I have a confession. I am a huge Tolkien fan, but when news of Amazon’s big-budget Lord of the Rings TV franchise hit social media, I furrowed my brow and scratched my head in puzzlement. With six super-sized films, I thought, did we really need a TV adaption as well?
Judging by the reaction of friends and fellow fans, I wasn’t alone – even the actor John Rhys-Davies (AKA Gimli) argued that Tolkien would be “spinning in his grave”. As The Guardian’s Stuart Heritage put it: “The initial reaction to the Lord of the Rings show was a heavy, sustained groan that could be heard the world over.”
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