Amazon’s The Lord of the Rings TV series is currently in development in West Auckland, New Zealand, and now, one of the stars of Peter Jackson’s film trilogy has offered his thoughts on the upcoming series.
In an interview with GQ, Viggo Mortensen, who played Aragorn in all three The Lords of the Rings film instalments, shared his excitement to watch the series because of the director attached as well as noting his interest in how the studio will bring Tolkien’s words to life.
“Yeah, directed by a Spanish director. [J.A.] Bayona. Yeah, I’m interested to see what they do. 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,” Mortensen said.
Amazon’s The Lord of the Rings will be a prequel to J.R.R. Tolkien’s beloved novels and is set to take place during the Second Age of Middle-earth, therefore, you shouldn’t expect to see any of your favourite characters from the films including Mortensen’s Aragorn. The official synopsis for the series reads:
Amazon Studios’ forthcoming series brings to screens for the very first time the heroic legends of the fabled Second Age of Middle-earth’s history. This epic drama is set thousands of years before the events of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, and will take viewers back to an era in which great powers were forged, kingdoms rose to glory and fell to ruin, unlikely heroes were tested, hope hung by the finest of threads, and the greatest villain that ever flowed from Tolkien’s pen threatened to cover all the world in darkness. Beginning in a time of relative peace, the series follows an ensemble cast of characters, both familiar and new, as they confront the long-feared re-emergence of evil to Middle-earth. From the darkest depths of the Misty Mountains, to the majestic forests of the elf-capital of Lindon, to the breathtaking island kingdom of Númenor, to the furthest reaches of the map, these kingdoms and characters will carve out legacies that live on long after they are gone.
Amazon’s The Lord of the Rings series is being developed by JD Payne and Patrick McKay (Star Trek Beyond) with J.A. Bayona (Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom) directing the pilot. The series will feature a cast including Robert Aramayo (The King’s Man), Owain Arthur (A Confession), Nazanin Boniadi (Homeland), Tom Budge (The Wrong Girl), Morfydd Clark (His Dark Materials), Ismael Cruz Córdova (Berlin Station), Ema Horvath (Like.Share.Follow), Markella Kavenagh (Picnic at Hanging Rock), Joseph Mawle (Game of Thrones), Megan Richards (Wanderlust), Dylan Smith (I Am The Night), Charlie Vickers (Medici), Kaya Scodelario, Tyroe Muhafidin and Sophia Nomvete.
