HBO reveals why it passed on ‘Lord of the Rings’ TV series
By Shawn Lealos
Amazon will make a new Lord of the Rings TV series and wanted it so bad that they paid $250 million to secure the rights.
However, while Amazon spent all that money to ensure that they hold the rights to the fantasy series, one of the rival networks wasn’t interested in the show.
Variety reported that HBO CEO Richard Plepler was at Business Insider’s Ignition 2017 media conference in New York this past Wednesday and said that the premium network was not interested in Lord of the Rings, especially at that high price.
Plepler said that they already have a fantasy series in Game of Thrones and they plan to continue to work with that property even after the original show ends.
More from Show Snob
- The Santa Clauses season 2, episode 6 recap “Wanga Banga Langa!”
- Lawmen: Bass Reeves season 1, episode 7 preview: Non-spoiler thoughts for Part VII
- Goosebumps season 1, episode 6 recap: “Night of the Living Dummy”
- Beacon 23 season 1, episode 3 recap: “Why Can’t We Go on as Three?”
- Upload season 3, episode 2 recap: “Strawberry”
"“I’d rather own our IP [intellectual property] 100%… and I’d rather have the ability to work with a product that is inextricably linked to our brand.”"
Plepler also commented that $250 million is a lot of money but to Amazon, it is like playing with
Monopoly money. Amazon will reportedly spend $8 billion on content next year, which is four times what HBO spends.
There is also the interesting note that while Amazon will pay $250 million to air the show, HBO’s sister company Warner Bros. will get a piece of that money since they made the Lord of the Rings movies.
Next: ‘American Gods’ loses showrunner Bryan Fuller
HBO already has a slate of shows planned for after Game of Thrones ends. As previously reported, there will be a number of spin-offs from the fantasy television series. According to Plepler, there are five different spin-off series in the works for HBO to try to continue with the Game of Thrones franchise.