Amazon has reportedly been working with J.R.R. Tolkien’s estate to obtain rights for The Silmarillion and is said to have made some progress. Now the following should be taken with a grain of salt as those reporting on this are connecting a lot of dots to support the premise but as Hollywood continues to scavenge for morsels of new content anything is possible.
Culture Slate (via GFR) has reported on multiple events to support its claims about content from The Silmarillion being used in Amazon’s upcoming second season along with that of Peter Jackson working on a film adaptation. These stem from reports of negotiations with Tolkien’s estate to updates from Amazon’s Lord of The Rings: Rings of Power showrunners, recently published works of J.R.R. Tolkien – some of which include content from The Similarrilion, and quotes from Jackson regarding his interest in the mostly untouched book. Somewhat surprisingly, Embracer Group’s acquisition of some of the Middle Earth’s rights through an $8.6 billion deal could also be a contributing factor.
Per Culture Slate:
“While this news may come as a shock to some, it is definitely something many fans, including Peter Jackson, have been waiting for. Jackson is quoted as saying “I have always wanted to work on The Silmarillion, to complete that story, and bring the origin of Middle-earth to screen, and now, getting the chance, it is so close to coming true.”
Rights for The Similarrilion have been in lockdown for decades which has in turn led to numerous characters and history being left out of various projects. Amazon’s show has had, in particular, to do a delicate dance around the book with its show. It has, in fact, had to employ a team of experts to carefully navigate what is allowed to it via the rights it has managed to obtain and has largely relied on the appendices of Return of The King for its show. Jackson has also previously been quoted as explaining how his films had to avoid mentioning other wizards in Middle Earth due to not having rights to the book.
If true that Amazon has reportedly obtained at least partial rights to the book then things could be changing with its Rings of Power streaming series. It will be interesting to see as well if Tolkien’s estate and Jackson can come to terms with yet another return to the big screen.