Amazon officially signed a multiple season deal with Warner Bros to create a television series based on Lord of the Rings for the Amazon Prime streaming service.
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The announcement was officially made today following rumors of talks going taking place between the two companies last week.
The television adaptation of JRR Tolkien’s seminal fantasy novels 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.
The new series will take place in the world of Middle-earth but will explore storylines that took place before the events of Tolkien’s first Lord of the Rings novel, The Fellowship of the Ring. The deal also includes possible spinoffs from the first series.
“The Lord of the Rings is a cultural phenomenon that has captured the imagination of generations of fans through literature and the big screen,” said Sharon Tal Yguado, Head of Scripted Series, Amazon Studios in a statement. “We are honored to be working with the Tolkien Estate and Trust, HarperCollins and New Line on this exciting collaboration for television and are thrilled to be taking The Lord of the Rings fans on a new epic journey in Middle Earth.”
“We are delighted that Amazon, with its longstanding commitment to literature, is the home of the first-ever multi-season television series for The Lord of the Rings,” said Matt Galsor, a representative for the Tolkien Estate and Trust and HarperCollins. “Sharon and the team at Amazon Studios have exceptional ideas to bring to the screen previously unexplored stories based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s original writings.”
The events of the original Lord of the Ring trilogy of books – The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King – were adapted by director Peter Jackson into a trilogy of films in the early 2000s. The Return of the King won the Academy Award for Best Picture.
Jackson returned to Middle-earth to adapt the Lord of the Rings‘ predecessor, The Hobbit, into its own trilogy of movies, which were released beginning in 2012.
