Amazon’s ‘Lord of the Rings’ Series Will Reportedly Focus on Young Aragorn
Amazon will soon take us back to Middle Earth for the new Lord of the Rings prequel series, but we haven’t heard many details on what the exceptionally pricey show will be about. A Gandalf origin story? An entire five season series devoted to the Ents (honestly, would watch)? A buddy comedy starring Gimli and Legolas? As it turns out, a new rumor suggests the series will partially be an origin story, and one devoted to the one true hunk of Middle Earth: Aragorn.
Lord of the Rings fan site The One Ring (h/t /Film) is reporting via Twitter that the first season of the Amazon series will allegedly follow a young Aragorn – “young” character prequels are really all the rage these days. The site claims they’ve gotten confirmation from “multiple” sources at Amazon, though the studio has yet to comment.
This could be a pretty interesting way to kick off the series and dive deep into J.R.R. Tolkein‘s lore. For one, Viggo Mortensen‘s Aragon is one of the (arguably the) best character of Peter Jackson‘s trilogy – though it would really be a shame to have a series without Mortensen. But there’s also lots of interesting history to mine in Strider’s past. Though eventually crowned King of Gondor and Arnor at the end of Return of the King, his lineage was kept secret his whole life. It’d be an opportunity for Amazon to introduce plenty new characters that could roll over into additional seasons, and if the first is an origin story, that may suggest the following four could be as well. Make young Gandalf happen!
The expensive series, which got a five-season order, is said to cost over a billion dollars, possibly even surpassing the season budget of Game of Thrones. There’s no word yet on whether Jackson will be involved in the series, though a recent report suggested he was in talks as a possible showrunner and/or for writing and directing duties. It’s hard to imagine more Lord of the Rings without Jackson, but perhaps a fresh take could benefit an origin story. Either way, if this Aragorn thing pans out, they better give Mortensen some cameos.
Gallery – Shocking TV Twists Fans Predicted Ahead of Time: