A lot of eyes are on Amazon’s super expensive experiment to launch a ‘Lord of the Rings’ television series on their streaming service, especially since it is already looking to be the most expensive new TV project of all-time, chalking up to be about $500 million at this point. Little is known about the new series aside from some speculation and rumors, but luckily for the fans, Amazon did just announce that they have found the series’s writers/ showrunners in JD Payne and Patrick McKay.
Though both are relatively new to the TV game, their more recent big-screen credits include Disney’s upcoming ‘Jungle Cruise’ adaptation and ‘Star Trek 4’ for Paramount, so clearly they have some studio experience. And let us not forget that when DB Weiss and David Benioff came onto ‘Game Of Thrones‘ they had little television experience as well, and now they are the showrunners on arguably the biggest thing in television. So Payne and McKay may have a real chance here, especially with the material they have to work with.
In a statement made following the announcement, the writing pair said:
“The rich world that J.R.R. Tolkien created is filled with majesty and heart, wisdom and complexity. We are absolutely thrilled to be partnering with Amazon to bring it to life anew. We feel like Frodo, setting out from the Shire, with a great responsibility in our care — it is the beginning of the adventure of a lifetime.”
So at this point, we now know the writers and the timeline of the series, poised to take place sometime before the events of the ‘Lord Of the Rings’ movies, making appearances by Frodo and Sam unlikely (same goes for Gollum, as Andy Serkis has claimed he does not wish to return).
However, it does seem like a prime opportunity (no pun intended) to bring back other major characters like Gandalf, Gimli or Legolas, or even Boromir, or as most of the rumors are suggesting, Aragorn, as their long-lifespans means they would have been active for many years before the events of the films in the franchise. Do you have a direction you would like to see the series take? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below!
Source: EW
