Amazon’s big show based on the works of J.R.R. Tolkien is slowly moving forward.

亚马逊公司根据J.R.R.托尔金的著作改编的大型电视节目正缓慢地推进。

During this week’s Television Critics Association press tour, the company says that it has brought on two writers, JD Payne and Patrick McKay, to write and develop the series.

在本周电视评论家协会举办的媒体邀请会上，该公司表示，它将邀请J·D·佩恩和帕特里克·麦凯来为这部连续剧创作剧本。

The two writers are relative newcomers : both worked on the original script for Star Trek¹: Beyond, and are writing the upcoming sequel to Star Trek: Beyond.

这两位作家相对而言尚属新人：两人都为《星际迷航：超越星辰》创作过最初剧本，而且都是这部影片即将上映的续集的编剧。

Earlier this year, reports surfaced that Amazon might set its show in the same world as that of Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies. While Jackson has denied that he’s involved in the series.

今年早些时候，有报道称，亚马逊公司可能会把这部剧的背景设定在彼得·杰克逊执导的《指环王》三部曲和《霍比特人》所展现的那个相同的世界。然而，杰克逊称自己并未参与这部连戏剧的制作。

The Middle-earth show reportedly won’t be a straight-up adaptation of The Lord of the Rings trilogy , but it will “explore new storylines preceding J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Fellowship of the Ring”.

据报道，这部背景设定在中古世界的电视剧不会直接改编《指环王》三部曲，而会“探索在J.R.R.托尔金的《护戒使者》之前发生的新故事”。

The show won’t come cheap: Amazon is reportedly paying around $250 million for the rights to the franchise², with the production costs estimated to reach $500 million.

这部剧的成本会很高：据报道，亚马逊公司花了近2.5亿美元买下了这部作品的版权，而这部剧的制作成本估计将达5亿美元。

Last year, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos directed his company’s studio to find “high-end drama series with a global appeal.”

去年亚马逊公司总裁杰夫·贝索斯要求其旗下的电影公司寻找“能吸引全球观众的高端电视连续剧”。

Since then, the studio has been on a snapping up major science fiction and fantasy properties, and has picked up this adaptation of Tolkien’s epic³ world.

自那以后，该电影公司就一直在抢夺优秀科幻小说和奇幻作品的版权，最终亚马逊决定改编托尔金的史诗巨著《指环王》。