Yesterday evening, Variety dropped something of a bombshell announcement: according to their report, Warner Bros. and Amazon Studios are currently in negotiations to get a Lord Of The Rings series off the ground. Yes, that Lord Of The Rings.

Here's the pertinent info:

"Warner Bros. Television and the estate of J.R.R. Tolkien are in talks with Amazon Studiosto develop a series based on the late author’s The Lord of the Rings novels. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is said by sources with knowledge of the situation to be personally involved in the negotiations, which are still in very early stages. No deal has been set."

Variety goes on to say that WB and the Tolkien estate have been shopping this project around as of late, and that Amazon has emerged as the likely frontrunner. At this point, nothing further is known about the series, but it's not hard to imagine why a network would be interested: wasn't long ago that Peter Jackson's trilogy was raking in big money (and a few Oscars) at the box office, and with Game Of Thrones on its way out over at HBO, there'll be a void to fill in terms of big-budget, TV-based fantasy.

Is this a good idea? Hell, I don't know. While I enjoyed Jackson's non-Hobbit Tolkien trilogy and recognize the undeniable popularity of the entire Rings franchise, it still seems awfully soon to be dipping back into that world. I think I'd like to know who's gonna showrun this beast before I start firming up any opinions.

How about you folks? You into this or nah? Sound off below.