Latest news on Amazon's "Lord of the Rings" series

[Herald of Mandos]

I'm sure everyone here has been following this pretty closely, but have you heard about the latest definitely almost certainly happening development? What do you think? Is it too early to start pouring the victory swarfega?

Amazon Studios' recent release of stunning new maps of Middle-earth has the Tolkien world in a spin- as has their cryptic final statement, "Welcome to the Second Age," suggesting to some that the upcoming "Lord of the Rings" series might actually be a sequel to the award-winning film trilogy. But all this pales besides Amazon's latest coup- the return of Peter Jackson to the world of Middle-earth.

Last year, Jackson quashed similar rumours, but Amazon Studios Head Jennifer Salke says all that has changed. "We're in the middle of talking about that right now, figuring out just how he might want to be involved. We have big plans for this series- I don't know that it will match "The Lord of the Rings", but I think what you’ll see is the film strategy will evolve; the aperture will widen on the size of the audience that we’re going to draw in.”

Jackson himself was more reticent. "Look," he told Deadline, "why would I want anything to do with Middle-earth or Tolkien ever again after the interminable nightmare that was 'The Hobbit' production? I regularly wake in a cold sweat dreaming that I'm... still... making... those films... and it's never... ever... going to end... oh god!"

However, Salke attributes this to Jackson's impish sense of humour. "When Peter says there's 'nothing happening' with him on the series, that he's 'not involved at all', that's just his way of saying 'not yet'". She adds that Amazon representatives have been unobtrusively visiting Peter Jackson's home and studio in New Zealand, expansive location of the "Lord of the Rings" and "Hobbit" movies. "Our strategy is evolving, we're using the telephoto lens and covering all the angles. In fact we've been able to get a lot of very interesting angles that Peter doesn't even know about yet. But he will."

Although secrecy around the project has been tight, Salke did let slip a tasty tidbit: the still unnamed "Second Age" series will be a prequel after all. The story, which she describes as "somewhere" between a faithful adaptation and an original work, is not finalised but will probably centre on Aragorn's youth in Númenor, his doomed romance with Princess Míriel, his first experience of war in the Battle of the Last Alliance and the traumatic betrayal of his father, Isildur, which led him to renounce the throne of Gondor.

"Sounds like a horrible travesty," Peter Jackson joked. "I'm still smarting from the flak I got over the stuff we added to... to those films but at least some of that really was in the Appendices! Why would I want to put my name on this trashy piece of glorified fan-fiction?"

Why indeed? Humour aside, Jennifer Salke explains that Jackson, "will have every incentive to cooperate, especially once we show him the pictures, er, I mean, put him in the picture. We're in dialogue with him now, helping him see where his interests really lie.

He'll be working with us, all right. If he knows what's good for him."

www.deadline.com

[Huinesoron]

Sounds good to me! Tolkien's whole 'and then three thousand years passed between the interesting parts' premise was always pretty dumb, so I'm glad to see they're streamlining it, as he should have done in the first place. (Of course, Isildur as 'the last king of Gondor' was already in RotK-M, so Jackson as ever was prescient on this!)

Delighted to hear PJ will be back - I hope he has some more of his amazing cameos! Ooh, idea - what if they got Andy Serkis to play Ar-Pharazon? That way, we could avoid having a physical Sauron (another of Tolkien's goofy ideas that Jackson rightly fixed), and just have him as a voice in Pharazon's head. Serkis'd be great at that.

hS

[Herald of Mandos]

Originally Posted by Huinesoron

Sounds good to me! Tolkien's whole 'and then three thousand years passed between the interesting parts' premise was always pretty dumb, so I'm glad to see they're streamlining it, as he should have done in the first place. (Of course, Isildur as 'the last king of Gondor' was already in RotK-M, so Jackson as ever was prescient on this!)

Delighted to hear PJ will be back - I hope he has some more of his amazing cameos! Ooh, idea - what if they got Andy Serkis to play Ar-Pharazon? That way, we could avoid having a physical Sauron (another of Tolkien's goofy ideas that Jackson rightly fixed), and just have him as a voice in Pharazon's head. Serkis'd be great at that.

hS

A CGI Ar-Pharazôn? Why not?

[Inziladun]

Originally Posted by Herald of Mandos

A CGI Ar-Pharazôn? Why not?

I'm only behind this if my namesake is included, and voiced by Ryan Reynolds.

[William Cloud Hicklin]

Bah! Nolan North.

[Rhun charioteer]

I hear the latest date for this to air is in 2021. As the deal is production has to start within a certain timeframe else the Tolkien estate walks away with all the money.

Amazon is probably busy casting and setting up the set infrastructure and the like.