Amazon's 'Lord of the Rings' TV Series Will Run for Five Seasons

Amazon has confirmed it will produce five seasons of its upcoming Lord of the Rings TV series, and also that there may be the potential for additional spin-offs in the future.
The first season won’t be centred on the War for the Ring and will instead focus on a young Aragorn who was played by Viggo Mortensen in the films. It will be derived from Tolkien’s appendices and notes rather than being a direct adaptation of the novel and will reportedly focus on a different character each season.
Sir Ian McKellen has confirmed his interest in returning in the role of Gandalf, while Andy Serkis (the voice of Gollum) and John Rhys Davis (Gimli) have ruled themselves out of the running.
Last year Amazon beat Netflix to the rights to make the series when they sealed a $250m deal with the estate of author J.R.R. Tolkien, Harper Collins, and New Line Cinema. According to this deal, Amazon must be in production of the series within two years of the deal being made or the rights revert back to the original owners.
While the production cost for the successful movie franchise was an estimated $300 million, the studios will spend $1 billion for the project.
Amazon is considering hiring Peter Jackson to helm the series. Jackson was responsible for writing, directing, and producing the original trilogy that won 21 Oscars as well as the Hobbit trilogy between 2012 and 2014 and has been sounded out for the TV show as well.
> Mar Martinez