Last week, news broke that Warner Brothers and the estate of J.R.R. Tolkien were in talks to bring a Lord of the Rings series to Amazon. Negotiations are still in the very early stages, though Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is reportedly personally involved, hoping, it seems, to bring a Game of Thrones equivalent to the streaming service.
A Lord Of The Rings Series May Be Coming To Amazon
Reactions to the announcement are a mixed bag. On the one hand, the Lord of the Rings trilogy is beloved, specifically the film adaptation, which found success among both fans and critics. On the other hand, a common complaint with movie adaptations in general is that they can never possibly capture all of the information found in the books—a TV series, potentially, could.
Still, the love for the Lord of the Rings films stems, almost entirely, from the collection of actors chosen to portray Tolkien’s classic characters. The cast, even over a decade later, is still treasured as much as the films themselves, and I’d argue that Amazon would be hard-pressed to find anyone better.
Sean Astin Weighs In
It’s true, we don’t have any details on what an Amazon Lord of the Rings series would look like, but Sean Astin is intrigued. The actor, who portrayed Hobbit and ultimate best friend Samwise Gamgee, told Entertainment Weekly:
I’ve been saying for 15 years that maybe like 12 years after Lord of the Rings came out, that it would get remade. And people always said, ‘Oh no, it’ll never get remade! It’s a classic! They could never top it!’ And I’m like, ‘No, it’ll get remade. It’s a massive story! The characters are so beloved.’
Astin also pointed out that, like Netflix with Stranger Things, Amazon would be likely to loosen the reins on the showrunners, allowing them to deliver a good story. “The challenge would be, could they find some team to do it that they could let to their thing, or are they going to squat on it? It’s hard to make a TV series like this by committee.”
So while we still don’t know what a Lord of the Rings series would entail, Samwise Gamgee thinks we should give it a chance, and considering I would trust Samwise Gamgee with my life, I guess I’ll give it a chance too.
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