Amazon’s Lord of the Rings series is set to air in 2021 and fans can’t hold back their excitement after the creators announced the first season would contain 20 episodes.
“There’s supposed to be 20 episodes for the first season. So until they’ve decided what the end is going to be, they can’t start filming,” 75-year-old Tom Shippey, who is a part of the project, shared.
Speaking of the speculations that the series will be shot in New Zealand and Scotland, Tom added:
“The exact locations are of course uncertain and it could well be several. The shooting itself does not take place chronologically but is oriented towards the locations.
“Logically, you try to bundle all the scenes that take place in one location and film them so that you have it done and don’t have to return to that place several times. But this also implies that everything has to be clear at the start of filming, you have to know the end.”
Mr. Shippey was previously involved in Peter Jackson’s LOTR movie trilogy and has now been unveiled as a crucial chunk of the creative team of the series.
“I know very, very little about the project anyway. As far as I know, they mean to start showing it on TV in 2021, so I don’t think production can start this year, though I don’t know what their timetable is. There is still a lot to do, just think of the costumes, weapons, locations, etc.!” the 75-year-old admitted.
While the story in the third LOTR movie finishes off with the end of the Third Age, Tolkien’s works also include a series of appendices that partly cover the Second Age.
“The First and Third Ages are ‘off-limits,’ you can’t have the First Age. Events could be mentioned at the most if they explain the events of the Second Age,” Tom added.
“But if it is not described or mentioned in the Lord Of The Rings or in the appendices, they probably cannot use it. So the question is to what extent they may hint at events that took place, for example, in the First Age, but still continue to affect the Second Age.
“There are several maps authorized by Tolkien, not just the ones we’re are familiar with, and some of those maps have places on them which are not in the other maps. But if Tolkien authorized them then that’s okay.
“So it’s a bit of a minefield. You have to tread very carefully but at the same time there is quite a lot of scope for interpretation and free invention.”
As the creator added, Amazon has its hands free when it comes to the development of certain aspects of the plot of the series.
“Amazon has a relatively free hand when it comes to adding something, since, as I said, very few details are known about this time span.
The Tolkien Estate will insist that the main shape of the Second Age is not altered. Sauron invades Eriador, is forced back by a Numenorean expedition, is returns to Numenor,” he teased.
“There he corrupts the Numenoreans and seduces them to break the ban of the Valar. All this, the course of history, must remain the same. But you can add new characters and ask a lot of questions, like: What has Sauron done in the meantime? Where was he after Morgoth was defeated?
“Theoretically, Amazon can answer these questions by inventing the answers, since Tolkien did not describe it. But it must not contradict anything which Tolkien did say. That’s what Amazon has to watch out for.”
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