the family hasnt had control of film and TV rights since the sixties, when JRR sold them. Christopher would not have been able to protect. I find the story setting interesting, I think that Bezos personally intervened to nab the rights, and I have a small hope that he has enough respect for the story (being a geek himself) to not let anyone “HBO” it. He personally intervened and got us two more seasons of the Expanse which has been really really good so far (and true to the books)
Like a lot of Tolkien fans, I am indeed expecting what you describe, i.e., a G.o.T. clone set in Middle Earth with a smattering of Tolkien “characters,” and I use that term loosely as we’re likely just talking about a few names that appeared in the LOTR appendix. As much as I now love to boycott Amazon as much as possible, the 10-year-old Tolkien fan I once was will probably demand to check out an episode or three.
It’s a shame, as much of material in the Silmarillion and various Lost Tales collections might have worked as a sort of anthology series if Amazon had chosen to take the high road and challenge its viewers to do the same. But who am I kidding? Bezos and Amazon take a high road? Haha. So, yeah, I’m expecting the G.o.T. garbage truck to take a dump in Middle Earth.
Presumably the filmmakers know they have a huge, built-in audience if they stay close to the books. They must also know that this audience will savage the films if they deviate too far. PJ started well but, by the time he was done with The Hobbit, he had turned his films into comic book/video-game style adaptations for twelve year olds. The smart course for Amazon would be to bring artistic discipline back into the mix and do a faithful adaptation. Of course, smart and Hollywood are not always a natural mix.