After a quiet start, it seems that Amazon is finally gearing up to return to J.R.R.
Tolkien's Middle-Earth.
From release schedules to casting choices, and astronomical budgets to familiar filming
locations, here's everything there is to know about Amazon's upcoming Lord of the Rings
series.
When Tolkien fans learned that Middle Earth would be coming to screens for the first time
since Peter Jackson's Hobbit trilogy, it's only natural that their first question would
be: "When?"
Sadly, an exact answer hasn't become clear yet, as no official release date has yet been
announced.
However, there are a few pieces of information that might offer a few clues as to when the
series might drop.
First and foremost, there's a legal factor to all this.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Amazon chief Jennifer Salke confirmed that
part of the deal for the rights included the condition that the show had to be in production
within two years.
She added that the hope is to have the show "on the air" by 2021, with some even hoping
for 2020.
While it may feel a long way off, you don't simply conjure a project of this size and
scope out of thin air.
The idea that Amazon could be able to pull the first season together within four years
of purchasing the rights is about as good as anyone could ask for — especially if
you don't want to sacrifice quality along the way.
While exact budgets are always hard to pin down, especially early on in production, there
can be little doubt that Amazon's adventures through Middle Earth are going to cost the
studio a tidy sum.
Right out of the gate, the rights alone cost Bezos and company a whopping $250 million.
As if that wasn't enough, rumors immediately began swirling around how much Amazon planned
on shelling out to actually make the show.
Entertainment Weekly reported early in 2018 that the first two seasons alone were going
to double the cost of the rights — that's half a billion dollars.
Since then, that number has only gone up.
At this point, when all costs are considered, a cool billion stands as one of the lower
estimates out there, while others have pushed the figure comfortably north of that mark.
While it's easy to trot out the old line that "it takes money to make money" — especially
in an era rife with luxurious production budgets — the idea of dropping somewhere in the
neighborhood of $1.5 billion on a single television show is about as excessive as it gets.
Over the course of a few weeks in early 2019, Amazon Studios posted a number of interactive
maps to their official Twitter account, each accompanied by new annotations and a line
from the famous poem inscribed on the One Ring.
The first few depicted the Middle-Earth Lord of the Rings fans will all know and love,
albeit with a few hints that the maps actually portrayed an earlier version of Tolkien's
world.
Rohan, for example, was labeled 'Calenardhon' — the name of the Gondorian province that
preceded Théoden's Rohan by at least 500 years.
On March 7th 2019, Amazon Studios posted one final map along with the last line of the
poem:
"One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them."
The last map had a much wider view of the world than had the previous versions, and
this macro view of Middle Earth exposed one critical piece of information in the bottom
left corner that changed everything: the island of Númenor.
The reason this not-so-little island is a big deal is because it only existed during
the Second Age of Tolkien's mythology.
Founded after the catastrophic war that ended the First Age, the island nation served as
a home for the Númenóreans, a society of divinely-blessed humans that flourished during
the Second Age — in fact, the Numenoreans were the ones who founded the kingdoms of
Gondor and Arnor on the mainland.
But thanks to the disastrous rule of a tyrant king and the influence of a certain ne'er-do-well
called Sauron, the Numenoreans were destroyed and their island sunk beneath the waves shortly
before the Third Age began.
Since Amazon's map depicts Númenor, it has to mean that the studio's creative team has
its sights firmly set on the Second Age.
While there's been little other information about the setting, the revelation that Númenor
will exist during the show's run has brought a new kind of excitement to the venture, as
it means fans will get to experience a part of Middle Earth history that has never before
been explored on screen
Considering this series will be such a huge undertaking, you would think that Amazon would
have put in place a fellowship of actors pretty much immediately.
But that hasn't been the case — or, at least, if it is, Amazon is keeping quiet about it.
"Alright then, you keep your secrets."
"Huh?"
So far, only one cast member for the series has been confirmed.
In July 2019, Variety reported that young Australian actress Markella Kavenagh had been
cast in a regular role on the series.
According to the publication, Kavenagh will be playing a character named Tyra.
Curiously, no character with that name exists in Tolkien's writing.
The Walking Dead star Tom Payne also stirred the waters back in early 2019 when he stated
in an interview that he wanted to keep his luscious locks partly because Amazon was "casting
Aragorn," clearly implying that he wanted a shot at the role.
In another interview, Sir Ian McKellen was asked about who else should play Gandalf if
the wizard makes an appearance in the new series.
McKellen replied:
"What do you mean another Gandalf?
I haven't said yes because I haven't been asked, but are you suggesting someone else
is going to play it?"
The return of Sir Ian McKellen would actually make sense no matter when the show is set
in Middle Earth history — Gandalf is thousands of years old, after all.
However, the return of any other actors from the original Peter Jackson-helmed trilogy
seems unlikely, if for no other reason than the timeline the series will reportedly explore.
While casting choices may be scarce so far, several names have been dropped on the production
end of things.
