If you want to watch The Lord of the Rings on Netflix, chances are you won’t be able to find the trilogy on your Netflix library.
This is obviously frustrating, especially if it means you’ll have to subscribe to an additional streaming service in order to watch Peter Jackson’s iconic films.
The good news is, there’s an easy way to stream all three Lord of the Rings films on Netflix. All you need is a reliable VPN.
This article will explain why The Lord of the Rings isn’t available on your Netflix library and how you can watch The Lord of the Rings on Netflix.
See also:
- How to watch Downtown Abbey on Netflix: It’s EASY! (2023)
- How to watch Survivor Australia in the US: All the NEW episodes! (2023)
How to watch The Lord of the Rings on Netflix: Quick Guide
At the moment, there’s only two countries where Netflix has the rights to broadcast the Lord of the Rings films. These are Turkey and Belgium.
To watch The Lord of the Rings on Netflix, you need to change your Netflix location. Simply put, you need to make Netflix think you’re connecting to its platform from within Turkey or Belgium.
To do that, follow these simple steps:
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Create a new account with ExpressVPN ($6.67/month).
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Download and install the new VPN app on your device
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Select a server based in Turkey or Belgium
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Open Netflix
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Watch The Lord of the Rings on Netflix
Countries where The Lord of the Rings is available on Netflix
Below is a list of countries that have the rights to broadcast The Lord of the Rings on Netflix:
- Turkey
- Belgium
Why can’t I access The Lord of the Rings on Netflix?
The Lord of the Rings isn’t on your Netflix library because Netflix in your area doesn’t have the rights to broadcast the films.
This has happened becaues Netflix hasn’t purchased the rights to broadcast the movies in your country. If a TV company or film studio sells broadcast rights to a particular streaming service, then only that streaming service can broadcast it.
With Netflix this can be a bit confusing because Netflix is available all over the world. In order to make sense of this the easiest way to understand this is Netflix has different libraries in each country. Think of each Netflix library as different streaming services. Just because Netflix has the rights to broadcast a show in one location, it doesn’t mean it has the rights to broadcast it all over the world.
To use the US as an example, AT&T’s WarnerMedia owns and distributes The Lord of the Rings. The streaming rights to the show are currently owned by HBO Max, so to stream The Lord of the Rings in the US you’ll need an HBO Max account.
The good news is Netflix in Turkey and Belgium have the rights to broadcast The Lord of the Rings. This means you don’t have to subscribe to another streaming service, all you need is your Netflix account and a reliable VPN.
How does Netflix know what country I’m in?
This is all to do with what’s called an IP address.
When you go online, your device is allocated a unique IP address. This is a piece of code used so your device can communicate with Netflix’s servers.
The issue here is in order for the code to work, it contains information about where in the world you’re located. And unfortunately, you can’t turn this off, you need an IP address in order to go online.
When you connect to Netflix it scans your IP address to determine where you’re located. Once Netflix determines where you are, it provides you with the Netflix library from that country.
If you’re in the US, Netflix will know this and will provide you with the US Netflix library, which doesn’t have The Lord of the Rings.
Fortunately, all though you can’t turn the IP off, you can change your IP address to make it look like you’re connecting to the internet from a different country. The easiest way to do that is with ExpressVPN ($6.67/month) or Private Internet Access ($2.03/month).
How can I change Netflix library?
To gain access to Netflix libraries in other countries, you need to make Netflix think you’re accessing its service from within those particular countries.
To do that, you need to change your IP address.
Although this may sound confusing, a reliable VPN like ExpressVPN ($6.67/month) or Private Internet Access ($2.03/month) makes it incredibly easy.
All you need to do is download ExpressVPN ($6.67/month) or Private Internet Access ($2.03/month) on your chosen device, click on a server based in Turkey or belgium and you’ll be given an IP address based in one of these countries.
Now when you connect to Netflix, you’ll have access to the Netflix library in that country. And if you selected Turkey or Belgium, you’ll now be able to stream The Lord of the Rings on Netflix.
Will any VPN work?
VPNs are now very popular and there’s been a massive influx of VPNs. Some of them work well with Netflix, however a lot of them don’t.
