Netflix has reportedly pitched a Marvel-style approach to Lord of the Rings. The pitch involved making separate shows for prominent LOTR characters like Gandalf and Aragorn. The shows would be connected through a grander universe but would also exist within their own shows.

The Tolkien estate had reportedly disapproved of the idea and shot it down. The Tolkien estate is currently being managed by the surviving members of J R R Tolkien’s family. It was earlier headed by Tolkien’s son Christopher Tolkien, who passed away in 2020 at the age of 95.

Following Christopher Tolkien’s death, Amazon Prime approached the Tolkien estate and bought the television rights for the show. Prime Video’s Rings of Power, which is currently streaming on their site, has one of the highest production budgets for a television series in history.

Rings of Power, which is set thousands of years before the events of Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings films, started streaming the first episode on 1 September.