Star Trek: Beyond co-writers JD Payne and Patrick McKay have already been announced
as the showrunners.
In a statement, the pair announced:
“We feel like Frodo, setting out from the Shire, with a great responsibility in our
care.
It is the beginning of the adventure of a lifetime.”
Alongside Payne and McKay, it's also rumored that Game of Thrones' Bryan Cogman and Breaking
Bad's Gennifer Hutchison have seats in the writers' room.
Amazon has also locked down Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom filmmaker J.A. Bayona to direct
the first two episodes of the series.
In addition, Bayona will serve as executive producer along with his partner Belén Atienza.
Unsurprisingly, one other name that has continually been brought up in relation to the series
is Peter Jackson's.
Rumors have waffled back and forth regarding Jackson's potential involvement in the series.
While he initially flat out denied being involved, multiple reports have refused to confirm this
fact, with Amazon's Jennifer Salke herself stating that the lack of any specific news
wasn't a negative.
In addition, Jackson himself later added that he was keen to help however he could, even
expressing an interest in looking over the scripts.
At present, it's impossible to say what will eventually happen.
After all, Jackson wasn't even slated to direct the Hobbit trilogy until the last minute.
For now, though, he seems a peripheral influence at best.
With so much money and time being poured into the project, it's probably fair to ask: just
how many seasons are Amazon preparing to make?
While specifics like exact episode count will likely be unknown for quite some time, the
studio is reportedly laying the groundwork for a solid five seasons, along with a possible
spinoff.
While it's always gutsy committing to such ambitious plans all at once, the promise of
five entire seasons spent in Middle Earth is encouraging, as it gives the showrunners
time to tell the story without hustling in order to meet artificial deadlines — a concern
that infamously caused problems for Game of Thrones' truncated final season.
The possibility of a spinoff is intriguing, too.
Tolkien's stories often focus on a single character for extended periods of time, with
characters like Bilbo Baggins, Samwise Gamgee, Beren and Lúthien, and Turin Turambar all
stepping into the spotlight at various points across the Middle Earth timeline.
Spinning that long tapestry off into one or more tie-in series is a concept with great
potential, but only time will tell if the idea has any merit.
The question of where exactly the project will be produced was officially answered in
mid-2019, when it was announced that a "huge" part of the show would be filmed in none other
than Peter Jackson's old stomping grounds of New Zealand.
The Pacific island nation famously served as the home to the bulk of the production
of both The Lord of the Rings and Hobbit trilogies, and Amazon has apparently decided that nowhere
could quite beat the country's awe-inspiring scenery.
"Fair enough."
Originally, Scotland had been considered as a serious contender for filming.
However, Radio New Zealand put forward the claim that the Scots had lost out on the project
due to the UK's "tumultuous Brexit situation."
The return to the land of the Kiwis is rumored to focus around the cities of Auckland on
the northern island and Queenstown on the southern one, with local facilities apparently
already busy with pre-production.
Auckland has already felt the impending arrival of such a huge operation, as businesses in
West Auckland have reportedly had to sign non-disclosure agreements as they gear up
to do brisk business while Amazon Studios is in town.
Way back in May 2018, a rumor sprung up that suggested Amazon's Lord of the Rings series
would focus on a younger version of everyone's favorite Gondorian monarch: Aragorn.
Since then, reports have obviously moved the timing of the show back into Middle Earth's
Second Age, which leaves it firmly out of the reach of Aragorn's lifespan — after
all, this is a stretch of time that ends nearly three thousand years before the ranger was
even born.
The question of how Aragorn could fit into a series that is purportedly set three millennia
before his time is a curious one, though.
Could he be merely be needed for an initial framing sequence as he rules Gondor in the
Fourth Age, before the show flashes back in time?
Or could it be that the earlier seasons will start in the Second Age and ultimately end
on Aragorn in his youth during the fifth season?
And there's still the question of that spinoff series, too.
For now, however, how Aragorn is involved in the series — if he is at all — is still
a mystery.
We live in an era where everyone from Marvel and DC to The Walking Dead and Star Wars have
built the concept of an "extended universe" into their long term plans.
Naturally, then, Amazon would be foolish not to at least have one eye on an extended Middle
Earth universe of their own, especially when they're working with the dense and storied
lore of one of the most popular world-builders of all time.
While specific franchise plans will take a long, long time to unfold, Amazon has already
announced one potential piece of universe-building in the form of a new Lord of the Rings console
video game that is already in development.
The game does not appear to be directly linked to the show, but that hardly disqualifies
it as a part of the greater continuity that Amazon is in position to propagate.
Like the show, the game doesn't have a release date yet, but it appears to be a free-to-play
"massively multiplayer online" game.
In a statement, Amazon Studios said:
"[The game] will give fans around the globe a new, immersive game experience for epic
exploration of the vast world of Tolkien."
Whether the game ultimately ties into anything from the coming show or not, it would appear
that Amazon's journey into Tolkien's world has only just begun.
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