Earlier this month, news broke that Amazon was trying to close a deal to bring J.R.R. Tokien’s The Lord of the Rings to life as a television series, and now it looks like it’s actually going to happen. Amazon has announced that it has acquired the TV rights for the book series, with a multi-season commitment. But the twist is that this will apparently be a prequel to The Lord of the Rings, rather than the story audiences already know so well.
“The Lord of the Rings is a cultural phenomenon that has captured the imagination of generations of fans through literature and the big screen,” Sharon Tal Yguado, head of scripted series at Amazon Studios, said in a statement. “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.”
Given the rather extensive attention director Peter Jackson gave to The Lord of the Rings, not to mention The Hobbit, it’s not unreasonable to ask why Amazon would want to walk down this path in the first place. (The same could be said for audiences.) Part of it is Amazon Studios’ newfound focus, with Jeff Bezos himself reportedly asking the division to focus more on big, prestige-worthy shows with global appeal, similar to Game of Thrones. Given that the Lord of the Rings films are so well-known, it’s hard to see how yet another adaptation would fulfill that directive — but Amazon is going to solve the problem by actually going beyond what the movies offered.
In the statement announcing the news, the company clarifies that the new show will “explore new storylines preceding J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Fellowship of the Ring,” with a potential spinoff series also included as part of the deal. That means Amazon is going to be making a prequel to the classic tale of Frodo Baggins, offering Amazon plenty of leeway to create its own characters and take on the world.
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