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The new show is looking more and more like it will be telling the story of the forging of the Rings of Power and the original war between Sauron and the Elves.
That's pretty good actually. Lots of new characters (Celebrimbor, Sauron-as-Annatar) and some familiar ones (Galadriel, Elrond, Celeborn), it brings in the Numenoreans and the elves of Eregion, touches on Moria etc. A good mix of material familiar from the movies and new in origin.
Most intriguingly, it looks like Amazon may have secured some sort of deal to use material from Unfinished Tales, particularly the stuff touching on this time period. Excellent!
Well I'm sold. Anything that gets Unfinished Tales and some Simallarion is pretty good news to me!
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I think it depends how they do it. LotR and The Hobbit are novels. The other stuff is mostly imaginary history, covering a borad span of time quickly, and to some extent as dry as that in the execution. The novels are almost footnotes in that broader undertaking. So they have the scope to build things out in much more detail. My main caveat to that would be that it probably wouldn't be much to do with Tolkien except in general outline. <shrug> I never really liked the Silmarilion much so I can't get very excited. I dunno, one hopes in all that massive budget they spent some money on decent scripts.
Well, if WB is involved... I wonder if they'll do any ties to the Shadow of Mordor game series.
Still think doing Lost Tales is way cooler than doing just like the entire Simallarion.
Well, if WB is involved... I wonder if they'll do any ties to the Shadow of Mordor game series.
The video games are adequate in gameplay, but horrible in story and lore. I can imagine the Tolkien Estate vetoing against even the vaguest idea that those games are official or canon in any way, shape or form.
Still think doing Lost Tales is way cooler than doing just like the entire Simallarion.
You mean Unfinished Tales? The Book of Lost Tales is The Silmarillion (or at least an early draft of it).
Wert,
Yeah that's what I meant....
Updates on the Amazon LotR series.
Amazon have released a series of maps which seem to confirm that the TV series will now be set firmly in the Second Age of Middle-earth. So, no hobbits but the Numenoreans will show up, along with the elves and Sauron. Based on the maps, it appears that the story might be multi-generational, spanning the period from the forging of the Rings of Power to the War of the Last Alliance that ended the Second Age, a period of 1700 years. The last map makes a big deal of Numenor being there in particular.
This is great. The original idea - "The Amazing Adventures of Young Aragorn" - was a bit rubbish, so seeing them go deep-diving into the lore is excellent.
Even more intriguing is that the map of Numenor and many of the place names on the Second Age map are copyrighted as part of Unfinished Tales. Amazon must have persuaded the Tolkien Estate to let them licence the rights to Unfinished Tales. That suggests that if the project is successful, they might even get the Silmarillion rights later on.
The show is expected to start production in November for a mid-2021 release.
RPG Superstar 2008 Top 32, 2011 Top 16
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They could pull it off in a few different ways. Either they could make each season be a different time period, then time jump in the next season to the next significant period in a story like that.
Or they could have two time periods where the story takes place in, and have one be a series of flashbacks from the other.
Or use Elves ...
?
<shrug>
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Meh... Whatever. It's going to be Tolkien's outline (maybe) but not really his work. And it's a bit disingenuous to call it Lord of the Rings since that is a specific novel and this, well, isn't that. I dunno. I don't want to be the miserablist Tolkien bore and if this excites people then great, but I've a feeling this will be low on my watching priorities. Then again, I didn't like the LotR movies all that much as they went a bit Hollywood for me, and got bored with Game of Thrones because it different from the books (I just hope George doesn't die before he finishes the book series). So perhaps these adaptations aren't really for me, and that just my problem rather than anyone else's.
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If the series does cover the creation of the Rings of Power and the downfall of Numenor, I wonder who they'll get to play Sauron. If I recall correctly, during those times he could still appear "fair of form" which is how he fooled the elves when the rings were forged, and later corrupted the people of Numenor.
If the series is successful, I'd also love to see the war against the Witch-King of Angmar.
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RPG Superstar 2008 Top 32, 2011 Top 16
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For the amount Amazon reportedly paid, there's going to be at least 5 seasons, successful or not. $250 million for the rights, and $250 million more committed to 5 seasons, @ $50 million each.
EDIT: And that doesn't include however many million is spend on advertising!
For the amount Amazon reportedly paid, there's going to be at least 5 seasons, successful or not. $250 million for the rights, and $250 million more committed to 5 seasons, @ $50 million each.
EDIT: And that doesn't include however many million is spend on advertising!
That's not correct. Amazon have indeed paid $250 million combined to the Tolkien Estate and New Line/Warner Brothers for the rights, but their agreed budget-per-season has a window of $100-150 million per season. At the top end that's $1 billion for the rights and all five seasons, which would comfortably make this the most expensive ongoing TV show ever made.
All I know is this: There had better be some mention of the saga of Beran. Just because I like that guy.
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All I know is this: There had better be some mention of the saga of Beran. Just because I like that guy.
Even better, if The Silmarillion rights are now in play, we might get a direction adaptation of that story a few years down the road.