Firstly, a lot of lesser VPNs don’t have servers in Turkey and Belgium, secondly they don’t manage to get around Netflix’s VPN blocking techniques.
Netflix is required to abide by the content and licensing agreements it has with its content partners. If it didn’t, it would face severe financial fines.
Because a VPN allows you to access Netflix outside of your country, it could potentially result in Netflix breaching its copyright requirements. Obviously, the streaming service doesn’t want this to happen so Netflix tries to block VPN IP addresses from connecting to its platform.
For lesser VPNs, especially free VPNs Netflix’s blocks can be incredibly hard to get around. But there are a few VPNs that can get around these blocks.
Which VPNs work with Netflix?
The way Netflix identifies, and blocks VPNs is it constantly scans for an abnormal number of connections coming from the same IP address.
Because lesser/free VPNs have a lot of customers they often force customers to share IP addresses.
Usually only a household of devices (8-10) connects to Netflix using the same IP address, any more than that and Netflix sees it as abnormal usage.
If you use a lesser VPN, you’ll be forced to share an IP with potentially hundreds or even thousands of others. When Netflix sees that many connections coming from the same IP address it knows its a VPN and it blocks the connection. This could mean you waste money on a VPN that doesn’t work.
The good news is ExpressVPN ($6.67/month) or Private Internet Access ($2.03/month) don’t have these problems. They have lots of IP addresses, so you won’t end up sharing with other customers, they have reliable serves based in Belgium and Turkey and on the off chance an IP address provided by ExpressVPN ($6.67/month) or Private Internet Access ($2.03/month) gets identified and blocked by Netflix, these VPNs will close that IP address and open a new one so you can watch The Lord of the Rings on Netflix anywhere in the world reliably.
The best VPNs for watching Lord of the Rings on Netflix
1. ExpressVPN 🥇
Why You Should Use ExpressVPN? It’s the fastest and MOST reliable VPN of 2023
Pros
- ✅ Fast servers
- ✅ Thousands of IP addresses
- ✅ 10-simultaneous connections
- ✅ 24/7 Live Chat
- ✅ Easy-to-use app
- ✅ 30-day money-back guarantee
Cons
- ❌ Expensive
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Number of servers: 3,000+ | Speed: >80% | Bandwidth: Unlimited | IP locations: 160 in 94 countries | Devices supported: 5 | Live chat: Yes | 30-day money-back guarantee: Yes
- $6.66/month for 15 months
- $9.99/month for 6 months
- $12.95/month for 1 month
ExpressVPN ($6.66/month) is still the best VPN. And importantly, it ALWAYS has servers that are open with major streaming sites such as Netflix, BBC iPlayer, Hulu, Disney+, HBO Max, Paramount+, Amazon Prime Video, etc.
ExpressVPN is usually very good at playing Cat and Mouse with online streaming sites. Meaning, whenever one of its servers is blacklisted it creates a new one – giving its users a constant stream of servers that aren’t blocked. Needless to say, this is a valuable attribute if you’re looking for a VPN to unblock streaming sites.
Its app is easy-to-use and free to download on pretty much any device you can think of. Mac, Windows, iOS, Android, FireStick, Android TV, Roku, PS4, Xbox, Linux, even Apple TV (with a workaround). It’s got it all covered.
The app is another main reason this VPN is so good at unblocking TV streaming sites (that claim they block VPNs) is that its software takes a pragmatic approach to user management. While other VPNs tempt customers by promising them access to hundreds/thousands of servers in multiple countries, ExpressVPN does things differently.
With ExpressVPN you only have a handful of server locations to choose from. Once you select your location the app takes care of the rest. Assigning you to the fastest available server that’s not oversubscribed. This simple technique is so important, as it keeps ExpressVPN’s servers operating at lightning-fast speeds and prevents its IPs from getting blacklisted for “abnormal” usage in the first place.
Check out our full ExpressVPN review.
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2. NordVPN 🥈
A very quick and trustworthy VPN
Pros
- ✅ Fast servers
- ✅ No logs
- ✅ Thousands of IP addresses
- ✅ 6-simultaneous connections
- ✅ 30-day money-back guarantee
- ✅ Easy-to-use app
Cons
- ❌ No refunds for purchases from iTunes/App store
Special Offer for you!
