This film will be a prequel to the first Hobbit film (itself a prequel to The Fellowship of the Ring). It will begin not long after the first destruction of Sauron by Isildur, shown in the first Lord of the Rings film. Since the One Ring had not been destroyed, the Elves thought that someday Sauron may return. 1000 years after the Last Alliance of Men and Elves at Mount Doom, a shadow of fear returned to the forest of Mirkwood in the guise of the Necromancer, ultimately revealed to be Sauron.