The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power

[The Larch]

IIRC, one topic in which the showrunners have already stated that they're not going to be fully faithful to Tolkien is in the chronology of the 2nd age, in order to allow them greater flexibility about when and where particular characters can get involved.

While speaking with Vanity Fair about The Rings of Power, showrunners Patrick McKay and J.D. Payne confirmed that the series will significantly compress the timeline of the Second Age of Middle-earth, the era in which the show primarily takes place. That means events like the fall of Númenor and the forging of the Rings of Power won't be separated by thousands of years like they are in Tolkien's books. Instead, they'll all be developing and playing out at the same time.

"If you are true to the exact letter of the law, you are going to be telling a story in which your human characters are dying off every season because you're jumping 200 years in time, and then you're not meeting really big, important canon characters until Season 4," said Payne. "Look, there might be some fans who want us to do a documentary of Middle-earth, but we're going to tell one story that unites all these things."

Notably, Vanity Fair describes the decision as being Payne and McKay's "biggest deviation" from Tolkien's original work. It's already receiving divisive reactions from fans, and it's not hard to see why.

[The Larch]

On a separate topic:

'The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim' Sets April 2024 Theatrical Release

For those who can't have their fill of the Lord of the Rings in the upcoming Amazon series, there's The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim anime movie from New Line Cinema and Warner Bros. Animation which the studio has set for release on April 12, 2024 (not April 21 as reported by others; that's a Sunday). Warners already had the release date RSVPed for a New Line movie on the calendar.

The movie explores and expands the untold story behind the fortress of Helm's Deep, delving into the life and bloodsoaked times of one of Middle-earth's most legendary figures: the mighty King of Rohan – Helm Hammerhand.

The release comes 21 years after the culmination of the Lord of the Rings trilogy based on the iconic books by J.R.R. Tolkien.

Kenji Kamiyama directs with Oscar winner Philippa Boyens, from the screenwriting team behind The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies, executive producing and Joseph Chou producing. The writing team of Phoebe Gittins and Arty Papageorgiou have penned the screenplay based on a script from Jeffrey Addiss & Will Matthews. The Lord of the Rings returning creative team also includes Oscar winner Richard Taylor and esteemed Tolkien illustrator John Howe.

[The Brain]

Is there a show from the "evil" side coming up? The overheard dialogue between orcs in RotK could set the tone.

[Darth Wagtaros]

Is there a show from the "evil" side coming up? The overheard dialogue between orcs in RotK could set the tone.

A series based on The Black Company would be cool.

[Legbiter]

Does this thing really have a billion dollar projected budget?

Amazon paid 250 million for the rights and then greenlit 5 seasons or something like that.

[Threviel]

Rumour has it that Bezos is a huge LotR fan, that's why I had such high hopes. 

[The Larch]

Rumour has it that Bezos is a huge LotR fan, that's why I had such high hopes. 

Yup, in fact he personally tweeted the teaser trailer ahead of its Super Bowl debut.

[Legbiter]

Rumour has it that Bezos is a huge LotR fan, that's why I had such high hopes. 

It'll draw in a ton of new Amazon Prime subscribers, at least for the first season.

[Syt]

Rumour has it that Bezos is a huge LotR fan, that's why I had such high hopes. 

Probably also puts him in a position to make changes where he wants.

[The Larch]

Does this thing really have a billion dollar projected budget?

Amazon paid 250 million for the rights and then greenlit 5 seasons or something like that.

I think it's around a billion all things considered. 250 millions for the rights (which apparently are *only* for the television rights, and don't cover every Tolkien material), and 100-150 millions per season, with 5 seasons expected to be made.

Just read something interesting/fishy regarding the rights Amazon acquired, and besides only being for television (no feature films for the big screen will come out of this), they don't include The Silmarillion or the Unfinished Tales.

[Threviel]

The volume Silmarillion contains four "books" of which Quenta Silmarillion is the largest. The fourth is Akallabeth, the story of the rise and fall of Numenor in the second age and without the rights to that they might as well just make the series generic fantasy.

[The Larch]

They will do Numenor, I guess it features in other parts of the stories for which they do have the rights.

[celedhring]

I don't have the books at hand (they're at my parents' house) but there's plenty of stuff on the Second Age in the LOTR appendixes. Dunno if it's enough to recreate the basics of the story as told in the Silmarillion.

[The Larch]

A guy on Twitter has gathered a bunch of public reactions to the first images and trailers for The Fellowship of the Ring back from 2001, History repeats itself. 

https://twitter.com/CMA_Hudson/status/1493611059822931969

[garbon]

A guy on Twitter has gathered a bunch of public reactions to the first images and trailers for The Fellowship of the Ring back from 2001, History repeats itself. 

https://twitter.com/CMA_Hudson/status/1493611059822931969

Yeah, I thought that was fun.