Warner Bros. has stirred the pot of Middle-earth fandom with its announcement that it, along with New Line Cinema, has reached a deal with Embracer Group to begin shooting new movies based off JRR Tolkien’s massive best-selling trilogy, The Lord of the Rings. “Following our recent acquisition of Middle-earth Enterprises, we’re thrilled to embark on this new collaborative journey with New Line Cinema and Warner Bros. Pictures, bringing the incomparable world of J.R.R. Tolkien back to the big screen in new and exciting ways,” said Lee Guinchard, CEO of Freemode. “We understand how cherished these works are and working together with our partners at New Line Cinema and Warner Bros. Pictures, we plan to honor the past, look to the future, and adhere to the strongest level of quality and production values.”

Understanding how the rights to The Lord of the Rings are exactly split can be a little hairy. In 2017, Amazon made headlines when it purchased tv rights directly from the Tolkien estate for The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and its appendices that were not owned by Middle-earth Enterprises, whose tv rights were only for serialized episodes of four or less. The Swedish video game and media company Embracer Group purchased Middle-earth Enterprises last August, giving it rights to create movies and video games based off the books. Upon acquiring Middle-earth Enterprises, Embracer Group announced plans for “exploring additional movies based on iconic characters such as Gandalf, Aragorn, Gollum, Galadriel, Eowyn and other characters from the literary works of J.R.R. Tolkien, and continue to provide new opportunities for fans to explore this fictive world through merchandising and other experiences.” Now partnering with Warner Bros., it seems those plans are beginning to go into action.

With little detail on what these new films would be, fan reactions were mostly negative, with most fans assuming the announcement meant a reboot of The Lord of the Rings films. Christian satire website Babylon Bee through its non-satire site Not the Bee lamented, “This is the most devastating news I have seen in quite some time.” The site went on to proclaim the announcement as another cash grab. “Why do we need more Lord of the Rings films? The originals are perfect!” The Peter Jackson helmed trilogy released from 2001 to 2003 made nearly $3 billion at the box office, won 17 Academy Awards, and is generally considered to be one of the best trilogies ever made. Fans remained skeptical of the announcement on Twitter, with one fan declaring “The trilogy was perfect but of course they need to ruin it.” Another stated, “Can this era of remakes just end.”

Most of the visceral response comes from the mixed reception of Amazon’s Rings of Power. Although the series garnered millions of views during its 8-episode run, many diehard fans complained about the show’s lack of fidelity to Tolkien’s world. Erik Kain, senior contributor at Forbes summed up the show saying, “In every way that truly matters, The Rings Of Power fails from the writing to the acting to the presentation. It fails as an adaptation, neither enriching Tolkien’s work nor remaining true to it. It fails as a good fantasy, giving us generic tropes and melodrama rather than blazing new ground. And it fails as a compelling story, filled with cheap mystery boxes and unsurprising ‘twists.’”

Other fans were accused of racism when they decried the show’s focus on diversifying the cast, saying that Tolkien’s world was meant to be a mythology of England, making a cast that looks like it came off the streets of modern day New York City feel out of place. Even with Rings of Power’s impressive initial viewership, articles abound discussing whether or not it was the hit that Amazon was looking for. While critic reviews on Rotten Tomatoes sit at 83%, the audience score sits at 38%, with one review saying, “I really wanted to like this one, but… couldn’t. Im highly surprised by the high score here. The whole thing digresses from LOTR movies and books to a point that its hard to make plot connections and ends up being confusing. At the same time there seems like not much plot is happening and so there are scenes that are just being stretched with melodrama for time filling. Not sure what the point of this series is supposed to be… do not recommend.”