The Lord of the Rings : the TV series

[Frontenac]

Amazon has bought the rights to The Lords of the Rings, to produce a tv shows based on the novel and storylines preceding Fellowship of the Ring. The Hobbit probably, but maybe even The Silmarillion. I hope.

http://phoenix.corporate-ir.net/phoe...cle&ID=2316587

Great news, in my opinion. I believe TV is the perfect media for The Lord of the Rings. They will have more time to show the different storylines.

[Selastan]

A Silmarillion TV series, huh? Would need a big as HELL budget, though. I'm wary.

[Thelxi]

Well I mean I hope it will be great.

[Lorgar Aurelian]

Sounds good to me I hate the live action movies but like the world.

[Frontenac]

A Silmarillion TV series, huh? Would need a big as HELL budget, though. I'm wary.

It's Amazon. I think they can manage...

[Jastall]

A Silmarillion TV series, huh? Would need a big as HELL budget, though. I'm wary.

Yeah. I mean, if people think LOTR is epic, they haven't seen nothing yet. The Silmarillion is basically a cross between the Book of Genesis, the Norse Ragnarok, and the most high-level game of D&D you've ever played. Guys like Sauron were basically third tier powers during that time, and Balrogs were almost the footsoldiers of the big bad. There's no way you can do it justice without a massive budget and (sadly) probably a crapton of CGI.

I'm pretty sure they'll go for The Hobbit or something along those lines.

[Templar 331]

I have very low expectations for this to be honest. It really hinges on the liberties they will take with the story and which stories they are going to go with. How much lore are they going to stay true to? How much are they going to make up? Will it at least stay true to the spirit of the original?

"Life in the Shire" sounds good except that the life of a Hobbit is really dull. "The Silmarillion" has a good many stories but which one would they start with?

[Ragedaug]

The Silmarillion isn't a story per say. The Silmarillion is a book of stories that start at the creation of Arda and ends at the end of the 2nd age. (technically the 5th age, with each age covering thousands of years). Making the "Silmarillion" into a TV show would be like making the Bible into a TV show. I haven't watch "The Bible" mini-series, but I would imagine it would have to be something like that.

Personally I would like to see multiple smaller scale mini-series that cover the various events & stories from the Silmarillion. My question would be, what are your top 3 (or 5 or 10, etc) favorite story lines from the Silmarillion that you would like seen turned into a TV Show/Movie?

Children of Hurin would be my first choice for a movie.

For a TV Show, I would think something like:
The creation of the Elves; the departure from Valinor; settling Middle-Earth & battling Sauron; Settling Numanor & the last alliance between Elves and Men - - being a multi-season story, but being that it covers several thousand years, maybe a series (4-5) of different mini-series, to cover the events?

There are other stories, like Children, that would make a good self contained story. Maybe Beren & Luthiel off the top of my head. That's what I'd like to hear maybe. What are some other good self contained stories that can be pulled out of the Silmarillion?

[Frontenac]

I have very low expectations for this to be honest. It really hinges on the liberties they will take with the story and which stories they are going to go with. How much lore are they going to stay true to? How much are they going to make up? Will it at least stay true to the spirit of the original?

"Life in the Shire" sounds good except that the life of a Hobbit is really dull. "The Silmarillion" has a good many stories but which one would they start with?

Knowing the Tolkien Estate, they won't be able to take much liberties with the story. It will depend on the number of episodes. Let's take the Game of Thrones format: a season of 10 episodes of roughly one hour each. They could take one season for FotR, one for TTT and one other for RotK. In ten episodes, they could show the whole trip from Bag End to Rivendell, with old farmer Maggot, Crickhollow, the Old Forest (and Tom Bombadil), the Barrow-Downs, Bree, etc.

- - - Updated - - -

The Silmarillion isn't a story per say. The Silmarillion is a book of stories that start at the creation of Arda and ends at the end of the 2nd age. (technically the 5th age, with each age covering thousands of years). Making the "Silmarillion" into a TV show would be like making the Bible into a TV show. I haven't watch "The Bible" mini-series, but I would imagine it would have to be something like that.

Personally I would like to see multiple smaller scale mini-series that cover the various events & stories from the Silmarillion. My question would be, what are your top 3 (or 5 or 10, etc) favorite story lines from the Silmarillion that you would like seen turned into a TV Show/Movie?

Children of Hurin would be my first choice for a movie.

For a TV Show, I would think something like:
The creation of the Elves; the departure from Valinor; settling Middle-Earth & battling Sauron; Settling Numanor & the last alliance between Elves and Men - - being a multi-season story, but being that it covers several thousand years, maybe a series (4-5) of different mini-series, to cover the events?

There are other stories, like Children, that would make a good self contained story. Maybe Beren & Luthiel off the top of my head. That's what I'd like to hear maybe. What are some other good self contained stories that can be pulled out of the Silmarillion?

