How to Watch 'The Lord of the Rings' Movies in Chronological Order

THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS, Elijah Wood, 2002, (c) New Line/courtesy Everett Collection Everett Collection

As The Lord of the Rings franchise continues to expand with the upcoming second season of Prime Video series Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power and two new films in the works centering Gollum, it can’t help revisiting New Line’s original trilogy of films based on Tolkien’s trilogy including The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and The Return of the King.

However, if one wishes to view all existing live-action films in chronological order, the three films based on Tolkien’s The Hobbit — An Unexpected Journey, The Desolation of Smaug and The Battle of the Five Armies come first in the timeline of Middle Earth. The trilogy based on The Hobbit came out ten years after the original Lord of the Rings films.

Read on to find out how to watch the Lord of the Rings films in order.

‘THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY,’ (2012)

Image Credit: 2012. ©Warner Bros. Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey marks the first installment in the trilogy of films based on The Hobbit by J.R.R Tolien, which was published in 1937.

The first film revisits the Shire with Martin Freeman as Bilbo Baggins and Ian McKellen as Gandalf the Grey.
‘THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG,’ (2013)

Image Credit: ©Warner Bros. Pictures/courtesy Everett Collection

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug features Benedict Cumberbatch as formidable dragon Smaug.
‘THE HOBBIT: BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES,’ (2014)

Image Credit: Everett Collection

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies features Lee Pace as Elvenking Thranduil.
‘LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING,’ (2001)

Based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s first book in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Fellowship of the Ring stars Elijah Wood as Frodo Baggins, grandson of Bilbo Baggins.
‘THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG,’ (2013)

Image Credit: (c) New Line/courtesy Everett

Adapted from the second book in Tolkien’s trilogy, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers stars Brad Dourif as Wormtongue anjd Christopher Lee as Sarumon.
‘THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING,’ (2003)

Image Credit: (c) New Line/courtesy Everett Collection

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King wraps up the film trilogy based on Tolkien’s book of the same name. Elijah Wood plays Frodo Baggins, Andy Serkis plays Gollum and Sean Astin plays Sam Gamgee.