The most expensive television show ever made is back for a second season, with an even bigger budget, writes Streaming columnist NICK OVERALL. 

This week Lord of The Rings: The Rings of Power returns with eight new episodes.

The prequel series to JRR Tolkien’s fantasy epic is set thousands of years before the iconic film trilogy and explores the forging of the ring that would one day be heroically transported to Mordor by Frodo Baggins.

The marketing for season two has upped the ante, filled with huge battle sequences.

It’s like they’re trying to tell people “season one was just a warm-up, here’s what you came for. We can compete with Game of Thrones”.

The show is produced by Amazon Prime Video and season two has reached deep into Jeff Bezos’ pockets, with a $US700 million budget.

That’s almost 250 million bucks more than the first season and reportedly around $500 million more than the budget of the show’s biggest competitor House of the Dragon – the Game of Thrones spin-off that wrapped up its second season just a few weeks ago.

But for all that money, does it actually make a Lord of the Rings prequel worth it?

Rich in lore as Tolkien’s magnum opus is, I can’t help but feel that much of the plot of this new show would be better left as Lord of the Rings mythology rather than literally brought to the screen.

Season two kicks off with three episodes available to stream from August 29 before releasing new ones weekly. It promises a heavy focus on the backstory of Sauron, the big bad from Tolkien’s original trilogy.

Fascinating for Middle-Earth aficionados maybe, but it feels as if the show is tarnishing the evil mystique that surrounds the ruler of Mordor.

It’s actually an Aussie actor who’s taking on this mega role and a little-known one at that.

Charlie Vickers, originally from Melbourne, is the man to do it and while his commitment is clear to see there’s something about leaving Sauron’s backstory to the imagination that gives it so much more intriguing malice.

In this columnist’s opinion, the gritty magic of Peter Jackson’s epic cinematic trilogy did not translate to season one of The Rings of Power and season two has a lot of work to prove itself, lest it be heading for the fires of Mount Doom itself.

Bilbo Baggins once said not all who wander are lost, but right now this spin-off feels like it’s firmly both.

THIS week also marks the return of TV’s most dysfunctional murder investigators.

They’re not detectives, but podcasters.

Only Murders in the Building (Disney Plus) follows a group of true crime obsessives whose biggest dreams and worst nightmares come true when they get caught up in their own killer conspiracy.

Four seasons deep now and Only Murders in the Building has somehow managed to keep itself fresh after all these years.

That’s thanks to an entertaining cast that includes Steve Martin, Selena Gomez, Martin Short and some star appearances from the likes of Meryl Streep.

One has to wonder how much gas is left in this tank, but the series remains an easy watch and a fun poke at true crime fanatics.

FOR those who are looking for something a little more down to earth, it’s hard to go wrong with David Attenborough, who’s just launched his newest doco series on Netflix.

This one’s called Secret World of Sound and focuses on the animal kingdom’s sonic wonders, with stunning cinematography stretching from the plains of Africa to the depths of the ocean.

Attenborough is now 98 years old and yet continues to pump out these incredible productions year-round and it seems Netflix has taken the lion’s share of his works.

One can only imagine what they’ve got up their sleeves for when Attenborough turns 100.

Something tells me it’s been planned for a long time.