When I heard Amazon was going to be creating a "Lord of the Rings" TV show, I have to admit, I was upset. Weren't Peter Jackson's adaptations good enough? Were they just trying to one up HBO and Game of Thrones? What more of the story could they hope to tell, and how on earth could they replace Viggo Mortenson as Aragorn? With more news gradually surfacing on the topic, here's what I think about Amazon's upcoming show.
As it turns out, Amazon won't be replacing Aragorn, because the story takes place during the Second Age of Middle Earth, and Aragorn definitely wasn't around then. However, the lead actors and announced characters are not from any work of Tolkien. According to Esquire, there will be Beldor, the experienced fighter, Tyra, who is thought to be an elf, and Oren, who will be the main bad guy. The only good thing I can really say about this news is that Oren is likely to be played by Joseph Mawle, who ironically played a character in Game of Thrones (Benjen Stark).
There is another bit of news that makes me hesitate to jump on board with Amazon's Tolkien adaptation, if we can call it that. News broke in October 2020 that Amazon had hired a sex and intimacy coordinator for this series. That in and of itself doesn't make me uncomfortable, necessarily. If there's going to be romance (which it wouldn't be out of the norm for this type of thing), there's going to be kissing. Which could justify an intimacy coordinator, I guess...
No, what disturbs me is the casting call for extras comfortable with nudity. The idea of sex, nudity, and sexual content in general is what has many Tolkien fans up in arms at the announcement. JRR Tolkien's works VERY rarely, if ever, make mention of sexual acts.
It's just not his thing. When I think of sexual content in a TV series, I think of Game of Thrones. This type of content just isn't what Tolkien wanted, I wouldn't think. Which is why, as a fanbase, I think we are all a bit nervous about what this could mean for the show. If you want to read a deeper discussion on this topic, you can find an article here.
If there is one thing that I am looking forward to for the Amazon Lord of the Rings show, it is the scenery. RadioTimes confirmed that the show would be filmed in New Zealand, which means that we may be able to see some small Easter eggs from Peter Jackson's films. Either way, we can count on the beautiful mountains, meadows, and valleys being featured in Amazon's project.
So, is it going to be worth it? It's estimated Amazon is spending more than $1 billion on the series, so the budget for a high quality show is there. For die-hard fans of Tolkien's writings, it may not be enough to draw them in, if they aren't getting the Tolkien characters and stories they love. For me, I'm not going to get my hopes too high, simply because I don't know that the upsides to the show will outweigh the drawbacks I see. I guess we'll just have to wait for 2021 to come, and with it, hopefully, a high quality, high fantasy TV show set in Tolkien's magical world.
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