The Silmarillion is a collection of mythological stories or novels written by the famous J.R.R Tolkien. Like many of J.R.R Tolkien’s distinguished works, The Silmarillion features an extensive storyline with great depth packed with adventure and fantasy. Tolkien wrote five parts to the Silmarillion trilogy, including the work published by his son Christopher Tolkien in 1977. To date, there are no signs that the novel will be made into a film, despite all the rumors.
Development of the text
Tolkien wrote some of his earliest drafts of the Silmarillion stories dating back to as early as 1925 including a ‘Sketch of the Mythology.’ The concepts for characters and themes were underdeveloped from previous writings Tolkien had written when he was hospitalized as a British officer. Indeed, the famous writer was a soldier stationed in France during World War 1 and got trench fever during his service. Later on, after his success in writing The Hobbit, Tolkien presented his writings on the Silmarillion but was rejected and asked to continue writing his sequels of The Hobbit.
However, Tolkien never abandoned his works on the Silmarillion as he regarded them as the most important writings in his tales of Middle-Earth in accordance with his tales in The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit sagas. Near his death in 1973, the writer progressed his Silmarillion texts but unfortunately, did not manage to get very far.
The movie that never happened
The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit have become world-famous, and are some of the greatest fantasy novels to cinema that the world has seen to date. The amount of detail and backing story that Tolkien has summed up to create these worlds are like none other. The Silmarillion would be another great piece of work in cinematography following the extensive film trilogies of its predecessors. The events that happened in the Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings universe all revolve around the events from the Silmarillion story, particularly the story arc of Sauron’s origin and how he rose to power.
When he was working on the Silmarillion, Tolkien wrote on complex topics including the origin of Orcs, the evil nature of Arda, customs of Elves, and the Elvish rebirth as well as the flat world and the myth around the Sun. Peter Jackson wanted to show all of this on the big screen, but couldn’t because of copyright issues. That said, you can rejoice since a TV series about the 2nd age is in production now that the legal situation of the Silmarillion is in a better place.
The Hobbit
The novel was first published in 1937. Set in Middle-Earth 60 years before the events of The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit closely follows the story of Bilbo Baggins and Gandalf. The Hobbit film trilogy consists of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012), The Hobbit the Desolation of Smaug (2013), and The Hobbit The Battle of the Five Armies (2014). These movies are action-packed and present an intricate storyline with fantastical ethnic groups based on mythology and J.R.R Tolkien’s way of putting every detail in the right place. The cinematography of each of the movies is astounding and is to date some of the best medieval fantasy films ever to come to television.
The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings is the older trilogy written consisting of the following movies: The Fellowship of the Rings (2001), The Two Towers (2002), and The Return of the King (2003). In this epic trilogy, we follow Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee; 2 hobbits who embark on a quest to destroy the Ring that rules them all. Their goal is to stop the destruction of the Dark Lord Sauron, from whom the power of the ring emerges. Frodo receives aid from many characters such as Sam and the mischievous Gollum. While this is happening, we also see a group of heroes fighting for the people of Middle-Earth. In this group, we see Aragorn, the heir in exile to the throne of Gondor, Legolas, Gimli, the wizard Gandalf, Boromir, Pippin, and Merry. They set their difference aside in order to help each other in the war of the ring.
Conclusion: Is there a new TV series of The Lord of the Rings being made?
To conclude we would all love to immerse ourselves into another of J.R.R Tolkien’s wonderful and magnificent world of fantasy. As previously mentioned, a movie of the Silmarillion was not possible at the time. However, a new TV series is now in production, and soon fans can finally dive again into this fantastic world. Please note that this long-awaited TV show will be an Amazon exclusive and is due to release somewhere around the end of 2021 or in 2022. We can all cross our fingers and hope that it will be as epic and beautiful as the previous movie trilogies.
