I'd want to see it just for The Scouring of the Shire. They would have to be careful with the casting though, Peter Jackson's LOTR cast was impeccable.

I agree that it's a bit redundant, but good be good - possibly great. Might give fans of the books the bits removed from the film - like the Scouring @NotoriousRio mentions, and Tom Bombadil.

But, please God, not the constant singing.

I don't see the point, but hopefully it wins over the people that didn't like the LoTR movies.

@MirrorMask said:

I don't see the point, but hopefully it wins over the people that didn't like the LoTR movies.

I don't see it. For whatever reason there are those people who will never respond positively to fantasy. I have encountered many folks who would not be seen dead reading Tolkien's books, let alone watching or enjoying any adaptation. Each to their own.

If this comes off - and I suspect nothing will come of it, certainly in the foreseeable future - I would give it a fair chance. But it seems to me redundant when there is so much original or untouched material out there which, done well, could appeal to the same market.

The other key point, of course, is that Game of Thrones is very much aimed specifically at a mature audience whereas LOTR has a far broader appeal in terms of age. One would assume that they would not throw in R-rated violence or hobbit orgies to truly fill the gap left by GoT.

@rudely_murray said:

I don't see it. For whatever reason there are those people who will never respond positively to fantasy. I have encountered many folks who would not be seen dead reading Tolkien's books, let alone watching or enjoying any adaptation. Each to their own.

I probably should have clarified that I meant fans of the LoTR books who didn't like the movies.

@MirrorMask said:

@rudely_murray said:

I don't see it. For whatever reason there are those people who will never respond positively to fantasy. I have encountered many folks who would not be seen dead reading Tolkien's books, let alone watching or enjoying any adaptation. Each to their own.

I probably should have clarified that I meant fans of the LoTR books who didn't like the movies.

Ah, I see! Hard to say... I suspect no. For a long time the books were widely seen as practically unfilmable, and - in order to appeal to as wide an audience as possible - Jackson (and, in other ways, Ralph Bakshi before him) had to make compromises. There will always be those purists who insist Tolkien belongs on the page and nowhere else.

Ugh Amazon are going to do it with orginal content, before the events of Lord of the Rings, and after the Hobbit.

What a waste of money!

Just read this: https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2017/nov/13/lord-of-the-rings-amazon-tv-show-confirmed

but for sure we will all be watching the pilot haha! just in time when GOT's finished...maybe they want to be the next GOT kinda series

@NotoriousRio said:

Ugh Amazon are going to do it with orginal content, before the events of Lord of the Rings, and after the Hobbit.

My first feeling was disappointment, but it could still be good. They need to make it "Lord of the Rings" rather than "Game of Thrones" (or any other property) set in Middle Earth, though. Even (heresy!) if that means it being like the PJ films.

@lmao7 said:

Just read this: https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2017/nov/13/lord-of-the-rings-amazon-tv-show-confirmed

but for sure we will all be watching the pilot haha! just in time when GOT's finished...maybe they want to be the next GOT kinda series

That is EXACTLY what they want and were, in fact, directed to do by Jeff Bezos. He wanted a major tentpole series for his streaming service. The Lord of the Rings is probably the most prestigious and well-known fantasy series of all time and makes, to the untrained eye (like mine), a natural successor to the similar-looking GOT series. I've seen a lot of people asking for the Wheel of Time books or similar, and I think that The Dark Tower should have been adapted into a TV series instead of a film, but Bezos has a ton of money to throw around so he went for the big guns.

The question I have is whether or not, with the enormous spend Bezos will be making for this and other prestige products, we'll either see a monthly/yearly cost increase in Prime or if we'll see them spin off the streaming service as its own add-on, eventually.

Eh, I too see it as unnecessary and even the Scouring of the Shire and Tom Bombadil feel a bit trivial if we're trying to evaluate the necessity of a series after the terrific movies. My understanding, though, is that the focus will be on the period BEFORE the LOTR novels, but it seems almost inevitable that there will be overlap. If they do step over the LOTR films, I can't fathom a single actor that would come close to Ian McKellan as Gandalf, Viggo Mortensen as Aragorn, or Cate Blanchett as Galadriel.

I think I'll watch the pilot at least, it could be good.

It's an interquel? Sounds lame.

The only thing GOT and LOTR have in common is the fantasy setting. They attract quite a different audience (not entirely) IMO. GOT cast a much wider net because of its adult themes which LOTR doesn't even hint at. Don't get me wrong, I think it can be successful but I do not think it can even come close to GOT success. GOT was able to pull in even the staunchest anti-fantasy genre people into its clutches with its boobs and blood which will be severely lacking in a LOTR series. GOT also had the perfect storm of good source material, good script writing (pacing was excellent!), and good acting. GOT is arguably the greatest show of all time and I say that having a movie nazi, ball busting, can-find-fault-in-everything eye.

They’d probably sneak in a naked elf or a hobbit shower scene in the first season to gain attention lol. If it’s before LOTR…then could have Aragorn in his 50’s as he’s 80+ in the film. What about The Silmarillion? I haven’t read it but I’d be interested if they could have like the story from the intro of Fellowship like history of Sauron, the rings etc.

A Lord of the Rings TV series? Nobody has the stamina

I agree - if this is going to be pure fan fiction with the air of desperate cash-in, many of us will have little interest. I am saying this as a huge fan of the novels and of Jackson's trilogy. The Hobbit films, with all of the bloated nonsense Jackson stuck in to pad out the book's charming little story, were a giant leap too far, and this does appear to be continuing in that direction.