Amazon has signed off on a $328 million deal to acquire the rights to The Lord Of The Rings for a brand new television series, all but assuring a stream of shows, spin-offs, and deep dives into Middle Earth for the next decade.
The preposterously huge deal means Amazon Studios will move ahead with a prequel series to the events of The Fellowship Of The Ring, taking J.R.R. Tolkien’s characters further into that endlessly detailed realm.
So, yes, that means you technically won’t see Frodo grasping for jewellery as in the image above, but hey.
In a statement, Amazon Studios scripted series chief Sharon Tal Yguado said the studio is honoured to work on “this exciting collaboration for television,” and they’re “thrilled to be taking The Lord of the Rings fans on a new epic journey in Middle Earth.”
In case we haven’t quite expressed how massive this is – and the size of the financial commitment Amazon has made to the fantasy series – consider how much it costs to produce Game Of Thrones.
Variety reports the six episodes of Season 8 will cost roughly $110 million to produce. Amazon has already twice that much on the Tolkien rights alone. That’s it. Just the intellectual property.
There’s no set date for when you can expect to see new Middle Earth content on your screen of choice, and Deadline reports a concept for the show hasn’t even been finalised.
You can reasonably assume any new Lord Of The Rings show will ascend to the television throne abdicated by Game Of Thrones, which is gearing up for its final bloody outing.
