Lord of the Rings TV Series in Development - How could this POSSIBLY go wrong...

[Mason Verger]

This needs to happen. The films left out so much. Sure the movies were adequate, filled with adventure and humor, but the whole time I was thinking "geez I wonder who Aragorn great great grandfather was? And what's the backstory behind that forest off in the distance? What if I wanted to make that elf bread? They didn't even give a detailed recipe!"

 

[The Valeyard]

Amazon have put in a multi-season order, but it's a prequel to The Fellowship of the Ring.

The series will explore storylines set before the events in the first LOTR novel, The Fellowship of the Ring. In other words: The war to destroy the One Ring as chronicled in Peter Jackson’s Oscar-winning trilogy of films will not be told in the TV version. So this story is either set before The Hobbit or in between The Hobbit and LOTR.

This something we’ve seen with other recent TV series when they tackle major cinematic titles with certain rights restrictions. Like how Fox’s Gotham can tell the story of young Bruce Wayne but not Batman, how FX’s Legion has avoided using the term “X-Men” even though its an X-Men project, or how Syfy’s upcoming series based on The Purge films will be set in between actual Purges.

So in other words, it's going to be Middle-Earth fan-fiction.

 

[Graffiti canvas]

Amazon have put in a multi-season order, but it's a prequel to The Fellowship of the Ring.
So in other words, it's going to be Middle-Earth fan-fiction.

This could be alright, I guess. Some other franchises have managed to tell stories from outside the cannon that haven't been horrible.

Lord Of The Rings Online's MMO is 90% Tolkien adjacent story. Granted, it takes place during the Fellowship's time frame, but contains very little actual content from that story line compared with the months of gameplay that's available. Some of it's pretty good too, Specifically the exploration of the Angmar area where the head Nazgul from the movies set up shop before Sauron's return.

It's a game an not a series though, but it demonstrates that non cannon content can be told decently.

I'm cautiously optimistic. Hopefully it's production isn't destroyed by sexual abuse allegation tweets against whoever is involved.

 

[Doug_Hitzel]

This needs to happen. The films left out so much. Sure the movies were adequate, filled with adventure and humor, but the whole time I was thinking "geez I wonder who Aragorn great great grandfather was? And what's the backstory behind that forest off in the distance? What if I wanted to make that elf bread? They didn't even give a detailed recipe!"

We Need To Talk About Interracial Breeding In Middle-earth Between Hobbits And Elves And Why This Is A Beautiful Thing.

 

[Linako 2.0]

has Christoper Tolkien gone senile?
why are we getting this?
it's not even an adaption of the Silmarillion.

 

[Lensherr]

I guess we're gonna have to get used to fan fiction as far as Middle Earth is concerned for a while.

 

[millais]

Amazon have put in a multi-season order, but it's a prequel to The Fellowship of the Ring.



So in other words, it's going to be Middle-Earth fan-fiction.

yeah, called it. one of those pre-LOTR storylines is def gonna be the Adventures of Tom Bombadil. The source material is all there lol

 

[Finrod Felagund]

Forgive the sudden revival of this thread. I'm actually new to the Farms here (hello) so you know the drill.

On November 2018, Amazon set up social media (Twitter) for The Lord of The Rings series. Not much to expect as it was empty at the time. It wasn't until February 13 that their first tweet popped out of nowhere citing a quote by Tolkien with reference to Letter 144, followed by a series of interactive maps on Amazon's website two days later.
On March 7, an entirely new map confirmed the setting to be around the Second Age. With the final map, it's been speculated Amazon had teased the planned multi-seasons with a timeline spanning from the Second Age to early Third Age (centuries before the events of The Hobbit and the trilogy) through these maps since there had been numerous name changes on most regions across each map.

Although hinted vaguely, they're currently looking for a production crew and cast for the series in the same thread.

Chances are that Amazon might have rights to Unfinished Tales and/or The Silmarillion as of now.

[Edit] Fixed bits of grammar and clarified some information.

 

[Replicant Sasquatch]

Just hoping they don't wave titties around like most fantasy shows do nowadays. I'm not a Puritan but graphic sex in LotR is like mayo on chocolate. Just doesn't fucking go together.

 

[Mr Snek]

I'm already disappointed. LotR doesn't need anything new, the trilogy were masterpieces and any remakes will inevitably be bad by comparison.

 

[RomanesEuntDomus]

I'm already disappointed. LotR doesn't need anything new, the trilogy were masterpieces and any remakes will inevitably be bad by comparison.

I wholeheartedly disagree, the trilogy completely fell apart in the second and third movie and managed to get the most elemental things about the plot wrong, for sake of cheap drama as well as undermining some pivotal scenes in a way to entirely invalidate -for instance- the sacrifice of the Rohirrim or the fanwankery of elves at any given moment.

A more faithful adaptation would be neat, and if it happens in a format that can address much more aspects of the plot (such as a series rather than a movie) I'm at least willing to give it a shot.

