Amazon Studios recently announced the behind-the-scenes creative team tasked with bringing J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth to life for the hugely-ambitious The Lord of the Rings series, which included Middle and Old English literature professor Tom Shippey as “Tolkien Scholar”.
During an interview with Deutsche Tolkien (via CinemaBlend), Shippey revealed that Amazon is targeting a 20-episode first season (putting it more in line with a network TV series as opposed to a streamer), as well as stating that while the producers have some creative freedom, The Tolkien Estate will ensure that any events in the show adhere to the Second Age canon laid out by Tolkien in his various Middle-earth works.
“Amazon has a relatively free hand when it comes to adding something, since, as I said, very few details are known about this time span,” said Shippey. “The Tolkien Estate will insist that the main shape of the Second Age is not altered. Sauron invades Eriador, is forced back by a Númenorean expedition, is returns to Númenor. There he corrupts the Númenoreans and seduces them to break the ban of the Valar. All this, the course of history, must remain the same.”
“What has Sauron done in the meantime? Where was he after Morgoth was defeated? Theoretically, Amazon can answer these questions by inventing the answers, since Tolkien did not describe it,” he continued. “But it must not contradict anything which Tolkien did say. That’s what Amazon has to watch out for. It must be canonical, it is impossible to change the boundaries which Tolkien has created, it is necessary to remain ‘tolkienian.'”
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Aside from its Second Age setting, we know nothing about what Amazon is cooking up for The Lord of the Rings, but it seems that fans can at least rest assured that the series won’t be taking any liberties when it comes to canon.
J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay (Star Trek Beyond) are serving as showrunners on The Lord of the Rings, while J.A. Bayona (Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom) is on board to direct the first two episodes. It’s been suggested that filming is slated to get underway in 2020, with a premiere in 2021 at the earliest.
