Amazon reportedly wanted Peter Jackson for Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power, then ghosted him

Peter Jackson is famously not involved in Amazon's Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power series, but there was evidently a point when the studio was at least willing to entertain the possibility. According to the director, Amazon reached out to Jackson directly but when he asked for scripts, they went silent.

"They asked me if I wanted to be involved – [writer and producer Fran Walsh] and I – and I said, 'That's an impossible question to answer without seeing a script,'" Jackson told The Hollywood Reporter. "So they said, 'As soon as we get the first couple scripts, we'll send them to you.' And the scripts never showed up. That's the last thing I heard, which is fine. No complaints at all."

Amazon responded in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter, "In pursuing the rights for our show, we were obligated to keep the series distinct and separate from the films. We have the utmost respect for Peter Jackson and The Lord of The Rings films and are thrilled that he is looking forward to watching The Rings of Power."

Peter Jackson popularised the epic fantasy genre two decades ago with his Lord of the Rings trilogy, which paved the way for Game of Thrones and numerous other shows. The Rings of Power will focus on Lord of the Rings' Second Age, thousands of years before the original Lord of the Rings takes place.