Amazon TV making ‘Lord of the Rings’ TV series
By Shawn Lealos
The original Lord of the Rings trilogy remains one of the most successful franchises in the history of cinema.
And, while its follow-up, The Hobbit, was not as beloved, it still proved that fans wanted to see more stories from Middle Earth. Those fans will get much more as Amazon Studios and the estate of author J.R.R. Tolkien will bring a Lord of the Rings TV series to Amazon Prime.
The news comes from Deadline, and it turns out that the Tolkien estate was in talks with Amazon, HBO and Netflix to bring Lord of the Rings to TV and Netflix won out at the end of the negotiations.
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While neither Amazon nor the Tolkien estate released any official details of the agreement, Deadline reports that the deal is close to $250 million for global television rights. Amazon promised a multi-season commitment to Lord of the Rings as well as a possibility for spinoffs.
“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,” said Sharon Tal Tguado, the Head of Scripted Series for Amazon Studios. She also spoke about how Lord of the Rings is a “cultural phenomenon that has captured the imagination of generations of fans through literature and the big screen.”
According to the reports, the new Lord of the Rings series will take place before Fellowship of the Ring and follow new stories in Middle Earth. While the Hobbit trilogy also took place before Fellowship, this sounds like the series will focus on different characters instead of on the Ring.
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The Lord of the Rings television series will give Amazon a chance to try to get some of the audience that will look for an alternative to HBO’s Game of Thrones, which is coming to an end. Previous Amazon Prime original series included The Man in the High Castle, Bosch and Transparent.