When it comes to the world of entertainment today, there is a common “problem” that all fans fear. Mainly, the problem of a show or movie franchise “lasting too long”. Because at some point, you’ve seen everything, heard everything, or you know that every plot is being dragged on just so they can “get another season or movie. For The Lord of the Rings: The Rings Of Power, the writers hear those complains, and want you to know they already have a plan in place.
According to writers J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay, they have a 5-season plan, and they have planned it out rather meticulously.
“We even know what our final shot of the last episode is going to be,” Payne says. “The rights that Amazon bought were for a 50-hour show. They knew from the beginning that was the size of the canvas – this was a big story with a clear beginning, middle and end. There are things in the first season that don’t pay off until Season 5.”
Very interesting. But they weren’t done yet:
“It was like Tolkien put some stars in the sky and let us make out the constellations,” Payne says. “In his letters [particularly in one to his publisher], Tolkien talked about wanting to leave behind a mythology that ‘left scope for other minds and hands, wielding the tools of paint, music and drama.’ We’re doing what Tolkien wanted. As long as we felt like every invention of ours was true to his essence, we knew we were on the right track.”
McKay added, “The pressure would drive us insane if we didn’t feel like there was a story here that didn’t come from us. It comes from a bigger place. It came from Tolkien and we’re just the stewards of it. We trust those ideas so deeply, because they’re not ours. We’re custodians, at best.”
This will likely give a lot of joy to fans because the last thing they want (or need) is just a “simple rehash” of all that came before just in a “different time and place.” But it appears that The Rings of Power will strive to be different, and if it’s quality, it might just get that 5-seasons.
Source: Empire
