The Lord of the Rings The Return of the King Starring Sir Ian McKellen as Gandalf the White
Warner Bros.

After the success of George R.R. Martin’s Game of Thrones over at HBO, it was only a matter of time before more swords and sorcery battled their way onto the small screen. Considering the mighty cash cow that Game of Thrones has become, it would take something really special to come along to even come close to competing. Well, hold the door, dear friends, because it looks like there’s some real competition on the way in the form of The Lord of the Rings.

Yep, you heard us right. The so-called unfilmable opus written by J.R.R. Tolkien is being courted as Amazon Studios’ next big hit, almost two decades after Peter Jackson first took us on a magical trip to the Shire.

Variety reports that the streaming service is currently in talks with Warner Bros. and the late author’s estate, with a view to purchasing the TV rights for a cool $200-250 million (according to Deadline). This might seem like a lot of dough to you or I, but for a group like Amazon it’s peanuts, especially when you consider they have been told they MUST deliver the next Game of Thrones by the man holding the purse strings, Jeff Bezos.

Apparently, talk of a Lord of the Rings TV series has been on the cards for some time, with interest from networks as big and diverse as HBO and Netflix. It’s thought that issues with which characters would be allowed to appear in the show, due to conflicts over character rights that are far too complicated for this writer’s tiny brain, was why no such show exists in today’s schedule. Amazon Studios will need to overcome this if they hope to give the hardcore Tolkien fans what they want and convince them to part with their money to purchase an Amazon Prime subscription.

Could Frodo, Gandalf, and Middle-earth finally give Amazon its far-reaching smash hit, much like Stranger Things for Netflix? Or will the lack of sex and violence prove too dull to encourage GOT fans to get on board?

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