That would be cool, especially if they do Hurin's story too.
J.A. Bayona (THE ORPHANAGE, THE IMPOSSIBLE, A MONSTER CALLS, er, JURASSIC PARK: FALLEN KINGDOM) will direct the first two episodes.
Gennifer Hutchison (BREAKING BAD, BETTER CALL SAUL) has been added to the writing room.
After a huge battle between Scotland and New Zealand, New Zealand has emerged victorious and the new show - with the working title LORD OF THE RINGS: THE SECOND AGE - will shoot in that country once again. However, production will be based in Auckland rather than Wellington as in Jackson's movies.
Also some clarification: Bryan Cogman has joined the show as an advisor and producer, as he was added to the project when writing for the show was already at an advanced stage. He may have an expanded role for Season 2.
Well it's nice to know Middle Earth gets to stay in Middle Earth aka New Zealand.
And now we have a summary:
Amazon Studios’ forthcoming series brings to screens for the very first time the heroic legends of the fabled Second Age of Middle-earth’s history. This epic drama is set thousands of years before the events of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, and will take viewers back to an era in which great powers were forged, kingdoms rose to glory and fell to ruin, unlikely heroes were tested, hope hung by the finest of threads, and the greatest villain that ever flowed from Tolkien’s pen threatened to cover all the world in darkness. Beginning in a time of relative peace, the series follows an ensemble cast of characters, both familiar and new, as they confront the long-feared re-emergence of evil to Middle-earth. From the darkest depths of the Misty Mountains, to the majestic forests of the elf-capital of Lindon, to the breathtaking island kingdom of Númenor, to the furthest reaches of the map, these kingdoms and characters will carve out legacies that live on long after they are gone.
They're currently roughly halfway through shooting the first season, with it likely to air on Amazon in 2022.
I'll likely watch the first episode to see if it grabs me, but after the disappointment that was The Hobbit I'm not holding my breath.
I think an entire show of Tom Bombadil would be cool. I don't know how many folks were clamoring for the second age of Middle Earth. Still, cool I guess.
I have a suspicion that they chose the time period for two reasons. The first is that since they had to use the name "Lord of the Rings" for legal reasons, you kind of have to make it about Sauron, and this is the best way of doing that.
The second is that this time period was very heavily alluded to (in long flashbacks) in the two MIDDLE-EARTH: SHADOW games, complete with scenes of Annatar corrupting Celebrimbor and forging the rings, and those seemed to go down very well, so I suspect that at least factored into the thinking process.
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RPG Superstar 2008 Top 32, 2011 Top 16
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Amazon said they will have different ethnicities of Hobbits in the show.
This is a prequel right? So that means if they add black hobbits, but there aren't any in the later movies, then... there was an ethnic cleansing in the Shire.
I'm not up on deep or historical Middle Earth lore, but do hobbit exist in this time period?
I agree with Jeff, black hobbits shouldn't be the more primitive than white ones.
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadow lies...
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Shadows Lie…
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RPG Superstar 2008 Top 32, 2011 Top 16
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Shades of a FPS cut-scene. Yikes!Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power
Official title announcement video!
they actually physically forged the metal and filmed it - wasn't computer generated at all.
Good to know, Joel.
Molten pewter, very hard to put the little balls on for tracking purposes.
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Amazon’s Lord of the Rings Series Rises: Inside The Rings of Power
I've got to say, the more I hear about this, the less thrilled I am about it. I might still give it a try, but I can no longer say I'm cautiously optimistic. Quite the opposite.
From beardless dwarven princess, through Galadriel Warrior Princess, all the way up to ambitious politician Elrond, some of the details are just making me cringe a bit. And there appears to be a half-elf with wooden, Green Man armor. WTF is that all about?
This seems to be what happens when you allow your show creators to be two dudes who seem to have no experience (according to IMDb, anyway).
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I am just hopeful that the new show can bring the Hobbit and LotR film fans together for once.
I've given up pretty much any hope that the Amazon series is anything more than a "modern interpretation" of the setting and lore which is... not what I want... at all. The WORST parts of all LotR media have all universally come from producers, directors, and film execs deciding to tinker with and change things to bring them more into line with modern society, culture, and film industry norms and have almost universally been lambasted as taking away from the integrity of the work.
I want to be hopeful and believe that is will be good and more or less faithful to the material but I fear it's going to be another Wheel of Time situation.
This seems to be what happens when you allow your show creators to be two dudes who seem to have no experience (according to IMDb, anyway).
They each have one credit prior to this just like 2 other dudes allowed to be show creators who seemed to have no experience. And Game of Thrones worked out pretty well for those guys.
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I've given up pretty much any hope that the Amazon series is anything more than a "modern interpretation" of the setting and lore which is... not what I want... at all. The WORST parts of all LotR media have all universally come from producers, directors, and film execs deciding to tinker with and change things to bring them more into line with modern society, culture, and film industry norms and have almost universally been lambasted as taking away from the integrity of the work.
I think that's a pretty solid assessment.