Actor Elijah Wood, who played Frodo in Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings film series, has sounded off on Amazon’s new TV show based on Middle-earth. He told IndieWire that he’s “super fascinated” with what Amazon is doing, but he believes calling it “Lord of the Rings” is misleading.
“They’re calling it ‘The Lord of the Rings,’ but I think that’s slightly misleading. From what I understand, the material they are working on exists chronologically further back in history in the lore of Lord of the Rings or Middle-earth than any characters represented in Lord of the Rings,” he said. “It sounds more Silmarillion era. Not to get nerdy, but it’s the Second Age of Middle-earth.”
Wood, who stressed that he has no inside knowledge about Amazon’s series, said he’s “curious” about the stories the new Lord of the Rings show may choose to tell. He added that he’s happy that it’s filming in New Zealand because that will give it an element of continuity with the film series, which also filmed there.
Also in the interview, Wood said he would be agreeable to appearing in Amazon’s Lord of the Rings show in a cameo role if he gets asked. “Absolutely,” he said. “If there was a world where that made sense and was organic to what they’re doing than yes. Look, any excuse to get to go to New Zealand to work on something I am absolutely there.”
The Lord of the Rings TV show takes place during the Second Age, but there is no word on any of the characters who might appear in it or by what means the show will handle its time period. The Second Age is a 3,441-year era that had some huge events happen: the forging of the Rings of Power, the war with Sauron, the creation of the Ringwraiths, and when the island of Numenor sank into the sea.
The Lord of the Rings TV show was one of multiple projects that was recently cleared to resume production again in New Zealand now that COVID-19 cases have slowed down in the country.