 

[ZehnBoat]

Just hoping they don't wave titties around like most fantasy shows do nowadays. I'm not a Puritan but graphic sex in LotR is like mayo on chocolate. Just doesn't fucking go together.

"I'mma finna bust a nut" - Gandalf the White

 

[Absolutego]

"I'mma finna bust a nut" - Gandalf the White

"It's #Current Year, and representation is important. The time has come to tell the story of Gandalf's romantic tryst with Radagast."

 

[Zaryiu]

More like LOTW (Lord of the Woke)

 

[Judge Holden]

I wholeheartedly disagree, the trilogy completely fell apart in the second and third movie and managed to get the most elemental things about the plot wrong, for sake of cheap drama as well as undermining some pivotal scenes in a way to entirely invalidate -for instance- the sacrifice of the Rohirrim or the fanwankery of elves at any given moment.

A more faithful adaptation would be neat, and if it happens in a format that can address much more aspects of the plot (such as a series rather than a movie) I'm at least willing to give it a shot.

Yeah, i mentioned before that a properly funded and well shot netflix show thats extremely true to the books has the potential to be an absolute masterpiece. Maybe have a season for each of the three books, and create a visual style/aesthetic distinct from the movies so that it truly becomes its own thing and so that things have the chance to build up slowly and effectively.

As it stands though, this coming nightmare will be at absolute best a mediocre spiritual successor to the Shadow of Mordor games' schtick with an original-fanfic-donut-steal storyline about the most generic and derivative shit imaginable...i dunno maybe they will try and do a Game of Thrones ripoff with the fall of Arnor. Maybe they will create some halfway entertaining pastiche of middle earth but I have no expectations of anything resembling quality.

 

[RomanesEuntDomus]

Yeah, i mentioned before that a properly funded and well shot netflix show thats extremely true to the books has the potential to be an absolute masterpiece. Maybe have a season for each of the three books, and create a visual style/aesthetic distinct from the movies so that it truly becomes its own thing and so that things have the chance to build up slowly and effectively.

As it stands though, this coming nightmare will be at absolute best a mediocre spiritual successor to the Shadow of Mordor games' schtick with an original-fanfic-donut-steal storyline about the most generic and derivative shit imaginable...i dunno maybe they will try and do a Game of Thrones ripoff with the fall of Arnor. Maybe they will create some halfway entertaining pastiche of middle earth but I have no expectations of anything resembling quality.

Don't forget the inevitable moral grandstanding and virtue signaling with black nonbinary hobbits, muslim elves in hijabs and god knows what othe terrors they will conjure.

 

[Your Weird Fetish]

Don't forget the inevitable moral grandstanding and virtue signaling with black nonbinary hobbits, muslim elves in hijabs and god knows what othe terrors they will conjure.

A cold voice answered: "Come not between the Nazgul and his prey! Or he will not slay thee in thy turn. He will bear thee away to the houses of lamentation, beyond all darkness, where thy flesh shall be devoured, and thy shrivelled mind be left naked to the Lidless Eye."
A sword rang as it was drawn. "Do what you will, but I will hinder it, if I may."
"Hinder me? Thou fool. No living man may hinder me!"
Then Merry heard of all sounds in that hour the strangest. It seemed Dernhelm laughed, and the clear voice was like the ring of steel. "But no living man am I! You look upon a gender nonconforming demigirl. I am Eowyn, Eomund's offspring. My pronouns are xie/xir/xer. You stand between me and my lord and kin. Begone, if you be not deathless! For cis or truscum I will kill you if you touch him!"

 

[RomanesEuntDomus]

A cold voice answered: "Come not between the Nazgul and his prey! Or he will not slay thee in thy turn. He will bear thee away to the houses of lamentation, beyond all darkness, where thy flesh shall be devoured, and thy shrivelled mind be left naked to the Lidless Eye."
A sword rang as it was drawn. "Do what you will, but I will hinder it, if I may."
"Hinder me? Thou fool. No living man may hinder me!"
Then Merry heard of all sounds in that hour the strangest. It seemed Dernhelm laughed, and the clear voice was like the ring of steel. "But no living man am I! You look upon a gender nonconforming demigirl. I am Eowyn, Eomund's offspring. My pronouns are xie/xir/xer. You stand between me and my lord and kin. Begone, if you be not deathless! For cis or truscum I will kill you if you touch him!"

And thus, the Witchking of Angmar died, not by steel and the hand of fate, but by being exposed to lethal doses of retardation.

 

[Zaryiu]

Wait besides the unnecessary Arwen scenes added what did they change in the LOTR trilogy?

 

[Replicant Sasquatch]

Wait besides the unnecessary Arwen scenes added what did they change in the LOTR trilogy?

Cut the longer, less plot relevant scenes like Bombadil, ended the story with the destruction of the Ring instead of the Scouring of the Shire, and made Aragorn an actual character with an arc instead of a stern-gazed superman who could make even the Mouth of Sauron quake with just a look.