Amazon's Lord of the Rings fires entire writing staff?

[His Name Is Death]

According to this video, OneRing.net are claiming the entire writing staff on the LOTR Amazon Prime series has been fired. Tom Shippey has also been fired, and the show is on hiatus until they hire brand new writers for season two.

As standard, the comment section is a walking bag of one-note shite - what is their issue with the casting, exactly? - but has anyone had better luck than me with finding what's behind this? It seems only to be confined to this video.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

The start of Fellowship to the point where Gandalf slips into the abyss is one of the best things ever committed to cinema or TV.

Some peaks for LOTR since then but generally downhill. No faith in this whatsoever.

The first film is the last one that relies on traditional film making techniques to develop tension, establish a stake in it for the characters etc. That doesn't mean that doesn't happen in what follows but it deteriorates with each iteration.

The last few LOTR efforts have been prisoners of their peers instead of having the confidence to be their own thing.

Stuff like this just makes me very anxious about the outcome of this project. Who left cares about quality beyond lowest common denominator fan service?

[His Name Is Death]

I'm getting the sense this hasn't actually happened. On their livestream, OneRing.net stated they confirmed this with multiple sources, along with social media indicators that seem to back it up, but I haven't been able to find anything that corroborates it.

[Twit 2]

WHO GIVES A FUCKING FUCK

[PlanktonSideburns]

so has there been one series of lord of the rings on amazon?

whats it like?

[Phil_A]

The start of Fellowship to the point where Gandalf slips into the abyss is one of the best things ever committed to cinema or TV.

Some peaks for LOTR since then but generally downhill. No faith in this whatsoever.

The first film is the last one that relies on traditional film making techniques to develop tension, establish a stake in it for the characters etc. That doesn't mean that doesn't happen in what follows but it deteriorates with each iteration.

I agree the films never really topped that first third of FOTR. The editing and narrative storytelling is super-tight, it conveys a shitload of exposition in a way that feels dynamic and intriguing and the pacing is absolutely spot on. Even more impressive considering the book starts with about a hundred pages of hobbits pissing about before anything actually happens, and Jackson manages to condense that down to about half an hour of exciting screentime.

Compared to that the utterly flabby first Hobbit film just feels like you've been on a shit theme park ride and then plonked down at the exit with absolutely nothing to show for it.

I don't think I've ever been more deflated by a cinematic experience as that, I'd been picturing that film in my head since I read the book as a kid, and even what my pre-pubesecent imagination could conjure up would've been better than Jackson's "will this do" effort.

[Ignatius_S]

According to this video, OneRing.net are claiming the entire writing staff on the LOTR Amazon Prime series has been fired. Tom Shippey has also been fired, and the show is on hiatus until they hire brand new writers for season two....

As Nerdrotic says, they have a track record for good information, but there's a distinct absence of other people claiming this and he's advising to take it with a pinch of salt for now.

It's been reported that the plan was to film the first two episodes and review what worked/what didn't before filming the rest of the season. I'm not sure what the source of what that was or it should have any credence because multiple sites made the same claim, but the OneRing guys said something that chimes with that saying that the current shooting are pilots. So it could be that this is in line with the original plan and they would be willing to make major changes rather than tweaks.

It's also been claimed that they were *possibly* looking to start season two filming, whilst season one was still being filmed. Perhaps that's connected to what's coming out.

Incidentally, I found Nerdrotic's comments about writers interesting towards the end of the vid, where essentially he's blaming writers for shows becoming not so good and that maybe Amazon's actions are positive.

Not sure how significant losing Shippey is (if that's true) but the OneRing people felt it was a big deal, so would bow to their experience. However, that said, if he is going there may be other factors at play and could be unrelated to the other stuff what's happening.

re: your subsequent post - it might be that there are sweeping changes, but they're doing a good job managing what's getting out (for now).

...As standard, the comment section is a walking bag of one-note shite - what is their issue with the casting, exactly?...

Personally, I would say that the issue is more with the people commenting, rather than what they're commenting about. Similar to complaints about The Witcher.

so has there been one series of lord of the rings on amazon?...

No – 2021 was mooted as when it would be coming out.

