J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings mythology has been described as many things over the decades in both a positive and negative fashion, but sexy has never been one of them. So you can understand why eyebrows were raised at the news that a casting call went out looking for actors comfortable with nudity that seemed to be for Amazon’s upcoming TV show.
Indeed, further digging by some online sleuths appeared to uncover that intimacy coordinator Jennefer Ward-Lealand had been hired to work on a mystery project for the company, which is believed to be the $465 million first season of The Lord of the Rings. Now, a new petition has been launched by Catholic Memes demanding that the streaming service refrain from including sex scenes in the hotly anticipated fantasy series, and you can read the reasoning below.
“Amazon Prime has an upcoming Lord of the Rings series set before the trilogy. They have hired “intimacy coaches” and have asked that actors be comfortable with doing nude scenes in the castings. Tolkien’s work is truly wholesome and packed with incredible Christian symbolism. He was a devout Catholic, and his memory does not need to be stained with gratuitous nudity or even nudity in the slightest. Tolkien’s creations have always been mostly FAMILY friendly…KEEP IT THAT WAY.”
At the time of writing, over 32,000 people have lent their signatures to the petition, although there hasn’t exactly been a confirmation or denial from Amazon that The Lord of the Rings will be getting down and dirty. Intimacy coordinators are a standard part of any major production these days whether there’s graphic sex and nudity or not, so it could simply be a case of the production team having all the bases covered.
Then again, there’s always the lingering feeling that the streamer will hew a little too close to the Game of Thrones template seeing as the eight seasons in Westeros turned the HBO smash hit into the biggest and most popular show on the planet. While that’s certainly a benchmark that The Lord of the Rings should be aiming for in terms of critical acclaim, accolades and awards season glory, the lore is dense and engaging enough as it is without pushing the boundaries when it comes to sauciness.
