During their summer Television Critics Association panel last year, Amazon announced JD Payne and Patrick McKay would write and run their Lord of the Rings series. Announcements from this winter’s Amazon TCA session weren’t quite as major, but we still got some updates on the streaming series.

/Film asked Jennifer Salke, Head of Amazon Studios Television, what exactly Peter Jackson’s involvement in the series may be. There have certainly been rumors that he would be involved, having brought to the screen the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit trilogies. There have also been refutations of that rumor. Having Jackson would ensure some connectivity between the Amazon series and the movies, if that’s even something they want.

“We don’t have any news on Peter Jackson,” Salke said. “There hasn’t been any negativity around it. We just don’t have any news on that yet and what his involvement may be.”

That sounds like Amazon would like Jackson to be involved. And why wouldn’t they? The Jackson films have grossed billions of dollars. He’d be in a great position to negotiate too, so maybe they don’t want to show their hand too much.

“He is aware of what’s happening,” acknowledged Albert Cheng, co-head of TV for Amazon Studios.

The Lord of the Rings series is said to tell new stories in Middle-earth. That could take the form of a prequel to the movies, possibly telling Aragorn’s pre-Fellowship adventures. At least that’s one rumor. There were no confirmations today.

“JD Payne and Patrick McKay and their team are making great progress,” Salke said. “We’ve established the social handles for the show and there will be more news coming shortly.”

If you want to follow Amazon’s Lord of the Rings early, those social handles are:

https://twitter.com/@LOTRonPrime

https://www.facebook.com/LOTRonPrime/

https://www.instagram.com/LOTRonPrime/

It might be interesting to note that the Amazon team visited the Tolkein exhibit, Tolkien: Maker of Middle-earth, at the Morgan Library and Museum in New York. Whatever they saw there might be informing their development on Lord of the Rings.

“Visit the Morgan Library in New York and see the exhibition curated by the Tolkien estate,” Salke recommended. “We were there last week. After visiting and getting more insight into this creative mind, we’re even more obsessed.”

Amazon won the rights to Lord of the Rings in a bidding war, and McKay and Payne won the job after Amazon entertained pitches from many writers in the industry.