For years, the subscription game has been dominated by Netflix and HBO, although now it seems as though Amazon wants a piece of the action. Original productions are particularly popular at the moment, given the success of HBO's world-renowned 'Game of Thrones'.
Streaming services all over have forever wanted to find their own 'Game of Thrones', and now with the imminent series finale, the perfect opportunity has arrived. So far, Amazon have taken the lead in the search with the announcement that they were developing a spin-off series based on 'The Lord of the Rings'. Whilst we haven't heard much from fans of the franchise, the original cast from the films haven't wasted any time in expressing their opinions.
John Rhys-Davies, who played Gimli in the films directed by Peter Jackson, spoke to Den of Geek about what he thought about Amazon's latest venture.
"Why we quite need Lord Of The Rings as a TV series baffles me slightly, but I'm sure that [honesty I can't make out the word here and I don't think it's wise to make an educated guess] are so utterly un-principled and greedy for money for anything - I mean the extraordinary money they're getting from online gambling and stuff like this, it's just a disgrace. I mean, poor Tolkien must be spinning in his grave."
A homage to Tolkien
"Lord Of The Rings spin-off an awful lot of imitations about elves and dwarves and things like that and I would simply buy those up and put them together", said Rhys-Davies. "That would make a far more interesting account of Tolkien's words." As an example, the actor mentioned a series of novels he was sent about a female dwarf. "It costs less to make and it would be original and fresh, but then what the hell do I know!?", he concluded.
Amazon already has a variety of successful series including 'Transparent', 'The Tick' and 'The Man in the High Castle'. How will the public receive their upcoming series, we wonder?
