Sources say HBO pitched the estate on retelling Middle-earth’s “Third Age” — essentially remaking Peter Jackson’s beloved Lord of the Rings trilogy, which grossed $3 billion and won 17 Oscars. The estate has its gripes with Jackson’s adaptations (the late Christopher Tolkien, the author’s son, said they “eviscerated” the books) but wasn’t interested in treading the same ground. Netflix pitched doing several shows, such as a Gandalf series and an Aragorn drama. “They took the Marvel approach,” said one insider to the talks, “and that completely freaked out the estate.”

Amazon’s team (at the time led by Albert Cheng, Sharon Tal Yguado and Dan Scharf) wooed the estate not with a specific pitch, but with a pledge of a close relationship that would give the estate a creative seat at the table so it could protect Tolkien’s legacy. There was also, of course, the money. Sources say the staggering number that’s been widely reported ($250 million) was actually Netflix’s bid and that Amazon’s number was tens of millions less (albeit, still staggering). “It was our collective passion and fidelity to Tolkien that really won the day,” says Amazon Studios TV co-head Vernon Sanders.

Criticism they can handle, and they’ve heard it all. Everything fans have debated, they say, they likewise argued among the creative team. They readily admit, for instance, that some of the first-season episodes lack the urgency fans expect from Tolkien adaptations.

“One of the big things we learned was even when it’s a small scene, it always has to tie back into the larger stakes,” Payne says.

“There are things that didn’t work as well in season one that might have worked in a smaller show,” McKay agrees. “It has to be about good and evil and the fate of the world or it doesn’t have that epic feeling you want when you’re in Tolkien.”

Which doesn’t mean the show won’t continue to embrace small moments. They point out that in The Return of the King, Sam sees a star through the clouds and says all the evil they’re facing is but a passing shadow, and there’s beauty above that it can never reach. “It’s a tiny personal moment, but it reflects the theme of the entire work,” Payne notes.

Given that their show’s master plan is about the rings gradually corrupting the leadership of men, elves and dwarfs, I briefly wonder if the storyline risks making their saga a bit of a bummer as the whole land falls into enslavement and chaos.

“That’s the secret sauce of Tolkien right there,” Payne explains, leaning forward. “The grimmer things get, the more those pops of light have a contrast to bounce off of. That’s what’s beautiful about Tolkien. Even in points of complete despair you can have two halflings look at each other and say, ‘I’m glad you’re here with me.'”

Hopefully this was a comment made a little while ago and they mean this year (2021-22) to write it and next year (2022-23) to film/edit and release it?

The large, windowless room’s centerpiece is a lengthy conference table, but your eyes are immediately transfixed by what’s covering the walls. You’re surrounded by concept art laying out major set pieces for The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season two. Showrunners McKay and J.D. Payne give a walk-through of the sequences. They plan to introduce more iconic locations, familiar Middle-earth characters and a massive two-episode battle. This is, obviously, top-secret stuff — no media has been allowed on the fantasy drama’s set, let alone this room. But the showrunners wanted to give the world a peek behind the curtain to reveal what it’s like to manage the biggest TV series ever produced.

Hopefully this was a comment made a little while ago and they mean this year (2021-22) to write it and next year (2022-23) to film/edit and release it?

At one point, Payne and McKay asked mentor and former boss J.J. Abrams to call Amazon to put in a good word, and he did. “We feel like that moved the needle,” says McKay.

Yet the deciding factor was their fleshed-out story and passion for, and depth of knowledge of, Tolkien’s world. Amazon’s programming team kept coming back to the same conclusion: The guys with perhaps the least experience were also the best choice.

Payne looks particularly distressed by the topic. “The spirit of Tolkien is about disparate peoples who don’t trust one another and look different from one another finding common ground in friendship and accomplishing big things,” he says.

Is that something specifically Tolkien does, or would it happen to be potentially true for any successful creative endeavour?

Tolkien's work is more susceptible to being co-opted by the far-right, fascists, and white supremacists.

And if you read Lord of the Rkngs and don't take away the message of friendship, companionship, strength in diversity and putting aside differences for the sake of a better world, then I would question whether you've actually read the book at all.

It's strange, then, that he was "co-opted" to a much greater extent by Sixties radicals, anti-war activists and the Counterculture, cultural movements which Tolkien also heartily disapproved of.