When it comes to fans of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, there’s always been a discernible degree of gatekeeping involved. As you’d expect, then, a lot of them are currently skeptical of Amazon’s attempt to recapture the magic of Peter Jackson’s movie trilogy in their new series. But apparently, even Viggo Mortensen is looking forward to seeing what the studio has done with the world of Middle-earth.
A couple of years ago, Amazon signed a contract with the Tolkien Estate for the rights to an adaptation of Arda, or more specifically, the stories of the Second Age. At the time, most people assumed that this was the juggernaut’s attempt to produce a worthy successor to HBO’s Game of Thrones. And what better way to do that than going all the way back to the fictional world of the person that essentially kickstarted the high fantasy genre?
Still, there are an estimable number of Tolkienists who aren’t sold on the idea just yet. Though the folks who worked with Peter Jackson all those years ago to realize Middle-earth in live-action form have had nothing but well wishes for the show. Only recently, Viggo Mortensen, who played Aragorn in the films, discussed the new series in a chat with GQ and explained why he’s excited to watch it.
“Yeah, directed by a Spanish director, [J. A.] Bayona. Yeah, I’m interested to see what they do,” he said. “They’ve been shooting that in New Zealand. Bayona is a good director, so it’ll probably be worth watching. I’ll be curious to see what they do, how they interpret Tolkien. I don’t know how much the Tolkien Estate has allowed them to use.”
It seems that the Green Book star has followed Bayona’s work for some time and thinks that his mere involvement is enough to merit a watch. Previously, co-star Elijah Wood, who portrayed Frodo Baggins in both LOTR and The Hobbit, also expressed enthusiasm about the series, while maintaining that the title might be a bit misleading since the story takes place some 3,000 years before the events of the eponymous novel.
At any event, the new Middle-earth project is the studio’s most ambitious undertaking to date, but with a bit of luck, maybe they’ll manage to capture the spirit of the fantasy escapist world just like Jackson did two decades ago with his acclaimed trilogy.
What do you think about the prospects of Amazon’s The Lord of the Rings, though? Sound off below.