Yesterday, it was revealed that Warner Bros. Discovery (and its New Line studio) and Embracer Group have hammered out a deal to make more “Lord of the Rings” films in the future. Obviously, it’s not really known exactly what those films will cover and who is going to work on them, specifically, but they’re happening. And you can’t talk about new “Lord of the Rings” films without talking about Peter Jackson, the director of two separate ‘Rings’ film trilogies.
READ MORE: ‘Lord Of The Rings’: New Middle-Earth Films Are Being Made At New Line & WB
In a statement given to Deadline, it appears that Peter Jackson, along with his writing partners Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens, has been privy to the discussions between the production companies as they worked out a deal for the new films. Does this mean Jackson, Walsh, and Boyens are returning to Middle-earth for more films? No. But it also shows that everyone involved knows that keeping these filmmakers in the loop is a good thing early on, at least.
“Warner Brothers and Embracer have kept us in the loop every step of the way,” the group said in a statement. “We look forward to speaking with them further to hear their vision for the franchise moving forward.”
This is interesting because it’s not a given that “Lord of the Rings” content will include input from Jackson, Walsh, and Boyens. In fact, when Amazon began work on “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power,” the billion-dollar series that debuted last year and told a brand-new story in Middle-earth, the studio purposefully didn’t include the filmmakers in discussions about the show. It is believed that the TV rights for “Lord of the Rings” forbid the use of the films as canon and would have to develop from scratch, which is why Jackson and Co. weren’t involved. However, it’s unclear what the rights look like for more films and if they can build off what was created by the filmmakers years ago.
That said, it doesn’t appear that Jackson and Co. are guaranteed to be working on new films either. First, and most obvious, Jackson, Walsh, and Boyens might not care to be intimately involved with more films in the future. We know how much of their respective careers have been in crafting the first two trilogies, and maybe, they just don’t want to do it again. But second, it’s important to not dismiss the part of the statement where they said they look forward to hearing the two studios’ vision for the franchise. Maybe Jackson and Co. hear what WBD and Embracer have up their sleeves and it doesn’t appeal to them on a creative level.
Regardless, at this point, it’s heartening to know that Jackson, Walsh, and Boyens are at least in the conversation. It would be foolhardy for WBD and Embracer to plan new ‘LotR’ films without at least talking with the creative minds that have done six of them in the past, right?
Of course, it’s far too early to know when we might see the first new “Lord of the Rings” film arrive in theaters.