LOTR Director Peter Jackson Will Not Showrun Amazon's New Middle-Earth Series, But Still Remains Involved

Director Peter Jackson has been a staple of the Lord of the Rings franchise since its conception in the early 2000s. His involvement in the series has garnered the trilogy numerous Academy Awards, with the films already being regarded as classics. This initial trilogy was further told through The Hobbit films, a tale that was stretched far too long considering the source material. Like Star Wars before, it the prequel series was met with divide among fans, even though the quality of The Hobbit movies was recieved more warmly by critics.

Amazon’s Lord of the Rings series has once again gotten fans excited about the prospect of another Middle-Earth adventure. Rumored to be focused on a young Aragorn, fans have wondered to what extent Peter Jackson will be involved, if any at all. Unsurprisingly, it turns out the auteur will be involved in Amazon’s billion dollar investment. Speaking with an outlet regarding Mortal Engines, Jackson stated that he will be constructing a creative committee for the upcoming television series.

I had a phone conversation with Amazon on that one — I think that was over a year ago and it sounded like they were doing the right thing [with the show], they have very good intentions with it, it all sounds very fascinating and exciting. However, I would not want to be the one responsible for the entire TV series, simply because I’ve never been responsible for a [long-term] series like this before in my life. So it would not be very smart if I took on the role of showrunner. What I’m actually doing right now is putting the creative team [behind the series] together.

At this point it is easy to assume that Jackson won't have a lot of personal influence on the project past this contribution. It would be delightful to see him direct the pilot for the show, similar to how Joss Whedon directed the first episode of Agents of Shield, and was credited as a executive producer (in name only) past that point.

It would be logical to add Fran Walsh and Phillipa Boyens to the creative committee that Jackson is assembling, and it would be very intriguing to see if they would showrun the project as well. As producers and writers of the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit Trilogies, their involvement in the franchise is almost as integral as Jackson's. It would be interesting to see how they would tackle long-term storytelling after winning Academy Awards for their work on the franchise.