Posted on 11/04/2017 7:37:48 AM PDT by EdnaMode
Has Amazon found the Game of Thrones it’s been seeking?
A Lord of the Rings TV series is in the very early development stages, according to The Hollywood Reporter, from Warner Bros. Television, whose feature-film division produced the LOTR movies. There’s no writer attached to the project yet — Warner Bros. is still looking to nail down the rights from the estate of book author J.R.R. Tolkien — but Amazon Studios has already emerged as an potential home.
Rings, of course, has already been adapted into a trilogy of films directed by Peter Jackson, which grossed nearly $3 billion at the worldwide box office and won a total of 17 Oscars. The fantasy epic is set in the fictional Middle-earth, where hobbit Frodo Baggins leads a fellowship of do-gooders on a quest to destroy an all-powerful ring. (But is it possible to stretch Frodo’s story far enough to accommodate an ongoing TV series?)
In any case, a LOTR TV series sounds like just the kind of thing Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos was looking for when he directed his TV division to find the next Game of Thrones — i.e., a high-end drama with global appeal. That directive led to Amazon scrapping plans for a second season of the Christina Ricci period drama Z: The Beginning of Everything.
This could be a very good thing - if they have high production values. There’s so much in the LOTR books that I always thought a series would have been a better way to do it than a trilogy of movies.
They’ll ruin it. Gandalf will be a SJW. Merry will get a sex change. Etc.
I would watch it IF it were true to the text. Otherwise, meh.
Great! The first hollywood original idia in ages. Oh, wait.....never mind.
Seriously, they will ruin it. Leave it alone. It’s a very well done adaptation of the book. Dont see how it could be improved upon.
Honestly, leave the LOTR alone. Jackson did the impossible with the movies, this just shamelessly exploiting the stories for a cash grab.
In don’t trust Harveywood to honor the source material like it was done originally with the movies.
I hope they don’t ruin it.
They’d be better off adapting Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series.
Agreed. If they think they can write a better book, or series of books, then do it.
Exactly; huge roles for guest stars, a continuing saga, and not a whole lot of really expensive sets or special effects and a nice long storyline to play out the series as long as you want.
LOTR has been done. Time to move on.
I WANT more LOTR, but it was created to be a TV show. And Tolkin isn’t around to lead the development.
The movie series nailed it as far as book adaptations are concerned.
A TV series will just wander far afield in search of tv plots to fill a weekly episode.
First 2 seasons would just be about leaving the Shire. At some point, we’ll be saying toss the ring into the Volcano already.
Not to mention the calls for minority characters to be inclusive, prancing elves, a focus on Sauraman’s dark childhood, tragic characters, etc.
Was = wasn’t
Wasn’t there an animated series in the 1960’s?
I tried to watch the movie.
It was TOOOOOOOOOOOOO long and too uninteresting.
And it turned out to only be Part 1.
Re “it could be a very good thing:”
They don’t have to remake the 3-volume LOTR story. Series are often best when open ended, or when people are unfamiliar with the story line.
Tolkien wrote other books concerning Middle Earth which could be the source for many interesting episodes. For example, there is “The Silmarillion” which tells the creation and pre-history of Middle Earth, and “The Unfinished Tales.” There are many heroes and many stories that could be built upon those books for years. For example, one year’s series could be devoted to the early days of Sauron, when he was seductive and attractive, working with the Elves in their forges. Obviously the final episode of that year would be the forging of The Ring, and the realization by the elves of their betrayal. Many other tales of Elves, Dwarves, and the Men of Westernesse come to mind.
I expect they would ruin it, not enough LGBT content in the books, so the groper in charge will need to start changing things.
I’d love to see the Prince Roger series put on the screen though.
What text? The movies have already told all the story Tolkien wrote. There's nothing left but Hollywood speculation. Would you trust that cesspit to carry on Tolkien's narrative?
LOTR is a classic struggle between good and evil, with some fairly obvious Christian overtones. It is naive to expect the filth merchants in Faketown to propagate that message.
They could do The Silmarillion.
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