The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power showrunners J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay have revealed that both Netflix and HBO were in talks with the Tolkien Estate to buy the rights to Middle-earth, with pitches that would have you screaming in agony long before either saw the light of day.
Tolkien fans have been giving the Amazon adaptation a lot of grief over the past few weeks for what they deem an absolute sacrilegious attack on the lore and what Middle-earth stands for. But according to what the executive producers tell The Hollywood Reporter, things could’ve been way worse and much more palpably cash grab-y if any of the other industry moguls managed to get their hands on The Lord of the Rings.
Apparently, HBO pitched a re-telling of the War of the Ring, essentially a remake of Peter Jackson’s trilogies with a different cast and production crew, which, we can all agree, would end up being an exercise in futility.
Netflix’s idea was even worse. One insider claimed that they “took the Marvel approach and that completely freaked out the estate.” Imagine having to deal with an interconnected cinematic universe comprising several movies, television shows, and numerous other spinoffs in different media.
As much as many gatekeepers would hate to admit, perhaps it was a good thing that The Lord of the Rings ultimately ended up in the hands of J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay, who grew up with dreams of adapting Tolkien.
“Some of what’s been hardest to hear is the cynical point of view that this is a cash grab,” they said during the same interview. “It’s like, oh my God, the opposite. This is the most earnest production. This is not a paycheck job for anybody. This is a labor of love.”
The Rings of Power returns on Friday with its seventh and penultimate episode.