A sprawling, insanely pricey fantasy TV series based on a fictional universe that was introduced in a series of incredibly popular and famously long and complex books?

　　这是一部庞大、昂贵得离谱的奇幻电视剧，以一个虚构的宇宙为背景，由一系列非常受欢迎、以篇幅长、内容复杂著称的书改编而成。

　　And books, at that, by an author with a double-R middle initial? No, it's not George R.R. Martin's Game of Thrones. Instead, it's a prequel to J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings saga, soon to become an Amazon Prime original series.

　　那么书呢，是由一个中间有两个R开头的作者写的吗?不，这不是乔治·R·R·马丁的《权力的游戏》。相反，它是 J.R.R.托尔金的《指环王》的前传，很快就会成为亚马逊的主打原创系列。

　　Amazon bought the global TV rights to Tolkien's (it's pronounced Tol-KEEN) Lord of the Rings saga, though what exactly the company will do with those rights could evolve. Right now plans are for a multiseason series set in that pre-Fellowship time period called The Second Age.

　　亚马逊买下了托尔金小说《指环王》的全球电视转播权，不过该公司将如何处理这些转播权还有待商榷。现在的计划是做设定在第一部之前的时期称为第二时代的多季系列剧。

　　But there may be more than one show: Amazon's initial press release noted that the deal includes a potential additional spin-off series. Our guess is we'll have to see how the first show does before going there.

　　但可能不止一部：亚马逊的最初新闻稿指出，这笔交易涵盖了一个潜在的额外衍生剧。我们的猜测是，我们得先看第一集的表现如何，才会有衍生剧的事。

　　And that first show will be around for a while: The deal requires Amazon to commit to five seasons, as well as begin production within two years. Since the deal was announced in November 2017, expect to hear some news on the series before November 2019.

　　第一部电视剧将过一段时间上映：根据协议，亚马逊必须承诺续订五季，并在两年内开始制作。因为是2017年11月公布的协议，预计在2019年11月之前会听到一些关于该剧的消息。

　　In a 2018 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Amazon Studios head Jennifer Salke said the company hopes to air the show sometime in 2021.

　　在2018年接受《好莱坞报道》采访时，亚马逊工作室负责人詹妮弗·索尔克表示，公司希望在2021年播出这部电视剧。

　　Salke also told Deadline that the new show could return to New Zealand, where the Peter Jackson movies were shot.

　　索尔克还告诉Deadline，这部新剧可能会回到彼得·杰克逊电影的拍摄地新西兰。

　　"I think we might be in New Zealand. I don't know," she said. "But we're going to have to go somewhere interesting that could provide those locations in a really authentic way, because we want it to look incredible."

　　“我想我们可能在新西兰拍。我不知道，”她说。“但我们肯定是要去一些有趣的地方，以真正真实的方式打造剧中场景，因为我们想让它看起来不可思议。”