Philippa Boyens, the screenwriter for Andy Serkis’ upcoming The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum, explained why she has not watched any of Amazon MGM Studios’ The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power series.
Andy Serkis as Gollum in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002), Warner Bros. Pictures
Speaking with Deadline about the upcoming The Hunt for Gollum film, Boyens was asked about the upcoming film competing with The Rings of Power. As part of her answer, she revealed she has not watched the series at all.
Boyens said, “There’s room enough for lots of people to exist within that space. We’ve never wanted to be the gatekeepers of Middle-earth. Sometimes other people put you in that position, but we don’t feel that.”
“Honestly, I haven’t seen any of [the series]. I didn’t want to go watch because I genuinely didn’t want to be influenced,” she explained. “But I think it’s a fantastic era, as a choice. The making of the rings of power is a brilliant piece of storytelling. It’s a great era, full of fascinating characters.”
An orc in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (2024), Amazon MGM Studios
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In fact, Boyens shared that she’d be interested in getting the rights to Tolkien’s other works aside from the original trilogy and the appendices.
She noted, “We have the right to the Lord of the Rings and the appendices, and that’s it.”
However, she added, “I would love to see that expand if there was the opportunity to do so, but there is so much that is in those three books. I know that especially hardcore fans of Professor Tolkien, they always get nervous that there’s only so much story. But look at War of the Rohirrim. It’s a page and a half at first glance in the books. But there are lots of threads throughout the book.”
Morfydd Clark (Galadriel) in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (2022), Prime Video
Boyens is not the only The Lord of the Rings film veteran that did not watch any of the Rings of Power. The late Bernard Hill, who played King Theoden in Peter Jackson’s film adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s novels told Metro back at the end of November 2022 he had no interest in watching the series. He told the outlet, “No, not interested.”
As for why he was not interested, he shared, “It’s a money-making venture and I’m not interested in watching that or being in it. Good luck to them and all that stuff but it’s not like the real thing.”
Bernard Hill as King Theoden in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003), Warner Bros. Pictures
In fact, when asked if Tolkien’s work would have been better left to Jackson’s original trilogy, Hill responded, “Completely, yes.”
He added, “I think they were pushing it when they made The Hobbit. The Hobbit’s a tiny book. They did it well – they did it really, really well. They expanded it [but] I think you can only stretch a piece of elastic so far. I think they managed it in The Hobbit because there were some really good things in The Hobbit without a doubt.”
Bernard Hill as King Theoden in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003), Warner Bros. Pictures
What do you make of Boyens revealing she’s never seen The Rings of Power? What do you make of her explanation as to why?
NEXT: Peter Jackson Explains Why He’s Returning To ‘The Lord Of The Rings’ With ‘The Hunt For Gollum’
Jackson and Boyens have no need to gatekeep against Rings of Power– there are plenty of dedicated Tolkien fans ready to do that themselves…