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As George R.R. Martin recently noted, the situation with Amazon’s rights to Middle-earth is odd. But for Payne, the source material is a guiding star for him and his collaborators to follow while making their own contributions to the story.
“It was like Tolkien put some stars in the sky and let us make out the constellations,” Payne says. “In his letters [particularly in one to his publisher], Tolkien talked about wanting to leave behind a mythology that ‘left scope for other minds and hands, wielding the tools of paint, music and drama.’ We’re doing what Tolkien wanted. As long as we felt like every invention of ours was true to his essence, we knew we were on the right track.”
Patrick McKay adds, “The pressure would drive us insane if we didn’t feel like there was a story here that didn’t come from us. It comes from a bigger place. It came from Tolkien and we’re just the stewards of it. We trust those ideas so deeply, because they’re not ours. We’re custodians, at best.”
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is set thousands of years before The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, during Middle-earth’s Second Age. It begins during a time of relative peace following the defeat of Morgoth, Sauron’s master. The series chronicles the lives and adventures of its ensemble cast and promises to visit the Misty Mountains, the forest elf-capital of Lindon, and the shores of the island kingdom of Númenor.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power will debut on Prime Video on September 2nd.
