Development

Background and announcement

In July 2017, a lawsuit was settled between Warner Bros., the studio behind the Lord of the
Rings and Hobbit film trilogies, and the estate of author J. R. R. Tolkien upon whose books those films were
based. With the two sides "on better terms", they began offering the rights to a potential television series
based on Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings to several outlets, including Amazon, Netflix, and HBO,[22] with a
starting price of US$200 million.[2] Amazon emerged as the frontrunner by September and entered
negotiations.[23][24] Uncommonly for programming developments at the studio, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos was
personally involved with the negotiations.[24] A fan of the franchise,[2] Bezos had previously given Amazon
Studios a mandate to develop an ambitious fantasy series of comparable scale to HBO's Game of
Thrones which made Amazon the lead contender for the project. [22]

On November 13, 2017, Amazon acquired the global television rights for close to US$250 million. Industry
commentators described this amount—before any production costs and without any creative talent attached
to the project—as "insane",[22] although some considered the project to be more of a reputational risk for
Amazon than a financial one due to Bezos's wealth. [2] Amazon's streaming service Prime Video gave a multi-
season commitment to the series that was believed to be for five seasons, with the possibility of a spin-off
series as well. Despite this, Prime Video had to give a formal greenlight to future seasons before work could
begin on them.[25] The budget was expected to be in the range of US$100–150 million per season, and was
likely to eventually exceed US$1 billion which would make it the most expensive television series ever made.
[22][23]
 Warner Bros. Television was not involved in the project because Amazon Studios wanted to produce it
themselves. Amazon was working with the Tolkien Estate and Trust, HarperCollins, and New Line Cinema (the
Warner Bros. division who produced the films).[22] New Line was reportedly included to allow the series to use
material from the films.[23] The Tolkien Estate imposed some creative restrictions on the series, [22][26] and the
deal stipulated that production begin within two years.[23]

Creative team

In April 2018, The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit film director Peter Jackson had begun discussing his
potential involvement with Amazon,[23] but by June he was not expected to be involved in the series. [27] Later
that month, Head of Amazon Studios Jennifer Salke said discussions regarding Jackson's involvement were
ongoing, and added that the deal for the series had only been officially completed a month earlier. The studio
had been meeting with potential writers about the project and intended to have a game plan for the series
and a writing team set "very soon", with the hope that the series could debut in 2021. [28] The studio asked for
story pitches based on anything in Tolkien's The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and its appendices. These
included prequel stories focused on characters such as Aragorn, Gimli, and Gandalf.[29][30] J. D. Payne and
Patrick McKay pitched a series that explored the major events of Middle-earth's Second Age, thousands of
years before The Lord of the Rings, include the forging of the Rings of Power, the rise of the Dark Lord Sauron,
the fall of the island kingdom of Númenor, and the last alliance between Elves and Men.[3] These events were
covered in a five-minute prologue in the Lord of the Rings films,[31] but the pair wanted to expand this into "50
hours of television".[2] Payne said it felt like "an amazing, untold story" that was "worthy of Tolkien", [29] and
McKay added, "We didn't want to do a side thing. A spinoff or the origin story of something else. We wanted
to find a huge Tolkienian mega epic, and Amazon" agreed.[32] Payne and McKay were hired to develop the
series in July 2018.[33] They were an unlikely choice, having only done unproduced or uncredited writing
before the series, but their vision aligned with Amazon's and they were championed to the studio by
director J. J. Abrams who worked with them on an unproduced Star Trek film.[2]
In December, Jackson said he and his producing partners would read some scripts for the series and offer
notes on them,[34] but otherwise he would enjoy watching a Tolkien adaptation that he did not make. [35] Bryan
Cogman joined the series as a consultant in May 2019 after signing an overall deal with Amazon. Cogman
previously served as a writer on Game of Thrones, and was set to work alongside Payne and McKay in
developing the new series.[36] In July, J. A. Bayona was hired to direct the first two episodes of the series and
serve as executive producer alongside his producing partner Belén Atienza. [37] Later that month, Game of
Thrones creators David Benioff and D. B. Weiss were in discussions with several outlets regarding signing an
overall deal, including with Amazon who were interested in having the pair consult on The Lord of the Rings;
[38]
 they ultimately signed a deal with Netflix instead. [39] At the end of July, Amazon announced that Payne and
McKay would serve as showrunners and executive producers for the series, and revealed the full creative
team that was working on the project: executive producers Bayona, Atienza, Bruce Richmond, Gene Kelly,
Lindsey Weber, and Sharon Tal Yguado; co-producer Ron Ames; costume designer Kate Hawley; production
designer Rick Heinrichs; visual effects supervisor Jason Smith; and illustrator/concept artist John Howe, who
was one of the chief conceptual designers on the films. [40][41] Special effects company Wētā Workshop and
visual effects vendor Wētā FX were also expected to be involved in the series as they were for the films.
[42]
 Additionally, Tolkien scholar Tom Shippey was revealed to be working on the series, [41] but he was no longer
involved by April 2020;[43] other Tolkien scholars and "lore experts" remained involved.[44]

Following development of the first season, Cogman left the series to focus on developing new projects. Kelly
also left the series,[45] while Yguado left when she exited her role as Amazon Studios' head of genre
programming.[2] Callum Greene joined as a new executive producer by December 2020, [45] after previously
serving as producer on The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013).[46] Heinrichs was eventually replaced as
production designer by Ramsey Avery.[47] In March 2021, Wayne Che Yip was announced as director for four
episodes of the series, and was set as a co-executive producer. [19] Charlotte Brändström was revealed as
director for another two episodes in May.[48] That August, Jackson said he had not been contacted again about
seeing scripts for the series. Amazon explained that the deal to acquire the television rights for The Lord of
the Rings required them to keep the series distinct from Jackson's films, and the Tolkien Estate were
reportedly against Jackson's involvement in the project. Despite this, the showrunners had privately
discussed the series with Jackson and Yguado had championed his inclusion before her exit. [34] The second
season was revealed that month to have an all-female directing team.[30]