After the first season of The Rings of Power, which divided fans, Warner Bros. has announced the start of the new Lord of the Rings movies!

Last August, the Swedish company Embracer, which specializes in video games, acquired Middle-earth Enterprises, the firm that owns the entire works of JRR Tolkien.

“I’m so happy to see Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, two of the most epic fantasy franchises, will join the Embracer family. This will allow a number of possibilities in terms of transmediality, but also great synergy within the group as a whole. “said Lars Wingefors, president of the Swedish company, in August 2022.

On February 23, 2023, Warner Bros. Discovery, with the voice of its CEO Davit Zaslav, so it announced a partnership with Embracer. This agreement was reached in order to begin production of new films around the Lord of the Rings franchise.

These feature films are produced under the direction of Warner subsidiary New Line Cinema, as well as the two Peter Jackson trilogies.

“The Lord of the Rings is one of the greatest franchises of all time, we can’t wait”Delighted David Zaslav.

Return to Middle Earth

“Twenty years ago, New Line showed an unprecedented blind faith in the incredible stories, characters and world of The Lord of the Rings. The result was a monumental series of films that generations of fans have enjoyed.”said Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdi, Warner Bros. Pictures Group co-presidents.

“Yet for all the breadth and detail lovingly captured in the two trilogies, the vast, complex and vivid world imagined by JRR Tolkien remains largely unexplored on film.”added to them.

“The opportunity to invite fans to dive deeper into the cinematic world of Middle-earth is an honor, and we’re thrilled to partner with Middle-earth Enterprises and Embracer on this adventure.”The two leaders concluded.

Is Peter Jackson involved?

The big question immediately following this revelation was: Will Peter Jackson be involved in the production of these films? The director and his partners, Philippa Boyens and Fran Walsh, responded to this statement. Deadline.

If they remain rather evasive and cryptic about their involvement, the American media will ensure it “If they didn’t say yes, they didn’t really say no”.

“Warner Bros. and Embracer have kept us informed every step of the way. We look forward to speaking with them to hear their vision for the future of the franchise.”– said the trio.

This announcement is quite encouraging, as we know that the three artists were not involved in the production of the TV series The Rings of Power, which was released on Prime Video last year.

The nature of the deal between Embracer and Warner Bros. has not been released. Will we have the rights to a new adaptation or different spin-offs of the original trilogy? We will know more in the coming months. Anyway, an animated movie, War of the Rohirrim, is already planned for April 10, 2024.

This work will focus on the mighty King of Rohan, Helm Hammerhand, and the legendary battle that helped shape Middle-earth. The action takes place about 250 years before Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Note that Warner has also announced its intention to create new feature films around the Harry Potter license. So the future looks magical for the studio.