Before Rings of Power, HBO pitched a very different Lord of the Rings show to the Tolkien Estate. Following Ralph Bakshi's animated LOTR movie from 1978, Peter Jackson's trilogy was the first live-action adaptation to bring J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings novels to life on the big screen. Consisting of The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King, the trilogy is mainly set during the Third Age of Middle-earth and famously follows Frodo and the Fellowships' quest to destroy the One Ring.
Rings of Power premiered September 1 on Prime Video as the first television adaptation of Tolkien's works, set during the Second Age of Middle-earth. Back in 2017, the tech company bought the television rights to Lord of the Rings for $250 million and made a 5-season commitment to Rings of Power worth a whopping $1 billion in production costs, making it the most expensive TV series ever. But before committing to Rings of Power, the Tolkien estate entertained several other pitches for potential Lord of the Rings shows.
THR revealed HBO's pitch to the Tolkien estate for a Lord of the Rings show. The premium cable network's proposed idea was a "retelling" of the Third Age of Middle-earth. This would basically involve remaking Jackson's trilogy and Frodo's story of the destruction of the One Ring. Netflix also pitched several shows, one centered on Gandalf and another on Aragon, with one insider saying the streamer "took the Marvel approach" which "completely freaked out the estate.”
Why You Can't Remake Peter Jackson's Lord Of The Rings Trilogy
By pitching a Lord of the Rings show set during the Third Age, HBO essentially proposed a remake of Jackson's beloved trilogy, which was set during the same time period in Middle-earth and was already highly successful and well-received by critics and audiences (if not the Tolkien estate itself). Released from 2001 to 2003, the three films grossed nearly $3 billion at the box office and won a total of 17 Academy Awards combined, including Best Picture for Return of the King. The Tolkien estate had many issues with Jackson's adaptations, with the late Christopher Tolkien saying they "eviscerated" his father's books, though there is no reason why they would permit a retread of the epic cinematic trilogy through a TV series, especially when there are many other untold stories in Middle-earth.
Despite its faults, Rings of Power is set during the lesser-known Second Age and dramatizes several events described in The Lord of the Rings appendices and never seen before on screen. With critics praising Prime Video's series as a worthy successor to the Lord of the Rings and setting viewership records for the streaming service, it appears the Tolkien estate made the right decision by going with Amazon's approach instead of HBO's pitch because the last thing the entertainment world needs is another remake.
Source: THR