Home TV News JD Payne & Patrick McKay To Develop Amazon’s ‘Lord Of The Rings’ Series

JD Payne & Patrick McKay To Develop Amazon’s ‘Lord Of The Rings’ Series

by Dave Elliott
JD Payne & Patrick McKay To Develop Amazon's 'Lord Of The Rings' Series

JD Payne & Patrick McKay To Develop Amazon’s ‘Lord Of The Rings’ Series

Amazon has tapped writing duo JD Payne and Patrick McKay to help develop their upcoming ‘Lord Of The Rings’ series the streaming giant announced over the weekend.

According to the official statement, “after a long process and extensive search, which involved going to Middle Earth and back, Amazon Studios is thrilled to share the news with fans, elves and the Amazon Prime Video audience everywhere that we have chosen the duo of JD Payne and Patrick McKay to take us on the development journey for The Lord of The Rings.”

Although Payne and McKay might not be names you recognise at the moment, there is a good chance you will be seeing a lot more of them in future. The duo were uncredited writers on ‘Star Trek Beyond’ which led them to becoming the scribes on upcoming S.J. Clarkson directed ‘Star Trek’ sequel. They are also part of the writer’s room for the upcoming ‘Godzilla vs. Kong’ movie.

“The rich world that J.R.R. Tolkien created is filled with majesty and heart, wisdom and complexity,” Payne & McKay commented at the Amazon’s TCA Panel this weekend. “We are absolutely thrilled to be partnering with Amazon to bring it to life anew. We feel like Frodo, setting out from the Shire, with a great responsibility in our care – it is the beginning of the adventure of a lifetime.”

Not a lot is known about the content of the ‘Lord Of The Rings’ series as yet. We do know it won’t be a direct adaptation of the books which were covered by Peter Jackson’s epic movie trilogies. We do know the plan is to bring to the screen previously unexplored stories based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s original writings. However, Amazon Studios head, Jennifer Salke, did comment recently that “we’re not remaking the movies, but we’re also not starting from scratch. So, it’ll be characters you love.” So, for example, that could be following the early life of Aragorn or something from Gandalf’s history. We’re not saying it is that, but it gives you an idea of places they could explore.

Whatever the storyline turns out to be, you can be sure Amazon will be looking to make it the best it can be, given the price tag. The studio forked out a rumoured $200 to $250 million for the rights alone from the Tolkien estate, just to get permission to make the series. As part of the deal Amazon also agreed to a multi-season commitment. With an estimated production cost of $100 to $150 million per season, it should be spectacular.

‘The Lord of the Rings’ tv series is only just beginning to set up the writer’s room for the show, so there is no cast or air date yet, but we’ll let you know when we hear more.

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