In what is the most significant development in Tolkien adaptation rights since the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Peter Jackson revealed today that he and Warner Bros. are actively negotiating with the Tolkien Estate to license rights to more of J.R.R. Tolkien’s books.
In an interview with Deadline, Jackson stated:
So those two books were gone, but then Christopher Tolkien sort of edited and published other Tolkien books, Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales. I mean, there’s a lot more Tolkien writing which would actually make great, great movies that were subsequently edited and released by Christopher, but he just absolutely would not let any–the mere idea of a film happen. So those rights have never been available. But Christopher passed away recently two or three years ago now. And the younger Tolkiens, the sort of this next next generation now the running the estate and they’re much more open to talking. So I know the Warners combination of Warners and us have been talking to some of the younger members who are now part of the board about the possibility of actually licensing the rights to some of the other books.
🚨BREAKING: Peter Jackson reveals that him and his team are negotiating with the Estate to license more rights from Tolkien’s works.
“Combination of Warner’s and us have been talking to the younger Tolkien members about the possibility of actually licensing some of the rights to… pic.twitter.com/cHxYzhXwZY
— Fellowship of Fans 🐎 (@FellowshipFans) May 15, 2026
The stakes here are enormous. Jackson and Warner Bros. currently hold rights only to The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, and their appendices. The other books” almost certainly refers to the crown jewels of Tolkien’s legendarium: The Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales, The Children of Húrin, and potentially even The History of Middle-earth series.
This is the holy grail of Tolkien adaptations. The Silmarillion contains the full mythology of Arda — the creation of the world, the First Age, the Fall of Númenor, and stories that dwarf the War of the Ring in scope and tragedy. Unfinished Tales includes the full Hunt for Gollum narrative and expanded histories of Galadriel, Celeborn, and the Istari.
The timing is significant. Christopher Tolkien, who guarded these rights with fierce protectiveness and was openly critical of Jackson’s films, died in January 2020. His son Simon Tolkien has taken a notably more collaborative approach to adaptations. Jackson’s reference to “the younger Tolkien members” likely refers to Simon and potentially the next generation of the family.
If these negotiations succeed, we could be looking at a Silmarillion adaptation — something fans have dreamed about for decades but which Christopher Tolkien repeatedly said would never happen under his watch. We could see the tragedy of Túrin Turambar brought to screen in The Children of Húrin (which we’re now reading through in our podcast!). And Jackson’s upcoming The Hunt for Gollum film could draw on canonical source material currently locked away in Unfinished Tales.
Nothing is confirmed yet. These are negotiations, not deals. But this is potentially the biggest shift in Tolkien adaptation rights since Saul Zaentz first licensed the books in the 1970s.
We’ll be watching this closely.
