Howard Shore may return to score The Lord of the Rings TV show

DA…na-na-naaa…na-na-naaa…da-na-NAaa-da-na-NAaa-da-na-NAaa…daaa-na-NAaa…

If you can’t tell, and the chances seem slim, that’s my attempt to spell out the Fellowship theme from The Lord of the Rings, the one that swells when the Fellowship of the Ring sets out on its journey to destroy the One Ring and save Middle-earth. Even 20 years later, I remember it clear as day; Howard Shore wrote a banger with legs.

Other people thought so, too, since the composer won three Academy Awards for his work on Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings movies, including Best Song for “Into the West.” He also worked on Jackson’s Hobbit trilogy, and now Deadline reports that he’s in talks to write the music for Amazon’s upcoming Lord of the Rings show!

Lord of the Rings composer may join Amazon’s LOTR TV show

On the one hand, this feels right. Sonically, there’s no one more associated with The Lord of the Rings than Howard Shore. On the other hand, I wonder if Amazon isn’t chaining itself to the past a bit here. After all, this show isn’t telling the original Lord of the Rings story; it’s set thousands of years before the story we know, during the Second Age of Middle-earth. Might it not be better to get a new composer who could bring a new flavor to the new story?

Then again, maybe not. And remember that Shore is only in talks to join the show, it’s not a sure thing yet. We’ll see how it turns out when The Lord of the Rings show premieres on Amazon Prime Video in September of next year.

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