We not only live in a golden age of television, but we live in a golden age of serialized content. Growing up, I could only dream of a time where networks could confidently trudge forth with massive, epic stories that require audiences to follow on a week-to-week basis. It’s the reason I tended to skew more toward anime and novels back in the ’90s and early 2000s. But now, nearly everything worth watching is serialized at some level.

But for those story-driven series, we’ve also seen a specific trend: shorter episode counts. Rather than go for 24-some-odd episodes per season, networks go eight to 13 episodes. This allows them more time to delve into character than a standard film, but not so much time that we have needless filler.

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It was pretty much assumed by me that Amazon Prime Video’s Lord of the Rings would get the same treatment. Maybe eight to 13 episodes per season of TV, which would allow the scope to be realized with a reasonable budget. Not the case, if we’re to believe Tom Shippey, a Tolkien Scholar working on the upcoming production (you likely recognize him from the documentaries in the extended editions of the Lord of the Rings films).

Speaking with the German-language fansite Deutsche Tolkien, Shippey said the following when asked about when it might shoot:

“There’s supposed to be 20 episodes for the first season. So until they’ve decided what the end is going to be, they can’t start filming.”

Of course, there are two caveats for this. One, this isn’t Shippey’s department, and two, things are always subject to change. Especially in projects this big.

Either way, it is an interesting and unexpected development. What do you think? Let us know your thoughts down below!

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SOURCE: Deutsch Tolkien (via Winter is Coming)