Elijah Wood speaks on ‘Lord of the Rings’ TV show
During a MegaCon meet and greet with fans and press, Elijah Wood reflected on his experiences filming the Lord of the Rings trilogy and offered up his opinion on the planned TV series with Amazon.
“I have mixed feelings about the show,” Wood confessed.
“I mean, the idea of taking a book that is actually super dense and extending over a full television series is exciting. The concern I have is, the visual work that had been established by Peter Jackson and all who worked on the films in New Zealand, so is that same team going to work on the television series? I feel that world has already been established and to change the visual art will conflict with… what had already been seen as this world.”
Jackson is reportedly in talks about becoming an executive producer on the show, with the director’s attorney Peter Nelson recently helping start a dialogue between Jackson and Amazon about his possible role in producing the new series.
Amazon Studios is now tasked with recreating J.R.R. Tolkien’s literary magic for the small screen, with the company signing a reported $250m rights contract in November 2017 with the author’s estate, publisher HarperCollins and New Line Cinema to produce a multi-season show for television. Amazon has committed to producing five seasons of a Lord of the Rings TV series as part of its $250 million rights deal.
According to fan site TheOneRing.net, the first season will center on the young version of the heir to Isildur, Aragorn, whose older incarnation played a crucial role in the original Lord of the Rings trilogy.
Ian McKellen, who played Gandalf in the original trilogy, has expressed interest in reprising his role. Asked by Graham Norton on his BBC radio show if it was going to be annoying to have another pointy-hatted wizard around, McKellen replied: “What do you mean, another Gandalf?”
He added: “I haven’t said yes because I haven’t been asked. But are you suggesting that someone else is going to play it? Gandalf is over 7000 years old, so I’m not too old.”
John Rhys-Davies, who played the dwarf Gimli, has criticized Amazon for making a series so soon after Jackson’s original.
“It’s not about doing it better, it’s about making more money, that’s all,” Rhys-Davies told Den of Geek. “If they think they can make more money, then they will.”
Andy Serkis, who played Gollum in the movies, has said he doesn’t expect to be cast in the upcoming TV version. He told ScreenCrush: “It sounds incredible, but I don’t see myself being any part of it.
“I think it’s a completely fresh, new approach to it all, so I don’t think I’d imagine myself to be anywhere near it really,” he added.
Serkis’ co-star Sean Astin was more positive about the prospect of reprising his role as Samwise Gamgee.
Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, he said: “I’ve been saying for 15 years…maybe like 12 years after Lord of the Rings came out, that it would get remade. And people always said, ‘Oh no, it’ll never get remade! It’s a classic! They could never top it!’ And I’m like, ‘No, it’ll get remade. It’s a massive story! The characters are so beloved.”
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Some other notable guests:
Norman Reedus, Michael Cudlitz (The Walking Dead)
Comic Book Legend Jim Lee (X-Men, Batman)
Stephen Moyer from The Gifted, True Blood
Pink Power Ranger Amy Jo Johnson
Once Upon a Time star Jennifer Morrison
Check out the DISPATCH stories on MegaCon over the years HERE