It's official: Amazon will be expanding the lore of JRR Tolkien and Middle-earth in a Lord of the Rings streaming TV series. And that's only the beginning.
The streaming giant has reached a deal with Tolkien's estate, publisher HarperCollins and Warner Bros' New Line imprint to create an original story that fills in gaps before The Fellowship of the Ring.
This series will include brand new material featuring Tolkien's characters, rather than simply recreating story elements from the author's Lord of the Rings and previous prequel The Hobbit.
Even though this project does not have a name yet or even a writing team, Amazon has already announced that its deal with the Tolkien estate allows for a second spin-off series as 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," Amazon Studios' executive Sharon Tal Yguado said on Monday (13 November).
"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."
Amazon has already given the Fellowship of the Ring prequel a multi-season commitment. The project is the first major development since Warner Bros settled its five-year, $80 million legal dispute over merchandising disagreements earlier this year.
"We are delighted that Amazon, with its longstanding commitment to literature, is the home of the first-ever multi-season television series for The Lord of the Rings," the Tolkien Estate and HarperCollins' Matt Galsor said. "Sharon and the team at Amazon Studios have exceptional ideas to bring to the screen previously unexplored stories based on J.R.R. Tolkien's original writings."
Many fans were surprised to see The Lord of the Rings moving into the episodic format, but nobody seemed more perplexed by that possibility than Sean Astin — who played Samwise Gamgee in Sir Peter Jackson's film series.
"[The possibility of returning] didn't even occur to me," he admitted last week. "I just sort of thought, 'What would it be like to see the next Sam there?' How would they do it? How? Who?"
Peter Jackson is not expected to be involved in Amazon's project, nor is he working on a planned biopic of Tolkien starring Nicholas Hoult as the author and Lily Collins as his wife and literary muse Edith Bratt.
