What is going on with the Lord of the Rings film and TV rights?

Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings may be a perfect trilogy, but that doesn't mean that a variety of companies aren't keen to find a way to add to its legacy with new films and TV shows.

On Thursday, 9 May, Warner Bros. announced its intentions to make two new films to be released from 2026 onwards starting with The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum. This, alongside the continuation of The Rings of Power and an animated film, has had some fans of J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle Earth scratching their heads over the current state of the franchise.

To try and simplify things, here is everything that you need to know about the Lord of the Rings film and TV franchise and its future.

What is going on with the Lord of the Rings film and TV rights?

The Lord of the Rings franchise has proven to be a very successful and lucrative one, particularly following the success of Jackson's trilogy and The Hobbit follow-ups. In the years since it's felt like companies have been clamouring to try and find ways to continue celebrating Tolkien's world onscreen.

Read more: Richard Armitage on The Hobbit, Red Eye, and always returning to Harlan Coben

What this has meant is that there are now multiple different projects relating to Lord of the Rings, from different companies, all at once. Let's break it down.

Who owns the rights for The Lord of the Rings movies?

Film producer Saul Zaentz first bought the film adaptation rights to The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit books in the 1970s from United Artists, who had in turn acquired the rights from Tolkien himself. This is what led to the creation of the 1978 animated film, and later allowed Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema to buy the rights to make and release their own films — Jackson's two trilogies.

In a bid to retain the film adaptation rights to The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit books, Warner Bros. announced it was fast-tracking production on the animated film The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim back in 2021. This film is now being released in December 2024.

The War of the Rohirrim is an animated prequel to the trilogy, and it focuses on the king of Rohan Helm Hammerhand (voiced by Brian Cox) and his battle against an army of Dunlendings.

Despite Warner Bros. best efforts to retain their rights, Embracer Group AB successfully bought the film adaptation rights from Zaentz's company in August 2022. However all is not lost as Warner Bros. did make a deal with them, and as a result the company announced its intention to make more Lord of the Rings films back in 2023.

What is the next live action Lord of the Rings movie?

It has now been confirmed that Warner Bros. will be making two new movies, and the first of these will be directed by Andy Serkis who will also star once again as Gollum in a film tentatively titled The Hunt for Gollum.

The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum is aiming for a 2026 release, and Jackson and his longtime writing partners Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens "will be involved every step of the way" of the production. It has been confirmed that Boyens and Walsh will write the screenplay.

Watch: Peter Jackson Working on New 'Lord Of The Rings' Films To Release in 2026

In a joint statement, the trio said: "It is an honour and a privilege to travel back to Middle-earth with our good friend and collaborator, Andy Serkis, who has unfinished business with that stinker - Gollum!

"As life long fans of Professor Tolkien’s vast mythology, we are proud to be working with [WBD film chiefs] Mike De Luca, Pam Abdy and the entire team at Warner Bros. on another epic adventure!"

It's not known yet what the second film will be about, but Warner Bros. has stated it wants to explore “storylines yet to be told.” What we do know is that Warner Bros. holds the rights to adapt the events of the Third Age of Middle Earth, and this includes most of the characters fans know and love from The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit books.

Lord of the Rings on TV

This brings us to the elephant in the room — no, not Tolkien's Oliphaunts — but the TV rights for the franchise, which are owned by Amazon. The company has already started its TV spin-off with The Rings of Power, which is set to have five seasons in total.

Based on the appendices of The Lord of the Rings books, The Rings of Power explores stories like the forging of the great rings, Sauron's emergence of Middle Earth and the fall of Númenor. Season two of the series is expected to be released in 2024.

Amazon holds the rights to adapt the Second Age of Middle Earth, hence its focus on the events set out in the appendices of the Lord of the Rings. Here's where it gets tricky, though. Amazon does not hold the rights to The Silmarillion — Tolkien's complex, detailed exploration of how Middle Earth came to be in the First Age, which includes the rise of Sauron's predecessor Morgoth.

Before the first season was released, showrunners Patrick McKay and J.D. Payne explained this to Vanity Fair by saying: "We do not have the rights to The Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales, The History of Middle-Earth, or any of those other books… We worked in conjunction with world-renowned Tolkien scholars and the Tolkien estate to make sure that the ways we connected the dots were Tolkien-ian and gelled with the experts’ and the estate’s understanding of the material."

Now, some of the events in The Silmarillion are included in the appendices, such as the fall of Númenor, so these events can be adapted by Amazon — but anything else is off limits. Jackson faced a similar issue with his films, hence why when Radagast the Brown was introduced in The Hobbit there were careful steps made to ensure that other wizards, who appear in The Silmarillion, were not mentioned.

It all seems very complicated, but the basic gist of it is this: Warner Bros. has the right to make films based on The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit and the events in Third Age of Middle Earth, while Amazon has the TV rights to the Second Age of Middle Earth as set out in those books.

No one has the film or TV adaptation rights for The Silmarillion, or other books by Tolkien, as the Tolkien estate has chosen not to sell these.

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 2 will premiere on Prime Video, The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim will come to cinemas on 13 December, 2024.

The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum is expected to be released in 2026.