Warner Bros and New Line have announced that they are going to be working on more cinematic entries for The Lord Of The Rings and Middle-earth. "Multiple" movies are planned that draw on the same source material available for the previous trilogies, namely the books for The Lord Of The Rings and The Hobbit as well as the Appendices.

The Lord Of The Rings // New Line Cinema

There are no words on exactly what stories are going to be covered yet or indeed how these stories are going to be presented but it seems like both Warner Bros and New Line are intent to plumb the depths of Tolkien's Middle-earth for some interesting stories to tell. I would imagine that we're not going to be seeing them redo The Lord Of The Rings but there are plenty of interesting ways they could go with these new movies.

Interestingly, Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens have been in contact with the big wigs at Warner Bros and New Line over this decision and whilst it's not confirmed if they'll be helming any of these future films, it could be interesting to see them get another bite at the cherry.

What Could We See On Screen?

Well, the world is their oyster. We won't be seeing anything First Age because The Silmarillion is still off the table. Amazon has focused on the Second Age and whilst it would be interesting to see New Line's take on that, it doesn't seem like there will be much toe-treading in that regard.

I think that we could see a focus on the war in the north, the rise of Angmar, the Witch-King and the collapse of the old kingdoms in Arnor. There is also the chance that we could see Aragorn's past explored where he took up the name Thorongil and fought alongside Rohan and Gondor in ages past. Maybe we could see Aragorn and Gandalf chasing down Gollum?

I would also like to see them do something animated. The War Of The Rohirrim is an anime lined up for release in 2024 but imagine if they did an animated take on The Hobbit. A wonderful animated version of The Hobbit, perhaps with del Toro back to try and recreate his vision of Middle-earth, would be amazing.

On The Tabletop?

This also obviously opens up space for Games Workshop to start thinking about where they'd go with the Middle-earth Strategy Battle Game. With the potential of new movies on the horizon, the chance for Games Workshop to keep its hands on the miniature wargaming rights and design new games/sculpts doesn't seem a far-off possibility. Exciting stuff!

The possibilities are endless and I just hope that whatever comes out, the project is given the time to be perfected!

Where do you think things could go with the future of Middle-earth in movie form?