Peter Jackson says he was ghosted by The Rings of Power after an initial approach for him to be involved. Now Amazon responds to set the record straight, somewhat.

Jackson claims he was approached initially about being involved with Amazon’s The Rings of Power. However he had one condition, as he explained to THR.

“I said, ‘That’s an impossible question to answer without seeing a script,'” Jackson recalled, saying they promised to send over the first few scripts. However “they never showed up.” He’d add, “That’s the last thing I heard, which is fine.” Asked if he holds any ill will towards The Rings of Power, the director said, “No complaints at all.”

“I’ll be watching it,” he says. “I’m not the sort of guy who wishes ill will. Filmmaking is hard enough. If somebody makes a good film or TV show, it’s something to celebrate. The one thing I am looking forward to is actually seeing it as a perfectly neutral viewer.” Jackson adds that Amazon is “betting the farm on Tolkien,” given its massive half-billion-dollar budget for the show’s debut season.

However as said above Amazon responds to this statement by Jackson with the following explanation.

“In pursuing the rights for our show, we were obligated to keep the series distinct and separate from the films. We have the utmost respect for Peter Jackson and The Lord of The Rings films and are thrilled that he is looking forward to watching The Rings of Power.”

RELATED: The Rings Of Power Featurette Hypes Up The Season Ahead

Now, there is a little bit more I think we could maybe, perhaps add to this story. For a start, it was pretty well known that the Tolkien Estate didn’t like The Lord of the Rings movies. Christopher Tolkien (RIP) at the time said he felt Jackson made the story into an action film, and there was too much comedy for a serious story.

Whereas we also know that the Tolkien Estate did approve Amazon’s purchase of the rights pending certain conditions that had to be met with the material. It is quite possible that there are several reasons legally why Jackson could not be involved.

As for not informing him? Well there were a lot of changes at the top for Amazon around this time and with The Rings of Power. My guess, is that those who initially contacted Jackson were no longer involved and it kinda got forgotten about.

Did Tolkien have a point?

I must admit that when I watch back the extended versions of those LOTR movies now, it is the comedy moments which I enjoy the least. Well, at least those in certain parts of the story where humor didn’t belong.

I think the most annoying example I can think of is the Hobbits all appearing during the Council of Elrond to declare they were going with Frodo. It happens similarly in the books, but without the whole Pippin being an idiot thing. This was after all a pretty serious and quite grave moment, supposed to be tinged with slim hope. Saying that, those are still great movies and despite this being the least favorite moment, I feel like the first movie was the greatest of the three.

However that was then. These were movies that had to sell money in a world where fantasy was cheap and usually bad. I love the TLOTR Extended Editions far more than theatrical. However, to make money, and get bums on seats, I think some compromises had to be made. Overall, we got a magnificent trilogy and probably only real Tolkien geeks would have the slightest complaint. The Hobbit trilogy on the other hand, well don’t get me started.

What do you think of the news that Peter Jackson was ghosted by Rings of Power? What do you think of their comments as Amazon responds? As always, leave it below if you can.

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