It’s been almost two decades since the release of The Fellowship of the Ring, the first of The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Ever since then the Lord of the Rings series has received numerous awards, including Academy Awards and J.R.R Tolkien’s creations have gained considerable popularity. There have been plenty of works relating to Middle-earth, including films, poems, video games and so on. Back in 2017, Amazon bought the rights to make Lord Of The Rings TV show situated in the Middle-earth universe. Tolkien has made countless works relating to Middle-earth, so Amazon had the opportunity to work on the show from numerous perspectives.
Amazon Studios struck a deal with the author’s estate, publisher HarperCollins and New Line Cinema to produce a multi-season show for television. The budget is reported to be as much as $1 billion — the biggest budget in television history. (Game of Thrones better watch out).
A key GoT writer Bryan Cogman has signed on to consult on the LOTR TV show, according to Variety. “He’ll work alongside the writing team of JD Payne and Patrick McKay, who were announced to be developing the series for Amazon back in July.”
(Watch Lord of the Rings Online on Amazon Prime: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3)
When will it release?
At the time of announcement, it was expected that the show would release sometime this year. However, since the show is still in early stages of development, what with Amazon dealing with other shows like the end of The Man in the High Castle, LOTR is expected to release sometime in 2021 with production starting by 2020.
How many seasons will there be?
As part of the deal, Amazon Studios is expected to make as much as 5 seasons of the show.
Who’s running the show?
JD Payne and Patrick McKay will be the two showrunners for the series. In a statement, the duo have said: “The rich world that J.R.R. Tolkien created is filled with majesty and heart, wisdom and complexity,” adding: “We are absolutely thrilled to be partnering with Amazon to bring it to life anew. We feel like Frodo, setting out from the Shire, with a great responsibility in our care — it is the beginning of the adventure of a lifetime.”
Oh, and also, Peter Jackson will NOT be involved in the show in any capacity.
Where will be show be set and what will the plot be?
Lord of the Rings TV show (official handle) confirmed in a series of Twitter posts that it would be set during the Second Age, the 3441 year gap which ended with the fall of Sauron and the beginning of the events of The Fellowship of the Ring. That’s a lot of area to cover.
It was later reported that the show would focus on a young Aragorn. No further information has since been revealed.
Who has been cast for the show?
So, far there have been no confirmations relating to casting. However, what we do know is very few of the characters who’ve featured in previous movies will feature in the show. So we may not be seeing Gandalf or Gollum in Amazon’s TV series.
What do Amazon’s online maps mean?
“Three rings for the Elven-kings under the sky,
Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone,
Nine for mortal men doomed to die,
One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne;
In the Land of Mordor where the shadows lie.
One ring to rule them all, one ring to find them,
One ring to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them;
In the Land of Mordor where the shadows lie.”
This is the famous Ring Verse in Lord of the Rings, telling the tale of the Ring’s power in Black Speech.
The Lord of the Rings TV Show Twitter handle was created in early 2018, but in February 2019, they started posting online maps of Middle-earth each with different lines of the Ring Verse.
They started with a quote from J.R.R Tolkien.
The messages then continue, quoting from a section of the books describing the infamous rings of power.
That’s all that’s been released so far. More to come. Stay posted.
