From Deadline.com:
In its quest to launch a hit fantasy series of the caliber of Game of Thrones, Amazon has closed a massive deal, said to be close to $250 million, to acquire the global TV rights to The Lord of the Rings, based on the fantasy novels by J.R.R. Tolkien. The streaming service has given a multi-season commitment to a LOTR series in the pact, which also includes a potential spin-off series.
The LOTR original series, a prequel to Tolkien's The Fellowship of the Ring, will be produced by Amazon Studios in cooperation with the Tolkien Estate and Trust, HarperCollins and New Line Cinema, a division of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which produced the hugely successful LOTR movie franchise.
No details about the deal were disclosed but it believed to be dwarfing any TV series pact to date with a whopping price tag attached.
(Score: 2) by WalksOnDirt on Wednesday November 15 2017, @07:06AM (1 child)
Hobbits generally lived longer than people, although not as long as Aragorn's line.
If they wanted to start just before the Hobbit, there were Aragorn's adventures with the Dunadain. Or, you could go back farther and cover the Akallabeth. Of course, you wouldn't have JRR around to write the details, but that would just give modern writers a chance to show their quality.
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Wednesday November 15 2017, @03:30PM
but that would just give modern writers a chance to show their quality.
Yeah, good luck with that one.
That's not to say that all modern writers suck (GoT has pretty good writing), but their overall track record isn't great.
The other thing that's likely to happen is they'll write a pretty interesting story that follows a long "story arc", and then they'll cancel it halfway through suddenly. Most modern TV shows seem to follow either that format (e.g. Firefly), or they jump the shark after a few seasons when it becomes painfully obvious the writers were just making shit up as they went along, season by season (e.g., LOST and Battlestar Galactica).