Now that Roy Price has properly been shown the door for his sexual harassment, Amazon is hoping to generate some positive buzz in the news. Their first deal announced since Price was booted will definitely generate discussion. Amazon will be producing a series based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings – you know, the same one that Peter Jackson won all those awards for directing? Yeah, that one.
The streaming service on Monday announced it is bringing J.R.R. Tolkien’s fantasy epic to television, with a multiple season commitment.
The television series will take place before the 2001 feature film “The Fellowship of the Ring,” which kicked off the trilogy directed by Peter Jackson.
Amazon said in a release the deal includes potential for spin-off series as well.
“‘The Lord of the Rings’ is a cultural phenomenon that has captured the imagination of generations of fans through literature and the big screen,” said Sharon Tal Yguado, head of scripted series for Amazon Studios. “We are honored to be working with the Tolkien Estate and Trust, HarperCollins and New Line on this exciting collaboration for television and are thrilled to be taking ‘The Lord of the Rings; fans on a new epic journey in Middle Earth.”
The series will be a prequel to The Fellowship of the Rings. Amazon spent a whopping $250 million for the production rights, but what that bought isn’t exactly clear. And Newsday suggested it wasn’t the actual story, “You’d be surprised. Foremost, here’s what it doesn’t get: “The Lord of the Rings.” The Atlantic further muddied the plot by pointing out, “With this deal… Amazon can use the classic Middle-earth mythology as a canvas for several different TV shows, including backstories of beloved characters like Aragorn.” Uhm, shout out to Christopher Tolkien, J.R.R.’s son who is 92 and brokered the deal – never lose your edge, man. Obviously, there is plenty of Tolkien material with which to work. I’m not a Tolkien expert but Newsday does a good job of pulling together various theories from existing stories. Plus, with the biopic about Tolkien starring Nicholas Hoult, maybe everyone will get Tolkien fever?
The operating budget is being estimated between $100M – $150M a season. A couple of outlets are speculating that Amazon is looking for its Game of Thrones. Many of those same outlets are saying this won’t be it. No cast has been announced so I’m not too worked up over any of it. Heaven knows the musical adaptation did not fare well. I’m still on LOTR burnout from the Jackson movies. I just read The Hobbit for the first time. I don’t know why I’ve not read it before now but my son was reading it for class and I thought that was as good an excuse as any to finally do so. Please don’t kill me but it was a chore for me to get through. I only enjoyed the last quarter of the book and honestly, I‘m not compelled to go further with the trilogy. However, I’ve found I can be swayed by a hot dwarf or a freakishly attractive elf so I’ll wait and see.
Wait. A prequel series to "Lord of the Rings"? Isn't that… "The Hobbit"?
— Liberal Librarian (@Lib_Librarian) November 13, 2017
"A "prequel" to "Lord of the Rings" annouced by Amazon today."
*looks at "The Hobbit" DVD collection in confusion.* pic.twitter.com/dpYMEL5aSf— Carter Bowman (@CarterBowman91) November 13, 2017
amazon: prequel to lord of the rings coming soon 😉
fandom: don't do this… please stop
amazon: pic.twitter.com/niAF2IhNZc— georgia 💫 (@astudyinpinkk) November 13, 2017
Some potential names for a Lord of the Rings TV series:
Law & Mordor
Orc & Mindy
Mordor, She Wrote— The Incredible Sulk (@TurnUp_TheTweet) November 13, 2017
Haven't they done enough Lord of the Rings stuff?
— WS Champs Brad (@houstonguy84) November 14, 2017
Photo credit: WENN Photos and Getty Images
Sooo… The Hobbit?
This.
I watch the LOTR trilogy by Jackson once a year – usually around this time. In fact we just finished watching it a couple of days ago, so you know I’m a fan.
When my husband sent me the link to this news I told him I’m not into this. The only way I would be into it is if they took all the characters and made them women or POC. That show I’d watch. But that tweet is everything: The Hobbit was the prequel to LOTR!
I’m a fan too (heck, I even play Lord of the Rings online sometimes) but I’m not into this either. Okay, you could argue that the Hobbit was a LOTR prequel about Bilbo Baggins, whereas this sounds like it’s going to be centered more on Aragorn and maybe elves, but still. There’s even the freaking Silmarillion, for those who want to go waaaay back.
That said, I’m curious to see who they’ll cast, if nothing else.
Long time lurker coming out because I’m a LOTR freak…..back to the 70’s.
I have the Silmarillion and I just couldn’t get into it because it didn’t have the range of characters.
My late husband actually went to the theater to see The Return bc he was afraid he wouldn’t be around to see it when it came out on video. Sad but he had cancer and he had to see how it ended.
