The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power co-creators J. D. Payne and Patrick McKay recently confirmed they're not trying to compete with Peter Jackson's Middle-earth movies.
The duo discussed working in the shadow of Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy in an interview with Empire. "Anyone approaching Lord Of The Rings on screen would be wrong not to think about how wonderfully right [Jackson] got so much of it," McKay said. “But we’re admirers from afar, that’s it. The Rings Of Power doesn’t try to compete with him." Payne and McKay added that they never met Jackson to discuss The Rings of Power, nor was the Oscar-winning filmmaker attached to the production in any capacity.
Payne and McKay also pointed out that the Prime Video series covers aspects of Middle-earth history that Jackson's adaptations don't, describing The Rings of Power as the story Lord of the Rings fans have always wanted. Hyping the show's Second Age setting, Payne revealed that The Rings of Power will flesh out "some of the greatest stories from [author J.R.R. Tolkien's] mythos" that hadn't previously been dramatized on screen. Major events from Lord of the Rings canon the show is expected to cover include the downfall of Númenor and the forging of the rings of power themselves.
The showrunners went on to say that they're trying to tackle The Rings of Powers' epic action scenes in a way that sets them apart from similar set pieces in Jackson's movies. "The siege at Helm's Deep [in The Two Towers] is so iconic and amazing that it was like, 'What's a different thing that we can do that still feels like Middle-earth but is unique for this story?'" asked Payne. McKay added that despite the considerable number of epic battles in the show, it also features fight scenes that take place on a smaller, more human level.
While Payne and McKay aren't competing with Jackson, George R.R. Martin recently stressed that the upcoming Game of Thrones prequel series House of the Dragon isn't out to destroy The Rings of Power, either. Martin admitted that while he wants House of the Dragon to outperform the competition, he's nevertheless rooting for The Rings of Power to succeed. "If they win six Emmys, and I hope they do, I hope we win seven," he said.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power arrives on Prime Video on Sept. 2.
Source: Empire