Amazon's Jeff Bezos recently pushed back against the idea that The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is a cynical cash grab.

The Amazon Executive Chairman insisted that Amazon Studios' decision to produce The Rings of Power was motivated by more than money in an email exchange with Time. "Middle-earth is such a beloved world, and telling the story of the forging of the Rings of Power is a privilege and a responsibility," Bezos wrote. "I hope we do Tolkien’s work justice. It goes beyond making a commercially successful show. Everyone working on the show read these stories as kids and our hearts are in it."

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Bezos' remarks echo similar sentiments by The Rings of Power's co-showrunners J. D. Payne and Patrick McKay, who have rejected claims the series is only "vaguely connected" to J.R.R. Tolkien's original novels. McKay recently described The Rings of Power as being deeply rooted in established Middle-earth canon and made it clear that he and Payne take the role of "stewarding" Tolkien's story very seriously. "We don't feel ‘vaguely connected.' We feel deeply, deeply connected... and work every day to even be closer connected," he said.

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This sense of connection included instances where The Rings of Power expanded on existing Lord of the Rings lore, according to executive producer J.A. Bayona. Bayona, who also directed The Rings of Power's first episode, discussed how important it was to the show's creative team that they always stay true to the spirit of Tolkien's books in a recent interview. "[Tolkien] wrote a story about hope, and a little guy succeeding," he said. "We always felt that it was rule number one that there needed to be true optimism and love, even in the darkest, scariest moments of the show."

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Bayona also revealed that Rings of Power almost had even stronger ties to another famous Middle-earth adaptation: Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy. The executive producer recalled early plans to include "some kind of a bridge" between the Prime Video series and Jackson's films that were ultimately abandoned once The Rings of Power developed its own identity. "[A]s you realize the complexity of each world, you get invested in your own story. Then, unconsciously, you start to create something that has its own life," he said.

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power arrives on Prime Video on Sept. 2, 2022.

Source: Time