The Lord Of The Rings’ New Era Has One Major Change From Peter Jackson’s Movies

The Lord of the Rings franchise is entering a new era. After a necessary break following Peter Jackson’s groundbreaking movie trilogy and another following the much less critically acclaimed Hobbit trilogy, there are now several upcoming Lord of the Rings projects. Many of these have exciting creative teams behind them, but with The Rings of Power TV series failing to impress fans, who have given it a 48% positive Rotten Tomatoes rating, this news has been met with some skepticism among both Tolkien superfans and casual viewers.

One reason that Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings movies have all been counted among the greatest fantasy movies based on books is the fact that they were surprisingly faithful to the source material. This presented a significant challenge due to the extensive lore of Middle Earth, but while there were some changes made, they enhanced the story overall. However, The Hobbit‘s drastic changes from the book gave the movies a different tone, moving away from Tolkien’s original vision. Now, this change looks set to continue, with all the upcoming Lord of the Rings projects having one thing in common.

The Lord Of The Rings Franchise Has Moved Away From Tolkien

While all three upcoming projects feature Tolkien’s original characters, none of them are direct adaptations of his original stories. The Rings of Power series is based on details mentioned in the appendices of The Lord of the Rings book trilogy and follows the earlier rise and fall of Sauron. Stephen Colbert’s Shadow of the Past will reportedly cover the early part of Sam, Frodo, Merry, and Pippin’s journey, which was cut from the movies, and The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum is based around a short speech from Aragorn in which he describes a largely uneventful mission.

By creating projects that do not have a direct anchor to a single Tolkien story, the franchise as a whole is moving away from Tolkien’s iconic source material, and it is understandable that this could worry fans. Still, this is not an automatic indicator that the project will fail. The 2024 animated movie The War of the Rohirrim was an unexpected success among audiences despite being based on Lord of the Rings appendices rather than an existing story. The movie, directed by Kenji Kamiyama (Ghost in the Shell) received 50% and 81% Rotten Tomatoes ratings from critics and audiences respectively.

Even in the extended editions, The Lord of the Rings movies cut significant material from the books. Some of these changes, like the omission of Tom Bombadil, were widely regarded as necessary, but it could still be argued that the original movie trilogy was not as close to the Middle Earth canon as it could have been. That said, its success was in its execution rather than Peter Jackson’s choice of which paragraphs to include, and capturing the spirit of a story rather than perfectly replicating every detail is a strategy that has worked well for other genres, like videogame adaptations.

Why The Franchise Can’t “Just Adapt The Silmarillion”

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Early in The Fellowship of the Ring, Bilbo describes feeling “sort of stretched, like butter scraped over too much bread.” This scene has regularly been referenced by fans concerned that the various Lord of the Rings adaptations are stretching the source material by taking pieces of the canon apart and creating entire movies out of paragraphs.

With some of the most expansive and lore-filled fantasy books of all time, J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle Earth provides inspiration that could be used in adaptations indefinitely. This fact has been noted by many, who have been confused as to why The Lord of the Rings franchise is building on tiny moments described in both The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings rather than adapting one of Tolkien’s other works. With a wealth of backstory, this would seem like the logical path. However, there is one significant reason why this is unlikely to happen in the near future.

J. R. R. Tolkien and the Tolkien Estate have only sold the adaptation rights to The Hobbit and The Lord of The Rings, fiercely guarding the author’s other works like The Silmarillion, which were edited by his son, Christopher Tolkien, and published posthumously. This leaves a lack of source material to work with if the franchise is to continue, hence the seemingly-bizarre focus on appendices and adventures barely mentioned. With the stories having the best worldbuilding in high fantasy books, it is understandable that viewers would want to spend more time in Middle Earth in any way possible.

What’s Next For The Lord Of The Rings

As Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings movie trilogy has often been hailed as the most beloved high-fantasy movies of all time, it is easy to forget that not everyone was impressed. Christopher Tolkien did not like the trilogy, feeling that it not only commercialized the source material, but prioritized action over emotional depth. It has been rumored that Peter Jackson has had some productive talks with younger members of the Tolkien Estate regarding an adaptation of The Silmarillion, but this is not confirmed, and it is likely that there will be significant conditions attached.

Should the Tolkien Estate keep their current position on adapting more of the influential author’s works, there is another strategy that could be explored. The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit have been made into animated movies before, and taking the success of the Disney live-action movies into account, this could be done in reverse. Animated TV shows like Avatar: The Last Airbender have proven that animated projects can carry as much emotional depth as live-action and The War of the Rohirrim has proven that this is a viable approach, at least in terms of audience response.

If stories like The Silmarillion become available for adaptation, they surely will be, and Peter Jackson is the obvious choice for director. The world of Middle Earth can only expand so far, and much depends on the success of the upcoming movies and the next season of The Rings of Power. If they strike the balance between accuracy and creativity, more projects may well be developed. However, if they are not well-received, it may be in the interest of the Lord of the Rings franchise to take a break. Or, as Bilbo put it, “a very long holiday.”

Movie(s)

The Lord of the Rings (1978), The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim

Created by

J.R.R. Tolkien

First Film

The Lord of the Rings (1978)

Cast

Norman Bird, Anthony Daniels, Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Liv Tyler, Viggo Mortensen, Sean Astin, Cate Blanchett, John Rhys-Davies, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan, Orlando Bloom, Christopher Lee, Hugo Weaving, Sean Bean, Ian Holm, Andy Serkis, Brad Dourif, Karl Urban, Martin Freeman, Richard Armitage, James Nesbitt, Ken Stott, Benedict Cumberbatch, Evangeline Lilly, Lee Pace, Luke Evans, Morfydd Clark, Mike Wood, Ismael Cruz Cordova, Charlie Vickers, Markella Kavenagh, Megan Richards, Sara Zwangobani, Daniel Weyman, Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Lenny Henry, Brian Cox, Shaun Dooley, Miranda Otto, Bilal Hasna, Benjamin Wainwright, Luke Pasqualino, Christopher Guard, William Squire, Michael Scholes, John Hurt

TV Show(s)

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power

Character(s)

Frodo Baggins, Gandalf, Legolas, Boromir, Sauron, Gollum, Samwise Gamgee, Pippin Took, Celeborn, Aragorn, Galadriel, Bilbo Baggins, Saruman, Aldor, Wormtongue, Thorin Oakenshield, Balin Dwalin, Bifur, Bofur, Bombur, Fili, Kili, Oin, Gloin, Nori, Dori, Ori, Tauriel, King Thranduil, Smaug, Radagast, Arondir, Nori Brandyfoot, Poppy Proudfellow, Marigold Brandyfoot, Queen Regent Míriel, Sadoc Burrows

The Lord of the Rings is a multimedia franchise consisting of several movies and a TV show released by Amazon titled The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. The franchise is based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s book series that began in 1954 with The Fellowship of the Ring. The Lord of the Rings saw mainstream popularity with Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies.