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Lord of the Rings series isn’t competing with movies, says showrunner

The new Lord of the Rings series on Prime Video is not going to be in competition with the legendary movies, according to one of the showrunners

Sophie Nomvete as Disa in The Lord of the Rings TV series

The Lord of the Rings trilogy gave us three of the best movies of all time, so it’s understandable that the new prequel TV series may be feeling the weight of expectations from the fanbase. But, according to showrunner Patrick McKay, the team behind the Prime Video series are not looking to compete with the original fantasy movies.

When news broke that a prequel series based on the Lord of the Rings movies was going to be made for the streaming service Prime Video, there was rather justifiable apprehension and scepticism from many fans. How do you even follow up something as perfect as The Lord of the Rings trilogy?

In a recent interview with Empire, co-showrunner Patrick McKay has a very simple answer. Given the fact that the new series takes place in a very different section of the timeline to the original adventure movies, The Rings of Power is simply going to admire the incredible work of Peter Jackson, rather than try to emulate or compete with his cinematic achievements.

“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 explained. “But we’re admirers from afar, that’s it. The Rings Of Power doesn’t try to compete with him.”

It’s not just the tales from Middle Earth that The Rings of Power has to worry about though, with obvious parallels drawn between the Lord of the Rings spin-off and Game of Thrones. The stories of Westeros have already pioneered the world of small-screen, historical action, and Game of Thrones has its own spin-off series coming later this year, too.

In fact, House of the Dragon will air at the same time as The Rings of Power, but McKay isn’t too concerned. “You can psych yourself out in keeping up with the Joneses, but one of the mantras on this was ‘go back to the source material’,” McKay said. “What would Tolkien do?”

Wise words indeed. The Rings of Power will premiere on Prime Video on September 2, 2022.