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Amazon TV Chief Hopes 'Lord Of The Rings' TV Show Will Be Released In 2021

Amazon TV Chief Hopes 'Lord Of The Rings' TV Show Will Be Released In 2021

Jennifer Salke, the new head of Amazon Studios, has given a tentative release date for the long-rumoured Lord of the Rings TV Show.

Mike Wood

Mike Wood

It's been a full 15 years since the final Lord of the Rings movie hit screens - doesn't that make you feel old - and after the huge critical and financial (mostly financial) success of the series, it is surprising that the brains behind it haven't done more with the franchise.

Sure, there were three Hobbit movies, but it's hard to consider them in the same league as the LotR series - they were just regular movies, while the original trilogy was a cultural behemoth, an all-encompassing media event that took over everything.

Well, it felt like that when I was 14 at least.

As the rise of streaming platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime have relaunched long-form narrative television, the idea of a Lord of the Rings TV show TV show has percolated, and now, according to the new head of Amazon, it's actually going to happen.

Jennifer Salke, once of NBC but now head of Amazon Studios, spoke to the Hollywood Reporter about her new gig, and they pressed her about the media giant's purchase of the rights to the franchise - which includes a clause that any TV show must be made within two years.

New Line Cinema

"It'll be in production in two years; [on the air in] 2021 is the hope. But there are other people who wish it was 2020," she said.

It is thought that some of the original cast and production staff will be included on the reboot, with director Peter Jackson rumoured to be interested in going behind the camera again.

"We're in conversations with him that I think are very amicable about how much involvement he wants and what kind," said Selke.

"We haven't figured out exactly what that is yet. He may say he is involved or he's not involved. We're still very much in conversation with him about what kind of involvement he would propose."

New Line Cinema

Salke had previously met with the family of Lord of the Rings author J.R.R. Tolkien to discuss the franchise and any new direction that it might take.

"It's a partnership," said Salke. "They have some lines in the play on this on strategy and on vision. The great news about that is that they're actually really thoughtful and smart, as you would expect."

On the direction that the project would take - and the resemblance that it might have to any of the films, she added: "It's not a remaking of the movies, and it's not a whole new thing. It's something in between.

"It's not, 'Oh, it's Lord of the Rings but you don't recognise anything in it,' but it's not totally familiar to you either. So it's original."

Featured Image Credit: New Line Cinema

Topics: TV and Film, Hollywood, Lord Of The Rings