According to The Hollywood Reporter, HBO tried to produce a remake of “The Lord of the Rings” movie trilogy in a series format before Amazon Prime Video secured the production rights to “The Rings of Power.”
HBO has made a proposal to the Tolkien Estate (the organization that owns the legal rights to JRR Tolkien’s work) for a “Lord of the Rings” series.
HBO’s proposal would be a “reinterpretation” of the Third Age of Middle-earth, that is to say essentially to make a remake of Peter Jackson’s cinematic trilogy, in series format.
Netflix has been interested in making two projects, one centered on Gandalf and the other on Aragorn, with a source saying Netflix’s proposal “scared off the rights holders”.