Lord Of The Rings Actor Slams Amazon's Upcoming TV Series
All is not well in Middle-earth.
Plenty of Lord of the Rings fans are over-the-moon excited to see what Amazon Studios will deliver in its forthcoming television series based on author J.R.R. Tolkien's highly regarded novel series. Others are cautiously optimistic. But some prefer the original source material and director Peter Jackson's film series as the Lord of the Rings as the adaptations that rule them all, and will decidedly not be watching the new series. One such person is Lord of the Rings actor John Rhys-Davies, who portrayed well-respected dwarven warrior Gimli in Jackson's trilogy and who had some choice words about Amazon's television show.
Speaking with Den of Geek to promote his new horror flick Aux, Rhys-Davies stated that those behind the Lord of the Rings series are "utterly unprincipled and greedy for money" and called the whole situation a "disgrace." It was recently revealed that the upcoming series could cost $1 billion to make, $250 million of which was Amazon's bill for the television rights alone. "You know they have the money to do it. Why we quite need Lord of the Rings as a TV series baffles me slightly," the actor said. "I mean, poor Tolkien must be spinning in his grave."
Rhys-Davies then offered up his own idea for creating a Lord of the Rings television series. "I've got a better idea for [Amazon], or for any company. Lord of the Rings spun off an awful lot of imitations about elves and dwarves and things like that, and I would simply buy those up and put them together," he said. "There was a trilogy of books that [was] given to me the other day by a lady author, who'd written an account of the adventures of a dwarvish lady. That would make a far more interesting account of Tolkien's words, in a world like that."
He continued, "You know there are hundreds and hundreds of young writers who have made their contributions, and if was a well-heeled film producer, that's where I'd be looking, because that gives more actors more chances and it's still a great tribute to Tolkien. It costs less to make and it would be original and fresh." Ever self-aware, Rhys-Davies ended by stating, "But then, what the hell do I know?"
As of right now, not much is known about the Lord of the Rings television adaptation (apart from the fact that it will take place prior to the events of Tolkien's The Fellowship of the Ring), but one thing is now abundantly clear: Rhys-Davies definitely won't be tuning in.