New Years Eve is my binge of LOTR movies. Sadly, I just didn’t enjoy the Hobbit trilogy, too long for the content, IMO.
We do too, probably because each movie was released Dec 25, 3 years in a row.
They Pavlov-ed us 🙂
No just no – don’t touch such classics
well, the movies of the hobbit were atrocious, so i wouldn’t be against someone doing them better and properly. that said, i believe they’re talking about that period between the end of the hobbit and the beginning of lotr i.e. bilbo and whatever he did with the ring, maybe some young frodo etc, aragorn’s father or young aragorn etc
and idk how i feel about it. i’m happy to see a new actor playing bilbo bc i can’t stand martin freeman, but some actors are irreplaceable to me. i wouldn’t want to see anybody else as gandalf, for instance.
Viggo IS Strider: accept no substitutes.
I should have just cosigned this entire post, instead of writing my own.
There is no other Lord Elrond, either.
No.
Does the world really need this?
I suppose it will make money. Sigh.
No no no. I feel like this is an attempt to cash in on the general fantasy genre now that GoT is so huge but don’t ruin the classics! They already ruined the Hobbit by turning it into 3 stupid films…
@hecate I loved the book trilogy but also had to force myself through The Hobbit. I’m so glad I stuck with it! But also glad I didn’t get an Elvish tattoo
Unless they’re going way back to the Silmarilion (sp? ) I don’t see the need for this.
If Christopher Tolkien is involved, I’m sure they will
Christopher Tolkien resigned (because he’s 93).
Not good for Tolkien’s world.
Don’t feel bad. The Hobbit isn’t good. It’s weird and the climax of the book, the final battle with the dragon, takes place in a paragraph with a minor character.
For the love of god, why can’t they leave movie classics alone?
Urgh, why ruin an amazing film series. I adore LOTR and Hobbit and thought it was perfect. I did read that the grandson of Tolkien hated the film series. His argument is that the film took away the magic of the book, which is silly really. It two very different medium.
I love LOTR, hate the movie the Hobbit (mostly because of the actor, the Watson guy, he is terrible).
I’ve read the novels, and the Hobbit was just not as good, IMO.
I would watch this if I had Amazon, which I don’t, so whatever. I’m here for the Elves anyway.
I have scoured the list of actors credited and un-credited for all three Hobbit movies and I can find no one with the name of Watson. Who is this person who is so terrible? Very curious.
He is referring to Martin Freeman, who played Dr. Watson in the “Sherlock” series.
If I had to name my favorite movies, LOTR is at the top of the list. And I’m so glad I’m not the only one who thought The Hobbit series let LOTR down. Just like kids with their cartoons, I’m perfectly fine with as much Middle Earth as I can get. I can never see too much Star Wars, Star Trek or Tolkien. In fact, I wish someone would take on The Number of the Beast by Heinlein. (My laptop is named Gay Deceiver)
The hobbit was meant to be a stand alone kids book and only after he started on the sequel did it get integrated into the overall mythology Tolkien had been working on. Like Aragorn was originally going to be a hobbit who wore wooden shoes.
This is why my husband and son love it all. I understand the tone of the movie was completely in line with the book, and I knew this going in, but after LOTR, I had certain Middle Earth visual standards lol. The hazy filming annoyed me. As well as the coloring. I know… I’m nitpicking.
I couldn’t even make it to the last quarter of the book, and I think I was doing books on tape.
I understand the idea. After all Game of Thrones universe is sort of a rip off of the Tolkien fantasy world. A middle ages-fantasy Europe but with a lot more sex, boobs and severed penises.
So… Amazon is Gollum falling to its end, clutching the Precious?
My preciousssss!!!
I was not keen on it at first, but if they can get the right set of writers, it could be good. There is a lot of other material that they can use and maybe even make it about what happens in other places / regions during the LOTR with occassional interactions with the main plot.
I’m glad they’re not going to be touching the LoTR trilogy, because that is a masterpiece and the cast is beyond perfect.
It’s obviously going to have nothing to do with the Hobbit, so why people are getting so pained in the ass about it/saying it’s not needed because the Hobbit has already been done, I have no clue. There’s so many characters and so many stories that can be explored without making it a direct prequel like the Hobbit was, I’ll be all for this is they find great writers and a great cast. It’s a great world he created, like JK did with her magical world, and I can’t wait to see what they do, personally.
Co-sign. There’s plenty of room in Midde-earth for other stories that take place in or around the same timeline established by the books/movies. I’m all for the prequel series as long as they bring in Sir Ian for a cameo.
Yes! He’d be up for it I’m sure 😀