Amazon spent a lot of money on their Lord of the Rings TV series, so it was all but a sure thing that they’d go ahead and give it a second season. And now they have. We haven’t seen a single frame of the show, but Lord of the Rings TV season 2 is officially a go. The series sets out to tell a whole new story in Middle-earth. Don’t expect to learn too much about the second season, though – filming hasn’t even begun on the first.

Deadline confirms that Amazon has already given their Lord of the Rings TV series a season 2 renewal. All told, this isn’t surprising. In fact, as previously reported, Amazon has a five-season commitment on the show. Now it’s just more official. The streaming service allegedly plopped down $250 million for the rights alone, and the show itself has a rumored billion-dollar production budget – so you can be damn sure they’re going to get their money’s worth.

That said, the series hasn’t even begun filming yet. And in fact, there’s already a hiatus planned. As Deadline says:

In conjunction with the early renewal, the LOTR series will go on a 4-5-month hiatus after filming the first two episodes from Season 1, directed by J.A. Bayona. The writing team of the series, led by showrunners and executive producers J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay, will use the time to map out and write the bulk of Season 2 scripts.

This hiatus is also something to be expected. Lord of the Rings has a straight-to-series order, which means there’s no pilot for producers to evaluate. By pausing after shooting two episodes, the powers-that-be can take a long, hard look at what they’ve filmed so far and make sure it’s all working – or decide to make changes.

The Lord of the Rings will focus on “previously unexplored stories based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s original writings.” The show is set set during the 3,441-year period, known as the Age of Númenor, or the Second Age, long before the events of The Fellowship of The Ring. J.A. Bayona will helm the first two episodes, and the cast is said to include Will Poulter, Markella Kavenagh, and Joseph Mawle – although none of those actors have been confirmed by Amazon. No premiere date has been set yet.