Tolkien’s estate to Amazon: “You shall not pass” (the Second Age).
Here’s a strange one:
Amazon has run up against a potentially pretty significant impediment to their upcoming big budget adaptation of The Lord of the Rings. Apparently, the estate of J.R.R. Tolkien has refused the retail and streaming behemoth permission to use the majority of the plot of Tolkien’s epic fantasy trilogy.
According to the Guardian:
Tolkien scholar Tom Shippey, who is supervising the show’s development, told German fansite Deutsche Tolkien that the estate has refused to allow the series to be set during any period other than the Second Age of Middle-earth. This means Amazon’s adaptation will not cross over at all with events from the Third Age, which were dramatized in Peter Jackson’s Oscar-winning trilogy and sees hobbit Frodo Baggins destroy the One Ring.
Since Amazon is reportedly spending around $1 billion on the adaptation (having already spent $250 million acquiring the rights), which is predicted to start production in 2020, this little wrinkle in the fine print sounds less than ideal.
Still, perhaps being forced to produce “a new epic journey in Middle-earth,” rather than a retread of Jackson’s definitive adaptation, will end up being a blessing in disguise for Amazon and its new Fellowship. Only time will tell.
