Warner Bros.
By Erin Brady/Aug. 5, 2022 7:29 pm EST
“They asked me if I wanted to be involved — Fran and I — and I said, ‘That’s an impossible question to answer without seeing a script,’” he told Scott Feinberg. “So they said, ‘As soon as we get the first couple scripts, we’ll send them to you.’ And the scripts never showed up.”
“In pursuing the rights for our show, we were obligated to keep the series distinct and separate from the films,” said the statement sent to The Hollywood Reporter. “We have the utmost respect for Peter Jackson and ‘The Lord of the Rings’ films and are thrilled that he is looking forward to watching ‘The Rings of Power.’”
Why this is complicated
Prime Video
While Warner Bros. still owns the rights to the two trilogies they produced, they may no longer have the rights to make new “Lord of the Rings” media. According to a February report by Variety, the adaptation rights to J.R.R. Tolkien’s seminal book series lapsed after their rights holder, the Saul Zaentz Co., sold them off. However, Warner Bros. told the trade that they still maintain the film rights, resulting in a mediation process between the two entities that has seemingly not been publicly settled.
As for where Prime Video’s “The Rings of Power” falls, they purchased the rights to the original literary series courtesy of the Tolkien Estate. In an interview with Vanity Fair, showrunners J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay explained that they have the rights to all of the books that Tolkien wrote, as well as their appendices.
“The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” premieres on Prime Video on September 2, 2022.
