Amazon's Rings of Power - General Discussion Thread (SPOILERS)

[Fallen Angel]

http://variety.com/2017/tv/news/lord-of-the-rings-amazon-1202606519/

Warner Bros. Television and the estate of J.R.R. Tolkein are in talks with Amazon Studios to develop a series based on the late author’s “The Lord of the Rings” novels.



Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is said by sources with knowledge of the situation to be personally involved in the negotiations, which are still in very early stages. No deal has been set.
The studio and the Tolkein estate have been shopping a series based on the classic fantasy novels and their assortment of hobbits, wizards, and warriors, sparking a competitive situation from which Amazon has emerged as the frontrunner. Representatives for Amazon and Warner Bros. declined to comment.
It is uncommon for Bezos — known to be a fan of high fantasy and science fiction — to involve himself personally in dealmaking for Amazon Studios. But talks for “The Lord of the Rings” come at an uncommon moment for the e-commerce giant’s video-entertainment division. Last month Amazon Studios flushed its executive ranks, with president Roy Price, head of scripted Joe Lewis, and head of unscripted Conrad Riggs all departing. Price’s departure came just days after he was suspended on the heels of a sexual harassment allegation made against him by a producer on the company’s original series “The Man in the High Castle.” Lewis and Riggs’ departures followed a week later.
But the pursuit of “The Lord of the Rings” is in line with a new programming mandate dictated this year by Bezos, who, months before Price departed, ordered him to shift Amazon Studios away from niche, naturalistic series such as “Transparent” and “Mozart in the Jungle” and toward large-scale genre programming with potential for broad international appeal. As part of that shift, Amazon canceled two series, “Z: The Beginning of Everything” and “The Last Tycoon,” and began shifting resources away from Lewis’ development team and to a unit led by event-series exec Sharon Tal Yguado. With Lewis’ departure, Tal Yguado was named head of scripted series, reporting to Price’s interim replacement, Amazon Studios COO Albert Cheng.
The fact that a “Lord of the Rings” series is being shopped by Warner Bros. marks a thaw in the relationship between the studio and the Tolkein estate, which in July settled a massive lawsuit that had dragged on since 2012. The dispute, with Tolkein’s heirs and publisher HarperCollins on one side and Warner Bros. — which produced director Peter Jackon’s live-action feature film adaptations of “The Lord of the Rings” and its prequel, “The Hobbit” — on the other, stemmed from the use characters from the movies in online slot machines and other games.

 

[MadVillainy]

You animals...

 

[Primal Slayer]

Elves or nothing.

 

[Roose Bolton]

I'm surprised the estate would be ok with this. Christopher Tolkien seemed to loathe any notion of adaptation from his father's works.

 

[Boom]

I am so ****ing here for this. I've been dreaming of a Lord of the Rings television series for years. Get the right creative team behind this and it could be a more definitive adaptation of the book.

McKellen will be hard as hell to replace, though. I do not envy that task.

 

[Marvolo]

I'm surprised the estate would be ok with this. Christopher Tolkien seemed to loathe any notion of adaptation from his father's works.

Christopher Tolkien is 92. He may not be the one making the decisions anymore. I doubt every one in the family hates adaption of Tolkien's work. One of them had a cameo in LOTR.

 

[Boom]

The television format lends itself to a more faithful and more thorough adaptation of the book, so perhaps Christopher is warm to the prospect of a less commercialized adaptation of his father's work.

 

[Finarfiniel]

Sigh. As a huge Tolkien fan, but also a huge fan of the movie trilogy (my favourite movies of all time), I'm wildly conflicted on this and to be honest, I don't really see the point when there's so many other Tolkien stories that they would be better off trying to adapt. Parts of The Silmarillion are ripe to be adapted into a GoT style mini-series, that would be so much better than them having the huge uphill struggle to try and compete with a movie trilogy that is widely regarded as being a modern day classic and is so well loved.

They will never ever be able to compete with the cast of the movies. Ian McKellen as Gandalf, Christopher Lee as Saruman, Cate Blanchett as Galadriel, Bernard Hill as Theoden amongst others... these actors were born to play these roles, and I can't help but feel that it would hurt my heart a little to see lesser actors try and represent such iconic characters.

Tbh I hope this never comes to fruition and I don't think that it actually will. I'd be a lot more open to them trying to adapt another area of the Tolkienverse though.

 

[Pennywise]

Bring in Tom Bombadil or get out!

 

[InCali]

What I've been dreaming of for quite some time is a faithful retelling of The Silmarillion from Ainulindalë to Dagor Dagorath. There's so much to be told in between that this could go on for a very long time. A GoT type of series could work IMO.

Just do it right and keep Jackson on the other end of the universe.

 

[Boom]

I don't believe WB possesses the film rights to The Silmarillion and The Unfinished Tales. Just The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit.

Assuming this deal goes through and the project actually gets off the ground, we're probably still a few years away from seeing it. By that point, it will have been nearly two decades since Fellowship of the Ring. It's not a matter of competing with what's come before. It's simply a matter of providing a new adaptation of a beloved book. Personally, I'm not sure what there is to not be excited about. But if you aren't, the movies will always be there.

Gandalf will be a hard one to recast, to be sure.