[greenman]

The first film is the last one that relies on traditional film making techniques to develop tension, establish a stake in it for the characters etc. That doesn't mean that doesn't happen in what follows but it deteriorates with each iteration.

Can't really agree with that, plenty of standard tension building in the following two films leading up to say Helms Deep, its the main thing Jackson got right in the series IMHO.

I'd agree the Nazgul chase in Fellowship is probably the best thing in the series though, perhaps because its the most overtly horror like section? I think you could argue the reverse of the Hobbit being spread too thinly that LOTR could actually have been extended to four films with fellowship being spilt in half.

This Amazon series I'd guess its mostly a case of trying to find characters to hang the larger story(basically the forging of the Rings and the fall of Numenor leading to the climax we see at the start of Fellowship) on.

[bgmnts]

Still really trying to see the good in this concept to be honest. Jackson's stuff just cannot be topped, its obvious they adored the subject material and made the best thing they possibly could.

It's the Silmarillion right? It just wouldn't work. It would obviously be crap anyway because standards have nosedived since LotR but still even then just can't see it working.

[greenman]

Still really trying to see the good in this concept to be honest. Jackson's stuff just cannot be topped, its obvious they adored the subject material and made the best thing they possibly could.

It's the Silmarillion right? It just wouldn't work. It would obviously be crap anyway because standards have nosedived since LotR but still even then just can't see it working.

Nah its the stuff between that(which they don't have the rights to) and LOTR that's covered vaguely in the appendix of LOTR. So its essentially a history of larger events of the second age they have to work from but no direct story on a smaller scale.

Honestly given the kind of budgets they were talking about I expected they'd have much bigger names involved in the writing/cast than has come up so far.

[bgmnts]

Jesus.

[greenman]

Probably the most interesting thing I'v heard about it so far was the guy who played Benjen Stark being cast as Sauron. Having a more deceptive fair faced Sauron manipulating all sides and especially the Numenorians seems like the best potential plot to me and something a bit different to Jacksons films.

I could well see it turning out aweful though.

[chveik]

Jeff Bezos' Lord of the Rings

[samadriel]

Jesus.

Nah, not that big a name.

[bgmnts]

I dont think even he could pull it off.

[C_Larence]

To paraphrase Norm Macdonald:
Amazon has fired the writing staff of their upcoming Lord of the Rings adaptation. An Amazon spokesperson explained the reasoning behind the firing as, "they were the writing staff of Amazon's Lord of the Rings adaptation".

[All Surrogate]

Why do they need writers? It's already a book. Idiots.

[Mobius]

Everything about this has looked and sounded shit since it was announced, and I think the absolute tanking of Game Of Thrones towards the end has made people weary of epic big budget fantasy.

[Shit Good Nose]

Not that I've got Amazon Prime, but as soon as I read that Tom Bombadil will be a main character (with Jackson having VERY wisely excised him from the films) it went straight on the "one to avoid" list.

[PlanktonSideburns]

whats wrong with bobmadil?

wize cracking loose cannon nihilist cunt, - they should get mcounatey to play him like his character in true detective

[Old Nehamkin]

Not that I've got Amazon Prime, but as soon as I read that Tom Bombadil will be a main character (with Jackson having VERY wisely excised him from the films) it went straight on the "one to avoid" list.

Is this true? Can't see it reported anywhere.

[mjwilson]

The one ring lot have withdrawn the claim that everyone has been fired.

[Shit Good Nose]

whats wrong with bobmadil?

wize cracking loose cannon nihilist cunt, - they should get mcounatey to play him like his character in true detective

Everything.  Everything is wrong with Tom Bombadil.  Probably the worst thing Tolkien ever wrote.  He belongs in a completely different story.  Like James Cameron making Spiderman's webbing biological, Jackson throwing Bombadil out is one of those rare cases where changes made much further down the line by someone else previously unrelated to the material improving on the original.

Is this true? Can't see it reported anywhere.

One of the first things I read when it was officially announced however long ago.  From memory I think they said it was because he was one of the only characters that acted as a logical bridge between the time the series was set and lead-up to Jackson's films.