Amazon Was Initially Pitched LORD OF THE RINGS Shows For Young Aragorn and Gimli

Before Amazon decided to move forward with developing its The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power series, they were pitched several different ideas for a series that would be set in Middle-Earth.

Early on there were rumors that the series would focus on a young version of Aragorn, and it turns out that was true. That version of a series was considered. J.D. Payne, the co-showrunner on The Rings of Power, confirms that and says there was even a Gimli series in contention:

"When we first went up for the job, we were told there were literally dozens of other people who were also throwing their hat in the ring, and everyone was coming in with different things. Amazon bought the rights to the trilogy, the appendices, and The Hobbit. They said the field was wide open – any story within that material, you could tell. So you had people pitching the Young Aragon show, or the Gimli spinoff, or other kinds of things."

Payne went on to explain that he and Patrick McKay were looking to do something epically ambitious and that’s what led them to want to explore the second age. He said:

"They wanted to make something that felt worthy of Tolkien, and as we really thought about it, and culled through the material, and saw all different kind of stories – that story of the Second Age, so the Dark Lord Sauron, and the Fall of Númenor, and the fight against Sauron at Mount Doom. That arc of the major Second Age events felt like such an amazing, untold story."

While a young Aragorn or Gimli series would have been cool to see, I love that they are exploring the Second Age of Middle-Earth! This show looks incredible!

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power “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.”

The series is set to premiere on Prime Video on September 2, 2022.