Amazon Managed to Land The Rights To J.R.R. Tolkien's THE SILMARILLION and UNFINISHED TALES
With Amazon Studios’ upcoming The Lord of the Rings series taking place in the Second Age, I wondered if they would be pulling stories and information from J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earth. Well, it turns out that they will, and according to TheOneRing.net, Amazon has acquired the rights to stories in these books.
According to the report, "for the 1st time EVER: elements & passages from 'The Silmarillion' and 'Unfinished Tales' are licensed by Amazon Studios for this adaptation [we broadly speculate those are sections of the book relative to Númenor and Rings of Power including full rights to stories licensed in the Appendices of ‘The Lord of the Rings,’ which already mention Númenor and much more. Actors had posted instagram pics from Silm over the last 18 months.]."
These elements will allow for the creative team behind Amazon's The Lord of the Rings to cover major moments from Middle-Earth's history, including the forging of the Rings of Power and the creation of the orcs.
Peter Jackson did try to get the rights to these books at one point, but as you might already know, Tolkien's estate was not happy with Jackson’s versions of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit and they showed no interest in licensing Tolkien's remaining Middle-earth stories to him. At one point Jackson said, "I don’t think The Silmarillion will go anywhere for quite a long time.”
Well, according to this new report, “Tolkien Estate is said to be very happy with how things are progressing” with this series that’s being developed. They are much more involved with this project than they were with Jackson’s. According to the report, three experts on Tolkien and Middle-earth lore were also on set during the production.
The Lord of the Rings “brings to screens for the very first time the heroic legends of the fabled Second Age of Middle-earth's history. This epic drama is set thousands of years before the events of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, and will take viewers back to an era in which great powers were forged, kingdoms rose to glory and fell to ruin, unlikely heroes were tested, hope hung by the finest of threads, and the greatest villain that ever flowed from Tolkien's pen threatened to cover all the world in darkness. Beginning in a time of relative peace, the series follows an ensemble cast of characters, both familiar and new, as they confront the long-feared re-emergence of evil to Middle-earth. From the darkest depths of the Misty Mountains, to the majestic forests of the elf-capital of Lindon, to the breathtaking island kingdom of Númenor, to the furthest reaches of the map, these kingdoms and characters will carve out legacies that live on long after they are gone.”
Game of Thrones alum Bryan Cogman is serving as a consulting producer on the show, and J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay are leading the charge on the project as the writers and showrunners. The show is being helmed by J.A. Bayona, Wayne Che Yip, and Charlotte Brändström. The first season of the show is estimated to already cost $465 million and it features an ensemble cast of 39!