Sign up for a 3-year plan with Private Internet Access and save 83% + 3 months free. That works out at $2.03/month.
Number of servers: 5,000+ | Speeds: >80% | Bandwidth: Unlimited | IP locations: 62 countries | Devices supported: 6 | Live chat: Yes | 30-day money-back guarantee: Yes
- $3.49/month for 2 years
- $6.99/month for 1 year
- $11.95/month for 1 month
NordVPN is the most widely-used VPN in the world. And it’s easy to see why. It’s a polished app that delivers fast connections (more on this later) to a massive network of VPN servers.
It’s the most reliable at unblocking popular streaming services too – US Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, BBC iPlayer, HBO Max, Amazon Prime Video, etc. This is because NordVPN hired a full-time technical team (that’s responsible for monitoring its servers’ connections with popular TV streaming services) and has been aggressively investing in its network of IP addresses in key locations.
Another interesting thing to note is that NordVPN is an industry leader in its development of Nordlynx technology. Nordlynx is built using the WireGuard, a new VPN tunneling protocol designed to outperform current standards (OpenVPN and IPSec). The benefits, according to NordVPN, are dramatically faster transfer speeds while connected to a VPN. My tests – New Zealand to London – confirm that Nordlynx is currently the fastest VPN on the market. However, the difference isn’t dramatic, a few Mbps is all.
Read our NordVPN review.
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3. Private Internet Access
The BEST low-cost VPN for streaming!
Pros
- ✅ Fast and reliable servers
- ✅ Thousands of IP addresses
- ✅ 10-simultaneous connections
- ✅ 24/7 Live Chat
- ✅ 30-day money-back guarantee
Cons
- ❌ Only 48 server locations
Special Offer for you!
Sign up for a 3-year plan with Private Internet Access and save 83% + 3 months free. That works out at $2.03/month.
Number of servers: 25,000+ | Speed: >75% | Bandwidth: Unlimited | IP locations: 70 in 74 countries | Devices supported: 10 | Live chat: Yes | 30-day money-back guarantee: Yes
- $2.03/month for 3 years
- $7.50/month for 6 months
- $11.99/month for 1 month
Private Internet Access is one of the leading no-log VPN services with over 1-million paying customers.
This VPN is one of the best in the industry at beating streaming sites’ VPN bans. It provides reliable connections with US Netflix, BBC iPlayer, Hulu, HBO Max, Disney+ Amazon Prime Video, etc. It also allows 10 simultaneous devices to be connected to its servers at the same time, so you can share the account with your close friends.
If – for whatever reason – you’re not happy with Private Internet Access, there’s a 24/7 live chat support available to assist you with your problem. PIA also offers the industry-standard 30-day money-back guarantee.
From my tests (from New Zealand) I was able to get download speeds of 70 Mbps while connected to a UK server using the Private Internet Access VPN (my non-VPN speed is 100 Mbps).
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4. Ivacy
A very quick and trustworthy VPN
Pros
- ✅ Fast servers
- ✅ Thousands of IP addresses
- ✅ Dedicated streaming servers
- ✅ 5-simultaneous connections
- ✅ 30-day money-back guarantee
- ✅ 24/7 Live Chat
Cons
- ❌ Only 5 devices
- ❌ Sometimes runs slow
- ❌ Occasionally block by streaming sites for several days
Special Offer for you!
Sign up for Ivacy and enjoy a 7-day trial with no strings attached
Number of servers: 1,000+ | Speed: >65% | Bandwidth: Unlimited | IP locations: 275 in 100 countries | Devices supported: 5 | Live chat: Yes | 30-day money-back guarantee: Yes
- $1.16/month for 5 years
- $3.50/month for 1 year
- $9.99/month for 1 month
If you’re looking for an excellent VPN, with an even better price tag, Ivacy ($1.16/month) is a great option.
This VPN has all the features you need to stream BBC iPlayer, in HD, from any country in the world. I’ve been testing the app recently on Mac, PC, Android, iOS and FireStick and the results have been impressive – unlocking BBC iPlayer, US Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, HBO Max, Amazon Prime Video, etc. with ease.
