Amazon Just Announced One Show To Rule Them All

Game of Thrones has been an absolute success for HBO, and every other streaming distributor and Hollywood development studio has taken note of just how successful the book franchise has been on screen. Considering that HBO is working on the final season along with several potential spin-offs, the timing is perfect for a new fantasy-epic-adventure to make their way onto the small screen.That is what Amazon believes anyway, considering that they just officially landed a deal with the Tolkien estate to adapt a new storyline that precedes the adventure in J.R.R. Tolkien's The Fellowship of the Ring. This deal came after months of negotiating and likely has come to pass thanks to CEO Jeff Bezos's desire to produce a fantasy hit on par with HBO's Game of Thrones.

Amazon Thinks The Price Is Worth It In The Long Run

The Amazon series is already committed to stretching across multiple seasons with the potential of a spin-off as well - even though there are no scripts, no writers, no directors and no stars attached. Yet, Amazon committed to a nearly quarter of a billion dollar purchase price. Yes, I said BILLION. This is before any cast salaries or production costs are even factored in, which will easily place Amazon's LOTR series as the most costly series to date with each episode reaching 100 million an episode. Sharon Tal Yguado, Head of Scripted Series for Amazon Studios thinks that there is so much potential left in the franchise that wowed fans for such a long time.

The Lord of the Rings is a cultural phenomenon that has captured the imagination of generations of fans through literature and the big screen. We are honored to be working with the Tolkien Estate and Trust, HarperCollins and New Line on this exciting collaboration for television and are thrilled to be taking The Lord of the Rings fans on a new epic journey in Middle Earth.

Even members of the Tolkien estate have high praise for what Amazon is attempting to bring to the small screen, which is already far greater praise than any were willing to give the adaptation of The Hobbit when it was brought to the big screen in 2012.

Where Could Amazon Take 'The Lord of the Rings' Series?

Sadly, as many fans are hoping for an adaptation of The Silmarillion, it's unlikely to be developed into this Amazon series as the Tolkien estate has emphatically declined to sell those rights. Instead the rights that have been purchased by Amazon are specifically for some of the original writings of Tolkien.

When J.R.R. Tolkien wrote the story of Middle Earth, he got Harper Collins to publish the third part of The Lord of the Rings book with a collection of appendices, organized into sections A through F. Yet when the rights to his books were sold in 1969, the story between the pages was the focus - not the appendices about language, spelling, writing, calendars, family trees and lifestyles.

With many fans wondering just how a LOTR series could work without being The Silmarillion, LOTR or The Hobbit - it should be noted that there are countless other histories yet to be told on the screen. Specifically in Appendix A and Appendix B, there are storylines that precede The Fellowship of the Ring.

The Numenoren Kings is a likely storyline that Amazon could adapt as it comes directly from Appendix A in LOTR. By adapting this story, fans would be able to see the story of the downfall of Men, the history of Rohan, the stewards of Gondor and the massive scale story of Elves and Men before the line of kings were led to ruin leaving the realms in exile.

There's also the chance that Amazon adapts from Appendix B, and introduces the story of how Gandalf came into possession of the Ring of Fire as well as several key events from the Second Age and the line of Numenor.

Are you ready to travel back to Middle Earth?