The Journey Of Making 'The Rings Of Power'
Image Source: Vanity Fair
With The Rings of Power now halfway through streaming on Amazon Prime, it might do well to step back and look at the journey of how this massive undertaking came to fruition. TheOneRing.net, a hub of Tolkien fandom, chronicled the journey from acquisition by Amazon to debut.
It’s a journey that goes all the way back to 1968, with the man himself, J.R.R. Tolkien, selling the film rights in perpetuity to United Artists. He later expressed regret for this decision, but he did it to cover his family and estate. The film rights to The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, and everything within them, had changed hands a few times by the time the Peter Jackson trilogy made its way to the big screen. But there was a little caveat.
No one had the television rights.
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In 2017, the Tolkien estate shopped Hollywood for studios that had pitches for a television series over eight episodes.
Enter Amazon and Jeff Bezos with a $250 million bid. Sold!
Image Source: Screen Rant
There were some pretty stringent stipulations on the deal, like a five-season commitment, the Tolkien estate having to be involved, and a massive budget. Seemed pretty easy for one of the only companies valued at one trillion dollars.
Like with any intellectual property in development, the rumors began to spread. Such as the one that the show would be about a young Aragorn. Those rumors turned out to be just about one of the pitches that the studio heard. Clearly, the Second Age pitch won out.
Time went on and the only announcements made were of a choice in showrunners, J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay, and then a cryptic tweet in 2019 inviting people to the Second Age. While Payne and McKay would eventually become part of the ire that online fans have directed at the series, outside the internet, they seem to be widely regarded as great script editors, and Tolkien fans themselves. With the tweet about the Second Age, the only other things to come out of 2019 were an introduction to the development team, which included John Howe and Tom Shippey, big names in the Tolkien fan community, and that shooting would be in New Zealand.
Image Source: Flight Centre
New Zealand has come to be closely associated with Middle-earth.
All of this seemed to put Tolkien fans at ease. To say purity is important to Tolkien fans is an understatement, and Tom Shippey is a household name for fans.
Then, 2020 rears its ugly head.
Aside from Covid, not much happens due to the restrictions placed on production, being in New Zealand. Unfounded rumors of the sexualization of characters were about the only salacious thing to come out of production, even though there’s no indication that it turned out to be true.
Information starts to pick up the pace in 2021. Starting with more about the story set during the Second Age leaked, fans learned of developments such as Shippey leaving, trouble with production and writing, and even leaks about what we would see like Harfoots and short-haired elves. The real treat that set rumors flying even more was the release of an image: the two Trees of Valinor.
Question upon question came from that single image. But when TheOneRing.net got a package in late 2021, it became clear what Amazon was using for source material and the creative license that was going to be put to use: The Lord of the Rings and it’s appendices. Anything Second Age related was going to be taken, analyzed, and expanded. It’s one of the lightest eras written about in Tolkien’s world, so they technically have a lot of room to make stories.
Image Source: TheOneRing.net
As 2022 unfolds, the pace becomes frenetic, as does the anxiety of the fans. Character posters, Vanity Fair articles, and interviews with magazines all help fuel the excitement and anxiety. And then, Amazon decides to fly a bunch of influencers out to Mallorca to watch the trailer and then have an in-depth discussion about it…only to release a heavily edited video about the discussion. It was fuel for trolls and racists.
So they tried again. Amazon flew out what was known as the London 30, and they were treated to an actual preview of the show. Their enthusiastic response to the effort helped rebuild the image for the fans after the slip-ups of before. Furthermore, the information that Simon Tolkien is helming lore approval, and then at Comic-Con fans were treated to a full trailer for the show, and the panel was well received.
The Rings of Power has been through ups and downs and the gamut of internet troll-dom, but it seems to have weathered the storm well, and the debut of the show has been relatively well received.
The Rings of Power airs on Fridays on Amazon Prime.
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Source(s): TheOneRing.net