The Lord of the Rings: New Movies About Gandalf, Aragorn & Gollum?! Please do not! – Comment

• The Embracer Group is planning new The Lord of the Rings movies.
• It is said to be a spin-off about Gandalf, Aragorn and Gollum.
• However, all of the characters had their best stories in The Lord of the Rings.

On September 2, 2022, “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” will start streaming. But Amazon Prime Video’s “The Lord of the Rings” series doesn’t seem to be the only thing awaiting us from Middle-earth in the near future. The Swedish media company Embracer Group recently secured the rights to “The Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit” to produce films and video games.

Possible spin-offs about Gandalf, Aragorn, Gollum, Galadriel and Eowyn, all of whom are already known from the “Lord of the Rings” films, were envisaged. But this announcement sounds a little like reheated coffee. It just can’t taste good anymore!

In Peter Jackson’s films, of all things, the characters named by the Embracer Group have well-rounded and self-contained stories, so that hardly any wishes remain unfulfilled. Especially with Aragorn, Gandalf and Gollum!

A film about Aragorn’s childhood would be possible, because we don’t learn much about that. But is this story really necessary? Even so, Aragorn’s journey to becoming King of Gondor is more than comprehensible, so illuminating his childhood days would add nothing of value to the whole.

Gollum himself has been shown in the films in flashbacks through the years. We see his struggle with himself and his conclusion when he saves the whole world out of greed by pushing Frodo and his Ring of Power into the lava of Mount Doom. There is not much more that can be said about Gollum!

A little more background knowledge would be possible with Gandalf, but it is precisely the mysterious appearance out of nowhere and Gandalf’s disappearance for his own missions in “The Hobbit” that make up the character. Do we really want to see stories about Gandalf that have less relevance to Middle-earth than the ones we’ve already seen?

It is unclear whether Embracer Group is doing itself a favor with new films. Especially since it is also clear here: The Embracer Group has no rights to other Tolkien works and can therefore only tell stories within the framework of the Lord of the Rings or The Hobbit (and here only the films, not even the books). After all, Amazon has some rights to “The Silmarillion” and can therefore tell significantly more stories.

New information about the plans of the Embracer Group will definitely come soon. First, “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” Season 1 starts. Next year, Season 2 of “The Lord of the Rings” series will follow. An anime film, The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim, is set to hit theaters in 2024.