Many viewers and film critics around the world are interested in whether there will be a continuation of "The Lord of the Rings"? Still, the three films released in 2001-2003 not only paid off well and earned 17 Oscars, but also acquired an army of fans. However, in order to fully answer the question whether there will be a continuation of the film "The Lord of the Rings", it is necessary to study the universe more deeply, which will be done in the article.
History of writing a book
To begin with, John Ronald Rowel Tolkien initially wanted to write only “The Hobbit” - a children's book, a good and exciting fairy tale, which was published back in 1937. Moreover, this was only the tip of the iceberg, but in fact by that time the world created by the author was much more diverse and richer. For example, the creation of the book The Silmarillion, which most fully shows the world of Middle-earth, began as early as 1917. It was then that the author, having discussed with experts the lack of a full-fledged English epic, received a proposal to create it, and enthusiastically set to work, relying primarily on ancient German myths.
The Lord of the Rings book itself was written and published after the war. Moreover, several publishers rejected it, finding various reasons. As a result, readers were able to get acquainted with her only in 1954. The post-war crisis in England even hit paper production, so a cautious publisher demanded to divide the book into six parts to see if it would be in demand. Subsequently, the book was reprinted many times - both in six parts, and in three, as well as in a single volume.
And even then, many readers were interested in whether there would be a continuation of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. And it really was, but more on that later.
Animated films
The first attempt to film The Lord of the Rings was made by Ralph Bakshi in 1978. And they did it in the form of a cartoon. The director wanted to fit the trilogy in two parts, so the action of the animated film showed the first part ("The Brotherhood of the Ring") and the beginning of the second ("Two Strongholds"). However, due to financial difficulties, the second part was never withdrawn - the audience waited in vain, racking their brains, whether there would be a sequel to The Lord of the Rings.
Soon, already in 1980, Jules Bass and Arthur Rankin, who had previously shot The Hobbit, also shot a cartoon based on the plot of the third part (The Return of the Sovereign). The picture did not contain the epic that the book possessed, and more resembled an ordinary fairy tale.
Jackson's Legendary Films
A truly serious attempt to film immortal works was made only at the beginning of the XXI century by director Peter Jackson. For three years - from 2001 to 2003 - he released three beautifully shot films. He tried to accurately convey not only the plot, but also the atmosphere of the work. This is especially noticeable when viewing the directorial version. Each of them is longer than theatrical by about 40-45 minutes. Beautiful and quite appropriate special effects, a great play of actors and amazing attention to detail breathed a second life into the universe - its popularity survived the second boom, surpassing even the peak of interest after the publication of the book.
Not surprisingly, viewers wanted to know if the sequel to The Lord of the Rings would be released. And it came out. More precisely, not the continuation, but the background.
From 2012 to 2014, three films "The Hobbit" were released. The director was still the same Peter Jackson, although Del Toro almost took his place. Fortunately, Jackson continued to work and remained true to himself - the films were epic. Despite the fact that the volume of The Hobbit is much inferior to The Lord of the Rings, the scriptwriters managed to turn it into three great films, adding many points that took place in the universe, but were hardly mentioned in the book. Children's book began to play with new colors. However, this can’t be called a rework - the events in the fairy tale are described as really important and epic, which the director tried to show.
But after that, viewers even more often became interested in whether there will be a continuation of “The Lord of the Rings” after “The Hobbit”.
The audience saw only a small part of the magnificence
Perhaps a person who is not too familiar with the universe of Middle-earth (the world where the actions of six films are unfolding), it will be surprising to see that he saw only a small part of the story. Yes, yes, because the history of Arda (the book universe) is almost 14 thousand years old - key events are described in some detail by Tolkien in books and drafts. At the same time , the Hobbit trilogy shows only one year. Yes, and most of the events of the three films "Lord of the Rings" also fit into the year.
But here a small digression should be made. In the film, from the moment Bilbo left the ring to his nephew Frodo, only a few days passed before the events telling about the beginning of the dangerous journey of an inexperienced hobbit. And according to the book, Frodo lived quietly in Torba-on-Croix for 17 years and carefully arranged his departure so that his disappearance did not attract too much attention (he was seriously afraid of persecution by the servants of Sauron, who wanted to get the Ring at all costs). In any case, the reader can calculate for himself how many important moments that determine the fate of Middle-earth and its peoples are left behind the scenes.
The world is most fully described in the work The Silmarillion, which is familiar only to the most active fans. In a full-fledged book, which was published after the death of Tolkien, the entire War of the Ring takes only a few pages.
Therefore, fans of the universe, who watched only six films (well, maybe cartoons) and claiming that they know her story well, are clearly mistaken.
What books can still be filmed
Quite often, admirers of the works of John Tolkien and Peter Jackson, arguing over whether there will be a continuation of The Lord of the Rings, ask themselves: what other books could be filmed? In fact, the list is really long. After all, the writer left behind several books, as well as a huge number of drafts, which his son Christopher Tolkien painstakingly processes, sometimes publishing new books.
These are “Children of Khurin”, “The Tale of Beren and Lutien,” “The Unfinished Tales of Numenor and Middle-earth,” and many others. They reveal all the beauty and diversity of the universe created by him.
However, Christopher Tolkien, who has exclusive rights to the majority of books (John Tolkien sold the rights to the adaptation of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings for a ridiculous amount of money in his lifetime), was dissatisfied with the existing adaptations and didn’t want films made on his father’s other books .
To be continued?
But in March 2018, many fans debating whether the sequel to The Lord of the Rings would be filmed got good news. It turns out that Amazon is going to create an entire series consisting of at least two seasons. Moreover, his budget amounted to half a billion dollars - the largest amount to date allocated to the series. Unfortunately, no information has been received about exactly what events will be covered in these episodes. The creators only mentioned that it would not be a re-shoot of The Lord of the Rings, but a backstory.
So the fans can only wait and hope for the best.
Conclusion
The article not only made an attempt to answer the question whether the sequel to The Lord of the Rings would be continued, but also told about the history of the creation of books and even about the history of an amazing magical world. Well, time will tell whether there will be films or series that could be called a worthy continuation of the two legendary trilogies.