‘The Rings of Power’ Showrunners on Tolkien’s Legacy, New Images Released
The Rings of Power takes the front seat in the new issue of Total Film Magazine, in a story that includes brand-new images and interviews with the showrunners.
Patrick McKay and JD Payne were recently at Comic-Con, along with the rest of the cast and crew, where they spoke candidly about the series to Stephen Colbert in front of a packed Hall H. They also showed some footage exclusively to Comic-Con attendees, and they premiered a brand-new, three-minute trailer.
When asked if modern politics will influence the show, McKay told Total Film that it would not be the case, as they are aspiring to create a timeless series, following in Tolkien’s steps when he wrote the books:
“This was one of Tolkien’s debate points with C.S. Lewis, his friend and colleague. It was very important that what he was creating was not an allegory. He was not commenting on historical events of his time or another time. He was not trying to transmit a message that spoke to contemporary politics. He wanted to create a mythos that was timeless, and would be applicable – that was his word, ‘applicable’ – the applicability across times.
Every single choice we’ve made at every turn of making this show has been to be faithful to that aspiration, because that’s what we want as viewers. We don’t want to adapt the material in a way that might feel dated. We aspire to being timeless. That’s why these books still speak to people so much, because so much of what’s in them has not aged a day. And we aspire to do the same thing. And I think we feel that once people see the show, and see what the stories and characters and worlds are in context, they’ll feel the same way.”
McKay then confirmed to Total Film one of the long-running theories surrounding The Rings of Power, that it will have a compressed timeline. This refers to the fact that, according to the Appendices, the events of the Second Age that will be depicted in the show were separated by thousands of years. If they were to adapt that into a show, it would mean that every episode would have different human characters due to their short lifespan, and the only recurring characters would be Elves. Apparently, a non-linear series was also considered, but they opted against it as it would probably keep fewer people invested in the series and the characters.
JD Payne, on his end, also told Total Film that Amazon bought the rights to The Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Hobbit, and the Appendices. When hearing pitches, apparently the idea of a young Aragorn show was kicked around, as well as a Gimli spin-off, but the company felt like telling the story of the Second Age would be the best way to honor Tolkien and his legacy:
“When we first went up for the job, we were told there were literally dozens of other people who were also throwing their hat in the ring, and everyone was coming in with different things. Amazon bought the rights to the trilogy, the appendices, and The Hobbit. They said the field was wide open – any story within that material, you could tell. So you had people pitching the Young Aragon show, or the Gimli spinoff, or other kinds of things.
They wanted to make something that felt worthy of Tolkien. And as we really thought about it, and culled through the material, and saw all different kind of stories – that story of the Second Age, so the Dark Lord Sauron, and the Fall of Númenor, and the fight against Sauron at Mount Doom. That arc of the major Second Age events felt like such an amazing, untold story.”
The Rings of Power will be released on Prime Video on September 2, 2022. Stay tuned for more coverage on the series as we approach that date! Meanwhile, you can check out this gorgeous cover for the new issue, on the left, as well as the subscriber’s cover, on the right:
Miguel Fernández is a Spanish student that has movies as his second passion in life. His favorite movie of all time is The Lord of the Rings, but he is also a huge Star Wars fan. However, fantasy movies are not his only cup of tea, as authors like Scorsese, Fincher, Kubrick or Hitchcock have been an obsession for him since he started to understand the language of filmmaking. He is that guy who will watch a black and white movie, just because it is in black and white.
