The Lord of the Rings trilogy is one of the most successful box office franchises of all time, and one of its leads has spoken out recently regarding the upcoming television adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s work.
Elijah Wood starred as Frodo Baggins in all three Peter Jackson films, and even made an appearance in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey many years later. The news of a Lord of the Rings series being developed at Amazon has been out for some time now, but according to Wood, the title of the show is a little “misleading.”
The new Amazon Prime show will be titled The Lord of the Rings , but Wood clarified that the show is actually taking place before the events of Tolkien’s series. The actor shared his thoughts when speaking to Indie Wire .
“They’re calling it The Lord of the Rings , but I think that’s slightly misleading. From what I understand, the material they are working on exists chronologically further back in history in the lore of Lord of the Rings or Middle Earth than any characters represented in Lord of the Rings . It sounds more Silmarillion era. Not to get nerdy, but it’s the Second Age of Middle Earth. In that sense, I’m just curious what the storytelling is going to be.”
For those unfamiliar with Tolkien’s works, The Silmarillion is a collection of his writings that was published posthumously by his son. The book is somewhat incomplete and is separated into five different parts. The fourth part covers the fall of Númenor, which is supposed to be in the new streaming series.
While Wood’s logic makes sense, the choice to name the show The Lord of the Rings is probably just a grab to bring in as many viewers as possible. Millions know the name and what to expect from something attached to it. By calling something The Silmarillion, Amazon risked losing potential viewers who didn’t know what the show was.
Like many television shows and movies, The Lord of the Rings halted production due to COVID-19. The show was only in production for one month in New Zealand, so not much has been accomplished when it comes to filming.
Many of the details surrounding the series have been kept under lock and key, and even the full cast list hasn’t been revealed at this time. For now, there are no major names attached to the project, and it’s unlikely any of the stars associated with the movies will make an appearance due to the timeline.
Production is set to resume later this year, and a second season has already been ordered.
