Elijah Wood Wants Amazon’s Lord Of The Rings Series Changed
With Amazon deep into production on their new Lord of the Rings series, Elijah Wood has called out the show's misleading name.
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Amazon is currently in production on a Lord of the Ring series, which is shaping up to be the most expensive television series of all-time. While the series is based on the work of J.R.R. Tolkien, it is set thousands of years before the events of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, making the Lord of the Rings name kind of misleading. But Lord of the Rings star Elijah Wood recently discussed the name of the new series and he has called it “bizarre.”
Granted, it’s unclear if Amazon’s project is actually being called The Lord of the Rings, or if it’s just an easy name for the series right now instead of saying “Tolkien-based series set thousands of years before the events of the stories you already know.” In an interview with Empire Magazine, Elihan Wood said, “I find it bizarre that they’re calling it Lord Of The Rings as a shorthand, because it’s not Lord Of The Rings! It takes place in the Second Age of Middle-earth.” Wood went on to say that he finds the currently title of the Amazon project “slightly misleading.”
Elijah Wood did say that he is “fascinated by what they’re doing with the show,” and said from what he understands, the series takes place prior to the existence of any of the characters that are in The Lord Of The Rings. Of course, just calling the series The Lord of the Rings would likely lead many to believe that Amazon is simply remaking the series that was turned into a movie trilogy in the early 2000s by Peter Jackson. But as of right now, there doesn’t seem to be any confirmation that Amazon will actually be calling this series The Lord of the Rings.
This new Amazon series is actually set in the Second Age of Middle-earth, and it is thought that this new series will take place in Numenor, and could focus on the war between the elves and Sauron. While actors from The Lord of the Rings like Elijah Wood and Viggo Mortensen have recently been asked what they think of the new project, it doesn’t sound as though anyone from the main cast will be involved in any way, and neither will Peter Jackson.
Amazon purchased the television rights to make a series based on The Lord of the Rings back in 2017 for $250 million, and have already committed to making at least five seasons. Considering how much this production will cost over the course of several years, it is estimated that Amazon will end up paying over $1 billion for this project, making it the most expensive series ever made. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom director J.A. Bayona has directed the first two episodes of the show, and while it was thought the first season of the show might debut in late 2021, it seems likely that due to the COVID-19 pandemic pushing production, we might not see the new series until 2022.
But Elijah Wood shouldn’t worry about the new Amazon show, since it seems likely that Amazon would change the name to avoid confusion. Right now, it just makes more sense to simply call it The Lord of the Rings, but by the time this show is ready for the public, it will probably have some other name that distinguishes this from the films and books.
