Amazon made an expensive but successful gamble with The Rings of Power. The series is set to premiere the penultimate episode of season 1 and it’s been well-received by critics and audiences so far.
Before Amazon bought the television rights to The Lord of the Rings for $250 million, the Tolkien estate received offers from rival streaming services Netflix and HBO. Apparently, the two companies wanted to do a remake of LOTR for TV.
In an interview with THR, The Rings of Power showrunners Patrick McKay and J.D. Payne are claiming that, in 2017, Netflix and HBO also pitched ideas to the estate to produce shows for their respective streaming services based on the award-winning trilogy.
The Lord of the Rings trilogy was directed by Peter Jackson and was based on the novels by J.R.R. Tolkien. The trilogy consists of The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King garnered 17 Academy Awards and earned $3 billion in box office sales.
The Netflix pitch
Netflix pitched a Marvel-styled approach to the remake consisting of several shows that would focus on key characters. Sources say that the streaming giant wanted to do a Gandalf series and Aragon drama perhaps to delve more into the origin story of such characters. We can only assume that Netflix wanted to tie it all up with an epic movie where everyone is together, especially since it wanted to pay $250 million for the rights to the source material.
HBO’s trilogy remake
HBO wanted to retell the story of the Third Age of Middle-Earth. It was essentially a remake of the LOTR trilogy in a television series format. It would have taken HBO several years and seasons to complete such a massive undertaking.
The Tolkien estate had issues with the original trilogy and it is reported that Christopher Tolkien once said that the movies eviscerated the books it was based on. The estate had no intention of going down the same path with the new HBO series. It would also be a difficult task to replicate the success of the trilogy that to this day is regarded as one of the most influential film series ever made.
Amazon’s take on Middle-Earth
Amazon went with a different route in its pitch for the rights to The Lord of the Rings. It proposed a show that would tell the story of the Second Age of Middle-Earth. Both think that their pitch for a show that was set in the Second Age was what eventually won them the deal.
Amazon also gave the estate a seat at the creative table to protect Tolkien’s legacy. There was also a substantial sum of money involved in the deal.
The Rings of Power will consist of five seasons. Each season will have a total of eight episodes which have a run time of over one hour. Amazon has allocated $1 billion for the series and it has so far spent $715 million for the first season alone.
The show has so far received praise for its portrayal of the Second Age of Middle Earth. The Rings of Power has been renewed for a second season that has started production.
