, season 3: 11 November 2026 on Prime Video, eight episodes centred on Sauron's rise.
- The Hunt for Gollum: 17 December 2027 in cinemas. Directed by Andy Serkis and produced by Peter Jackson, with Elijah Wood and Ian McKellen returning, the film will follow the hunt for Gollum between the events of The Hobbit and those of The Fellowship of the Ring.
The most common mistakes
- Starting with The Hobbit because "it happens first". It is the weakest way into a saga that owns one of the best openings there is: the Fellowship prologue.
- Bingeing all six films in extended editions on a first watch: more than twenty hours. Save that marathon for a rewatch.
- Treating The Rings of Power as a direct prequel. The series takes place millennia before the films and lands far better once you know them.
- Dismissing The War of the Rohirrim as a minor spin-off: the animated film sits firmly in the continuity of Peter Jackson's movies and illuminates the history of Rohan, at the heart of The Two Towers.
Know the saga? Prove it
Knowing the order of the films is one thing. Being able to put the events of the saga in order is quite another — and much harder.
Junban has a Lord of the Rings theme entirely dedicated to that: you get a moment from the trilogy and simply say whether it happens before or after the previous one. Does Gandalf become Gandalf the White before or after Boromir's death? No dates to memorise, no names to type: you just have to reason.
Solo or with up to 4 players, online or around one table — and the same principle then works across more than 50 themes, from movies to music, Harry Potter to Star Wars. That is what earns it first place in our comparison of timeline quiz games.
More sagas to sort out: Harry Potter, what order to watch the films in and Star Wars, what order to watch the movies and series.