The Ivacy app is a little different in regards to its UX (user experience). Instead of just selecting a UK server, you need to select the specific BBC iPlayer server. Don’t worry, this isn’t a bad thing – by connecting to a dedicated BBC iPlayer server, it simply means that you’re connecting to an IP address that Ivacy knows works with BBC iPlayer.
For an extra $1.99/month (£1.74) you can add-on a dedicated IP. This will buy you sole access to an IP address in a country of your choice, meaning you won’t have to share your IP (and speeds) with any other use. I don’t recommend this though, using the regular Ivacy servers is enough 95 per cent of the time.
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5. CyberGhost
A very quick and trustworthy VPN
Pros
- ✅ 1-day free trial
- ✅ Reliable servers
- ✅ Thousands of IP addresses
- ✅ 7-simultaneous connections
- ✅ 30-day money-back guarantee
- ✅ Easy-to-use app
Cons
- ❌ Expensive
- ❌ Average speed scores
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Number of servers: 1,000+ | Speed: >65% | Bandwidth: Unlimited | IP locations: 275 in 100 countries | Devices supported: 5 | Live chat: Yes | 30-day money-back guarantee: Yes
- $2.75/month for 3 years
- $3.69/month for 2 years
- $5.99/month for 1 year
- $12.99/month for 1 month
CyberGhost is one of the more established VPNs on the market. It has a well-established, and well-tested global network of servers that perform well.
From my tests over the past several months, CyberGhost has no trouble at unblocking major streaming services – US Netflix, BBC iPlayer, Hulu, Disney+, Amazon Prime Video, HBO Max etc. This VPN performed well at maintaining download speeds, well above 65 per cent of my regular (non VPN) ISP speed.
That said, there’s nothing really unique about the service. Which forces you to look at its price-point. And there’s nothing special here. Its short-term $12.99/month price tag puts is well above the industry average of $10.10/month. Similarly, its long-term $2.75/month for 3 years deal isn’t much of a “deal” either.
Oddly, CyberGhost’s most unique feature is its a 1-day, no obligations, free trial. This is an appealing offer to customers who are new to VPNs. However, it’s important to remember that most reputable VPNs will offer customers a 30-day money-back guarantee, so try not to be too seduced by the offer.
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Is watching Netflix with a VPN legal?
In most countries, using a VPN is legal. There are only a handful of countries (spot the authoritarianism link) where using a VPN is illegal; these are: China, Russia, Iran, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, North Korea, Iraq, Belarus, Turkmenistan, Egypt, Eritrea, Seychelles, Suriname, Namibia, Slovenia, Nicaragua and Tajikistan.
If you’re outside these countries and are using a VPN, you’re legally allowed to do so. However, it’s important to know that using a VPN with some streaming services may breach that service’s terms of use.
If you subscribe to a streaming service, you automatically accept its terms of use. If we look at Netflix’s terms of use, it states, “You may access the Netflix content primarily within the country in which you have established your account and only in geographic locations where we offer our service and have licensed such content.” And “You also agree not to circumvent, remove, alter, deactivate, degrade or thwart any of the content protections in the Netflix service; use any robot, spider, scraper or other automated means to access the Netflix service… We may terminate or restrict your use of our service if you violate these Terms of Use or are engaged in illegal or fraudulent use of the service.”
This means, Netflix can stop your subscription and ban you from the streaming service if you try to access its content with a VPN turned on.
However, given the wide-spread use of VPNs, plus the many legitimate and legal use cases for VPNs, it’s fair to suggest that banning customers for using a VPN would be a heavy-handed and financially costly policy for Netflix (and other streaming services) to enforce.
If you’re trying to watch Netflix in a region where it does not traditionally operate or you’re trying to change the location of the Netflix library, you risk having your account banned. In theory. However, as the best VPNs for Netflix use military-grade encryption it is impossible for Netflix to trace where you’re physically accessing its content from.
There’s one final thing to note on the subject: Netflix has never banned anyone for using a VPN to access its service.
For more information you can check out our article answering Is streaming with a VPN legal?