 

[Fallen Angel]

It's gonna be tough because already they're facing a huge backlash and it just got announced lol.

 

[Boom]

Well here's hoping they don't get cold feet. This is one of the more exciting pieces of news I've heard in a while.

 

[flickchick85]

Seems ill-advised to me.

 

[Fincher]

*shrug*

I mean, this wouldn't have been my first choice, since it was already done and done quite well, but I'm reasonably open to it, it's not like I don't have other shows to watch, and it's not like they're not developing fantasy shows like The Witcher and The Kingkiller Chronicle otherwise. So *shrug*

 

[Finarfiniel]

I don't believe WB possesses the film rights to The Silmarillion and The Unfinished Tales. Just The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit.

Assuming this deal goes through and the project actually gets off the ground, we're probably still a few years away from seeing it. By that point, it will have been nearly two decades since Fellowship of the Ring. It's not a matter of competing with what's come before. It's simply a matter of providing a new adaptation of a beloved book. Personally, I'm not sure what there is to not be excited about. But if you aren't, the movies will always be there.

Gandalf will be a hard one to recast, to be sure.

WB doesn't hold the rights to The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales, no. But the way that the article is worded sounds like this is a joint venture by WB and the Tolkien Estate who obviously do.

I'd certainly be willing to give a new LotR adaption a chance, but eh honestly when I think about the prospect of it being done wrong or on the cheap with inferior actors that don't suit the characters and inferior sets and costumes and effects and music and world building, it just fills me dread.

It's gonna be tough because already they're facing a huge backlash and it just got announced lol.

I can honestly see this as being one of those things that gets announced and then we never hear anything about it ever again, the WB seem particularly fond of doing that. I just can't see this being embraced by the audience at large when I'd imagine that most people feel that a definitive adaption of LotR has already been made. Maybe if they left it another 20 years people would be more open to it.

 

[OtherwiseKnownAs]

I say go for it. As much as I love the Jackson adpatations, the first trilogy anyway, there’s a more faithful adpatation to be had. If all goes well, we might get an adaptation of The Silmarillion.

 

[Boom]

WB doesn't hold the rights to The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales, no. But the way that the article is worded sounds like this is a joint venture by WB and the Tolkien Estate who obviously do.

I'd certainly be willing to give a new LotR adaption a chance, but eh honestly when I think about the prospect of it being done wrong or on the cheap with inferior actors that don't suit the characters and inferior sets and costumes and effects and music and world building, it just fills me dread.

Amazon probably wants this to be their equivalent to Game of Thrones (like how Netflix is developing theirs in The Witcher), so I figure they'll put plenty of production value behind it. If we can get a Lord of the Rings series with a budget comparable to Game of Thrones, that should do the trick.

 

[flickchick85]

But the hitch is...unlike GoT, we all know how this one ends. And we've seen it, in all its big-budget glory already.

Seems like there are plenty of other fantasy properties out there that haven't gotten the big-budget, Oscar-winning treatment yet that would be wiser options. But oh well, best of luck to them. They've got an uphill battle ahead.

 

[Fallen Angel]

The universe is so big they could do many stories that take place around the events of the trilogy.

 

[flickchick85]

The universe is so big they could do many stories that take place around the events of the trilogy.

That sounds like a better idea.

 

[MadVillainy]

That sounds like a better idea.

Agreed. That seems to be the move to me. Set it in the universe. Don't just readapt the books

 

[Finarfiniel]

Amazon probably wants this to be their equivalent to Game of Thrones (like how Netflix is developing theirs in The Witcher), so I figure they'll put plenty of production value behind it. If we can get a Lord of the Rings series with a budget comparable to Game of Thrones, that should do the trick.

Production value is one thing but it's not everything. As much as some like to demonise Jackson these days for The Hobbit trilogy (which I personally place way more blame on the WB for), he put so much incredible passion into his LotR trilogy, years upon years of perfecting every single aspect down to costumes, sets, props, languages, music, every tiny fine detail was done with so much love and care and it shows in every single frame of the trilogy. I just can't see a new adaption being done with nearly as much passion and attention to detail. Attention to detail that, as a Tolkien fan, I appreciate so much. So while Jackson's trilogy may not be a 100% accurate page for page adaption, it will always be the definitive adaption in my heart. I mean, Howard Shore composed the most epic, breathtaking, beautiful score of all time for the LotR trilogy. How could that ever be competed with? Why would they even want to try?

I don't know, I'm just so incredibly passionate and defensive when it comes to anything Tolkien, and this whole thing makes me feel very uneasy. Probably a silly reaction, but oh well.

 

[Roose Bolton]

Christopher Tolkien is 92. He may not be the one making the decisions anymore. I doubt every one in the family hates adaption of Tolkien's work. One of them had a cameo in LOTR.

Christopher's son Simon was supportive of the films, and some of the great-grandsons have had cameos as you've said, but it always seemed that the elders (I.E, the decision makers) of the family were more leaning towards Christopher's way of thinking.

I guess it's predominantly the newer generation that's taken the reigns.

 

[marvelrobbins]

this will probally be tv reboot of lord of the rings/the hobbit.although this may be more amazon's game of thrones without all the sex lol