They say it will be multi-seasons show, though. Therefore, if they're making the Silmarillion, I suppose the should begin with the Ainulindalë, and then go on with Fëanor, the Kinslaying, the Exile of the Noldor and so on.

[KOMO1211]

Amazon has bought the rights to The Lords of the Rings, to produce a tv shows based on the novel and storylines preceding Fellowship of the Ring. The Hobbit probably, but maybe even The Silmarillion. I hope.

http://phoenix.corporate-ir.net/phoe...cle&ID=2316587

Great news, in my opinion. I believe TV is the perfect media for The Lord of the Rings. They will have more time to show the different storylines.

the Tolkien estate has said they have no plans of ever releasing the rights to The Silmarilion. as much as I would wish otherwise. its supposed to take place between Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings so should be plenty of good storylines to go through.

[Tackhisis]

You cannot make a good screenplay of Silmarilion, as, despite its name, it has no plot. It is a Reader's Digest to the stories the Tolkien might have written, but didn't.

[cudomix]

You cannot make a good screenplay of Silmarilion, as, despite its name, it has no plot. It is a Reader's Digest to the stories the Tolkien might have written, but didn't.

Eh, it's basically the old testament by Tolkien, hollywood never had any problems adapting the bible. And Silmarils are the plot.

[Deleted]

Too bad it's going to be on Amazon. I'm not getting a subscription to every provider out there, it sucks. GoT on HBO, Stranger Things on Netflix, specific series on our Dutch equivalent, normal TV and now Tolkien on Amazon... I'll be downloading that.

[Doctor Amadeus]

Well...It'd give us Game of Thrones fans something to watch after it's done

Dragons elves, and Hobbits Oh My!

[Deleted]

Perhaps the rise of the witch king of Angmar could be made into a series? Hurins Children, Beren and Luthien or the fall of Gondolin from Silmarillion.

Whatever it is, we need Tom Bombadil in it

[Sierra85]

they will not retell the movies so instead they will focus on other aspects of the world, and that is not what LOTR is. So.... it is going to be shithouse.

[AcidicSyn]

Source: https://www.engadget.com/2017/11/13/...son-tv-series/

It's a short article, just stating confirmation that Amazon bought the rights to create a multi-season TV series set before the events of Fellowship. I was excited when I read this and wanted to discuss!

What stories do you think they can tell? Do you think they could pull off entirely new stories with enough direction from Christopher? Or should they maybe stick to something like the recent Baren and Luthien book that was released? What areas and stories of middle earth would you like to see?

Personally, I'd like to see more Dwarven cities and culture shown rather than ruins or limited to a small group. Similaris has lots of rich lore on their old kingdoms they could build off of. Battle of Green Fields is another one I'd be interested to see.

[Deleted]

It'd be amazing if it featured Melkor. But, most likely it'll just take place a few years before the Fellowship and feature hobbits instead.

[Konteil]

would love to see it done using the stories of things that happened during the silmarillion. the different wars and the fall of angband and the casting out of Morgoth. The coming of Sauron to Numenor and its fall. The lay of Beleriond. there are so many things that they could do with that that could be amazing.

Hell get Ralph Bakshi to Animate it like he did in teh old days and it will have a cult following in no time. That man did wonders with the trilogy but he was before his time. didnt finish it as there was no call for it.

Someone has to be able to do it lol

[AcidicSyn]

I sincerely hope it doesn't take place a mere dozen or so years before the fellowship. I've already seen far too many comments from people who just want to see Vigo as Aragorn again. Nevermind the idea that this series would even cast the same people for those roles, I'd really prefer this not take place so close to the events of the trilogy.

I'd be okay with some Hobbit exposure, but not as a primary story for the whole run of the show. But instead say there is a season or part of a season that takes the characters into or near the Shire, and they happen to meet a Hobbit with the Took surname? I'd be okay with stuff like that as sort of an easter egg, some characters pass through Hobbiton and we see Bag End, little hat tips like that I'd be fine with.

As fantastic as it would be to see Melkor though, I don't know how I'd feel about going quite so far back in the history. On the plus side we'd get to see more of Middle Earth during the first age. Conversely, it would all basically just build up to the Great Battle which I imagine many viewers would (unfortunately) associate too closely with the battle against Sauron. I'm not sure how received that would be. I mean, it would still be pretty great, but I'd definitely want to have a few seasons without a "big bag" present before going that direction.

One thought I just had though, if they did decide to go the direction of inventing new stories; I wouldn't mind finally knowing what actually happened to the two Blue wizards. IIRC all we really know is that they "Went into the east" and then just sort of poof. Though I think I would agree that sticking to the content from the similarian is a better way to go; at the vest least to start.