Amazon's Lord Of The Rings Show ‘Doesn’t Try To Compete’ With Original Trilogy

thegamer.com:

Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power arrives on Amazon Prime later this year. Our first look at the world of Middle-earth set before the time of the original trilogy revealed picturesque pastures, threatening mountains, and far more conflict than one would expect during the Second Age.

It honestly seemed like The Rings Of Power might even be trying to out-do the original Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies, but showrunners JD Payne and Patrick McKay say that their really just honoring the work of Peter Jackson.

Related: Which Armies Are In The Hobbit's Battle Of Five Armies?

"Anyone approaching Lord Of The Rings on screen would be wrong not to think about how wonderfully right [Jackson] got so much of it," said McKay in an interview with Empire magazine. "But we’re admirers from afar, that’s it. The Rings Of Power doesn’t try to compete with him."

It also isn't trying to compete with House of Dragons, the Game of Thrones prequel series coming soon to HBO. McKay pointed out that although both series are definitely high fantasy in genre, the two approach their stories in totally different ways.

"Some of these other competing properties – they play one octave really beautifully," McKay explained. "But Tolkien was playing every note on the piano. He had that variety of tones. There’s the whimsy, friendship and humour that Harry Potter is so beloved for – but there’s sophistication, politics, history, mythology and depth, too. So for us, it was about going deeper into what we are, rather than worrying about what other folks are doing.

"You can psych yourself out in keeping up with the Joneses," McKay added, "but one of the mantras on this was ‘go back to the source material’."

In this case, the source material will