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Lord of the Rings TV Show May Focus On Young Aragorn
Amazon's Lord of the Rings TV series will reportedly focus on a younger version of Aragorn, one of the protagonists from the novels as well as the film trilogy, in which he was played by Viggo Mortensen. If true, the news serves as one of the biggest hints regarding the show's story.
It was reported last November that a live-action Lord of the Rings TV series was in development with a multi-season commitment from Amazon Studios. The news brought mixed reactions from fans, with some excited for the new series, while others, including Gimli actor John Rhys-Davies, expressed concern that the show was nothing more than a cash-grab. The highly anticipated TV series has a proposed budget of $500 million, but this could go up to a staggering $1 billion.
J.R.R. Tolkien fansite TheOneRing reports that the series "will open its first season centered on a young Aragorn," and they claim that they've confirmed the news with multiple sources. Given that they've gotten news right before about Peter Jackson's The Hobbit trilogy, it stands to reason that they could be right about this news as well.
This rumor lines up with what little has been revealed about the series so far, which is that it will function as a Lord of the Rings prequel rather than a re-telling of the story. Since the movies have already partially explored the backstories of the other heroes in the films, including Gandalf (Ian McKellen) and Legolas (Orlando Bloom), it would make sense for the series to center on Aragorn, a character whose early history hasn't received a lot of attention on-screen.
As a human, Aragorn doesn't have as long of a lifespan of an elf, giving writers slightly less freedom in where they can take the character. However, Aragorn's past still offers plenty of storytelling opportunities. Prior to his role in Fellowship of the Ring, Aragorn was an adventurer who spent much of his time traveling across various locations in Middle Earth. The show could expand on any one of Aragorn's early exploits, such as his time as a Ranger of the North or fighting in the army of King Thengel of Rohan. As Aragorn could easily have had adventures that were never recorded in the original novels, the series could dive into a whole new story.
It's worth noting that Aragorn had interactions with other Lords of the Rings characters long before the movies. We know that Aragorn met Gandalf at some point in his travels. Ian McKellen doesn't seem too keen on the idea of another actor portraying Gandalf, which is why some fans are speculating that the actor may be interested in returning to the role. If McKellan returns, fans could potentially learn more about his friendship with Aragorn.
