Amazon’s Lord of the Rings Five-Season TV Series Confirmed

And it’s going to be a billion-dollar TV series

The epic fantasy, The Lord of the Rings,  will be returning with a spectacular TV series.

Beating out Netflix and HBO, Amazon Studios secured the rights to turn the J. R. R. Tolkien written work into a TV series in  a record-breaking deal reaching $250m alongside with Tolkien Estate and Trust, HarperCollins publishing company and New Line Cinema (the studio behind the famous movie trilogy) to bring the stories to the small screen.  Amazon Studios has confirmed that it will produce five seasons and the budget for the production is estimated to be a billion dollars  with production scheduled to begin in the next two years.  Amazon Studios also confirmed there may be potential “multi-season commitment” in the future.

While the other details remain unclear, sources are claiming that the first season could start with the narrative about the young Aragorn who was portrayed by Viggo Mortensen in the LOTR films.

The series will be derived from Tolkien’s massive appendices and notes, and rather than being a direct adaptation of the novel, each season will focus on a different character.

Certain actors from the LOTR’s trilogy may have counted themselves out from reappearing on screen (Andy Serkis and John Rhys who played Gollum and Gimli respectively), however, one actor who’d be keen on returning is Sir Ian McKellen, who portryed Gandalf.

Speaking on Graham Norton’s Radio 2 show about the series, he slightly implied that he’d be upset if producers were to recast the character of the wizard from the Istari Order.

“What do you mean, another Gandalf?” he told presenter. “I haven’t said yes because I haven’t been asked [to return]. But are you suggesting that someone else is going to play it? Gandalf is over 7,000 years old, so I’m not too old.”