Lord of the Rings TV Show Reboot

Jhaelen · Nov 6, 2017

Legatus_Legionis said:
Considering how many novels Tolkien wrote (over a dozen), there is lots of material/stories they can cover.

Really? I can't seem to find that many novels. Are you counting his academic publications, too?

The Tolkien Society lists exactly 12 publications before his death.

Ryujin · Nov 6, 2017

Olgar Shiverstone said:
Reboot Hobbit? Please. LotR? Too soon.

With the incredible depth of great fantasy out there, why retread? Moorcock's work could be fantastic, for example.

There isn't enough material in "The Hobbit" for more than a 10 episode series. It had to be heavily padded with junk to o make it a trilogy of movies. On the other hand there was a lot of material dropped form Jackson's version of LotR (The Ents, Tom Bombadil....), which could make for a few seasons of a TV series.

I agree with you and Morrus; there's enough other material out there that could be produced. Don't retread something which was already well served by a movie series not all that long ago. If they did something like an Eternal Champion series, rather than just something like Elric, they could even 'Doctor Who' the thing by having the hero 'move on' to another incarnation between series.

Ralif Redhammer · Nov 6, 2017

I’d agree with that, absolutely. Fellowship of the Ring definitely holds up better over time than that last two of the trilogy. A lot of small deviations add up to make them less than they could have been.

As for the TV series adaptation, Jackson packed his films full of spectacle. But the books themselves, while they do have some enormous set pieces, are not necessarily budgetarily out of reach for GoT-levels of costing.

That being said, I agree with others that there are plenty of other fantasy series that could be mined instead. Hawkmoon, Elric, Pern, Gentlemen Bastards, and many others all spring to mind. But I think, as Game of Thrones draws to a close, we’re going to see a lot of studios looking for the next GoT.

MarkB said:
I wouldn't mind seeing someone try another take on the story. I always thought that Peter Jackson's version of Fellowship of the Ring was pretty much a perfect adaptation, with the liberties taken with the source material being well chosen to serve the cinematic format - but with The Two Towers and Return of the King, some of the changes felt more gratuitous and poorly-chosen.

Legatus Legionis · Nov 6, 2017

MarkB · Nov 6, 2017

Legatus_Legionis said:
If we look at Game of Thrones, they have it at one novel per season.

With Tolkien having twelve novels, that could translate into twelve season.

Sure, some like The Hobbit could be done in three episodes or so, they can also expand it to include what happened to Gandelf between the Hobbit and Fellowship. While it has only been mentioned briefly, I think fans would enjoy/want such told. (Just like how The Clone Wars filled in the fold between Star Wars Episodes III and IV).

They could do Arrow-style flashbacks, with Gandalf occasionally remembering sequences from The Hobbit that are relevant to their current predicament in Lord of the Rings.

Flexor the Mighty! · Nov 6, 2017

Its not a reboot, its a different adaption. I know, I know, but I can't help myself. I would love this. PJ did a good job but as someone else said, it had a lot of bad choices that they had to make due to movie run times. A TV show would be cool as heck as long as it wans't cheap.

Parmandur · Nov 6, 2017

Flexor the Mighty! said:
Its not a reboot, its a different adaption. I know, I know, but I can't help myself. I would love this. PJ did a good job but as someone else said, it had a lot of bad choices that they had to make due to movie run times. A TV show would be cool as heck as long as it wans't cheap.

The budget is said to be $100 million per season, which would blow GoT record breaking budget out of the water. I love the PJ movies (at least LotR; Hobbit was terrible as an adaption), but would love a slow, mellow series largely consisting of folks walking around Middle Earth and talking.

Flexor the Mighty! · Nov 6, 2017

OH how I hated the Hobbit. Should have been ONE movie.

Mallus · Nov 6, 2017

I'm all for another version/vision of LotR. I loved Jackson's take, but I'd welcome another, especially one generously funded by Amazon in full "we can complete with HBO and Netflix" mode.

Ryujin · Nov 6, 2017

One thing that I definitely missed from the LotR movies was "The Scouring of the Shire." If they could set a number of seasons and run to completion, including that, I think that I'd be more than happy to watch.