One of the biggest and most beloved movie worlds of all time just got the greenlight to return to the mix – get ready to return to Middle Earth! Warner Bros announced Thursday that the studio plans to revive J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings universe for the big screen. Amidst the big news, here comes the question to rule them all: could the man who famously adapted the previous movies, Peter Jackson, be involved?
Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav shared during the studio's earning call that a deal has been made to develop “multiple” Lord of the Rings movies. Here’s what Jackson, alongside his LOTR collaborators Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens, shared amidst the news to Variety:
Warner Brothers and Embracer have kept us in the loop every step of the way. We look forward to speaking with them further to hear their vision for the franchise moving forward.
For the time being, Zaslav did not name any specific filmmakers involved in the future of Lord of the Rings just yet, but evidently Peter Jackson and the other key names who made the previous live-action movies set in Middle Earth thus far are already aware and involved in its early development. We’ll have to wait and see how core to the project Jackson remains, but for the time being, it sounds like the filmmaker is being placed in the loop on all developments.
Peter Jackson served as writer, director and producer on the original live-action Lord of the Rings film trilogy trilogy and The Hobbit movies. However, he is not involved in the Lord of the Rings TV series that premiered last year, Rings of Power. As the filmmaker previously recalled, he was initially asked if he wanted to be involved upfront, which he shared was an “impossible” question to answer without scripts. Then he claimed he “the scripts never showed up,” and that was the last he heard from the Amazon Studios series. Rings of Power has been renewed for a second season, and the first season can be viewed with an Amazon Prime subscription.
With that in mind, it sounds like Peter Jackson isn’t not game for being part of more Lord of the Rings movies. The franchise is set to expand thanks to Warner Bros’ new studio leaders Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy brokering the deal. The exciting news comes following previous news that Warner Bros has an anime fantasy film based in Middle Earth called The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim in the works. It’s a prequel that is set to be released on April 12, 2024.
It’s certainly an exciting time to be a Lord of the Rings fan! Here’s hoping Peter Jackson does have a role in these future movies, because no one has more experience adapting Middle Earth than him.
