Long before he swooped in to save the day as superhero Bob Newby in Netflix’s Stranger Things, Sean Astin was busy making his way to the pits of Mordor in The Lord of the Rings, Peter Jackson’s timeless fantasy epic that’s now been earmarked for a potential TV spinoff over at Amazon.
News of Amazon’s proposed series broke late last week, and while online opinion is split – some believe it’s nigh time for another visit to Middle-earth, while others are of the mindset that Jackson’s cinematic trilogy should be left alone – Sean Astin has now weighed in on the matter at hand.
Astin, who starred as Samwise Gamgee in The Lord of the Rings, stopped by EW Radio (SiriusXM 105) recently to discuss season 2 of Stranger Things, along with Amazon’s tentative plans for a TV revival.
I saw that the other day, and I thought that was intriguing. I’ve been saying for 15 years that maybe like 12 years after Lord of the Rings came out, that it would get remade. And people always said, ‘Oh no, it’ll never get remade! It’s a classic! They could never top it!’ And I’m like, ‘No, it’ll get remade. It’s a massive story! The characters are so beloved.’
Further in the interview, the actor was then asked about his own interest in reprising the role of Sam, to which he replied:
I’m carrying the Samwise banner for the Peter Jackson version of Lord of the Rings. When I saw the Amazon thing, that didn’t even occur to me. I just sort of thought, ‘What would it be like to see the next Sam there?’ I think it’s an intriguing idea [but] the devil’s in the details. How would they do it? How? Who?
As Astin so rightly points out, there’s still much we don’t know about Amazon’s plans for The Lord of the Rings, so it’s impossible to give a fair assessment without being privy to the actual pitch. Still, if the online giant manages to carve out a brand new story set within Middle-earth, as opposed to rebooting Jackson’s original trilogy, then consider us intrigued.
In fact, here’s an idea from Samwise himself:
The Mines of Moria are referred to a lot in Lord of the Rings. And I guess in the Hobbit trilogy, you spent a little time with them, but the culture of the dwarves in the mines, I would love to see like five hours of that.
The Lord of the Rings is officially on the table over at Amazon, whose planned TV series is still simmering in the formative stages of development. Sean Astin, meanwhile, believes it was only a matter of time before J.R.R. Tolkien’s literary masterpiece was optioned for another adaptation, but what say you? Be sure to leave your thoughts below.
Published: Nov 7, 2017 06:40 pm