Rumor Mill

Coming from TheOneRing.net's Justin on the TORn Tuesday livestream of September 15. Note that none of this has been officially confirmed:

1. (0:06:25) Weta Workshop (not necessarily Weta Digital) is reportedly on board with the Amazon Prime series.

2. (0:08:10) The first season will allegedly consist of eight (8) episodes (length unknown). So reports of 20 episodes might be for the first two seasons or plans might have been altered.

3. (0:09:40) There are supposedly discussions taking place between Amazon Prime and Howard Shore. It's being said that he does not want to be the main composer for the entire series but does want to be involved in the "design and development" of the music.

4. (0:10:40) The first two episodes (directed by J.A. Bayona) will be long enough to be combined into a possibly 3-hour feature-film length.

5. (0:11:10) Production for [i]The Lord of the Rings[/i] has essentially taken over all film production taking place in Auckland, NZ.

6. (0:30:30) Two researchers who worked on the [i]Hobbit[/i] movies have been named the Concept Illustrator and Concept Artist for the Amazon Prime series. Evan Shipard (Art Department, [i]Unbroken[/i]) as Concept Illustrator and Liam Beck (Art Department, [i]Aquaman[/i]) as Concept Artist. IMDb seems to confirm this item.

7. (0:43:45) The Stunt Coordinator, Assistant Stunt Coordinator, and four of the conceptual and storyboard artists are all experienced in underwater and water-based stunts and production. Justin speculates about filming the destruction of Númenor, but it seems far to early in production for that. A flashback to the drowning of Belariand makes a bit more sense.

The latest Green Dragon Gossip from TORn Tuesday:

00:07:15 - Russell Crowe is the main star of Amazon Prime's LotR series, possibly as a Númenórean lord or king (or a Dwarf king?). If the show is actually set in the late Second Age (and not the middle as many of have thought) then Crowe could be playing Ar-Pharazôn, the last king of Númenor. Somebody in the chat later suggested Crowe for Tom Bombadil.

00:22:05 - Ken Watanabe (The Last Samurai) may be cast as one of the Blue Wizards (possibly Rómestámo the"East-helper").

00:25:40 - Ghassan Massouid (Kingdom of Heaven) might be the other Blue Wizard (Morinehtar the "Darkness-slayer"?).

00:38:30 - Lenny Henry may be cast as a Dwarf (either Narvi the craftsman or a Dwarf king, maybe Durin III?). Why not a Man of Far Harad I don't know; that seems a bit more likely to me.

00:43:04 - Howard Shore is not composing the soundtrack but has been approached as a consultant. No composer has yet been named. The series is said to have the largest musical budget in history for a series. Possible composers include: James Newton Howard (Peter Jackson's King Kong); James Horner (Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan; already busted as garbage. Horner died in 2015); Trevor Jones (The Dark Crystal).

00:56:30 - The show is currently shooting in the west Auckland area called West Henderson. They've been filming a lot of night shoots.

01:00:12 - Amazon is trying to figure out a way to get Hobbits in the show. This rumor is given a pretty low probability. Hobbits don't show up in the history of Middle-earth until Bilbo Baggins takes part in the Quest of Erebor. Members of the Fellowship of the Ring could possibly be used as a framing device for the series.

01:15:00 - The two-part pilot might premiere in November or December 2021 to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the premiere of The Fellowship of the Ring. The rest of the first season might air in early 2022. A trailer might appear around the time of the 2021 San Diego Comic Con (even if it a virtual event).

And now we know the name of the first female director on the show. Fellowship of Fans revealed that she is Swedish-French director Charlotte Brändström.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUmnozNZqB0

On Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/...Br%C3%A4ndstr%C3%B6m