Amazon Responds To News Of More Lord Of The Rings, What Does It Mean For Rings Of Power?
Head of Amazon Studios Jennifer Salke says that there is plenty of room in Middle Earth for the Warner Bros. Lord of the Rings reboot.
When J.R.R. Tolkien first published The Lord of the Rings in July 1954, the Oxford-graduated linguist could never have fathomed the extent to which his work would continue to inspire the world. Tolkien’s novels were first transformed into animated movies in the 1970s before Peter Jackson convinced late ’90s Hollywood to give both The Lord of The Rings and The Hobbit their own epic franchises. Next, Amazon would dive into Middle Earth, creating the epic prequel to Jackson’s world, and, according to Amazon Studios head Jennifer Salke, there’s plenty of room for more creators in the Tolkien universe, including the newly announced Warner Bros. Lord of the Rings reboot.
Variety reports that Amazon Studios believes that there is enough to be explored in Middle Earth for everyone to give it a go. Jennifer Salke has been the head of Amazon Studios since 2018, and one of her first moves was to acquire the rights to Tolkien’s works for the delivery-service-turned-production-studio. The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power explored brand new material that hadn’t been seen on the screen before as Patrick McKay and John D. Payne penned a prequel based on Tolkien’s supplementary works.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power was expensive for Amazon to purchase and even more expensive for the production company to make. A whopping $450 million went into making the first handful of episodes, all of it hedging the bet that Lord of the Rings fans would welcome a new franchise into the universe. Before The Rings of Power came along, Peter Jackson had invested 14 years in creating two franchises based on Tolkien’s works, earning more than $5 billion at the box office internationally and bagging an Academy Award.
Amazon apparently had their money in the right place, however, because The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power has developed a devoted fanbase. So devoted, in fact, that Salke believes the Warner Bros. franchise reboot won’t affect Amazon’s audience at all. When speaking of the reboot, Salke said that the love the fans have for the series would sustain the show for a long time.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 1 starred Morfydd Clark as Galadriel and elaborated on the elvish queen’s backstory before audiences met her in Jackson’s Fellowship of the Ring. Ismael Cruz Cordova starred as Arondir, Charlie Vickers as Halbrand, and Markella Kavenagh as Nori Brandyfoot. The series also featured Megan Richards, Sara Zwangobani, Daniel Weyman, Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Lenny Henry, Lloyd Owen, and Robert Aramayo.
The final episode of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power was released in October 2022. There currently isn’t a release date for the second season, but it’s expected to release sometime this year.
Currently, Warner Bros. is keeping any information on the Lord of the Rings reboot under strict lock and key, but Peter Jackson has confirmed that he has been involved during development. Hopeful fans are waiting to hear if Jackson will be more involved in the later stages of the production as well.
