The streaming service had grand, Marvel-inspired plans for Tolkien's Middle-earth, with new TV series about Aragorn and Gandalf.

JRR Tolkien's relatives have been quite protective of the rights to his books and characters. After Peter Jackson's film trilogies, it took a long time before Amazon was allowed to record "The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power" which we have been able to stream this fall.

But Amazon was far from the only streaming service trying to get its paws on the precioussss rights. A major article published by THR reveals that both HBO and Netflix were involved in the bidding war.

HBO's plan was a remake of the "Lord of the Rings" movies, something Tolkien's family wasn't too keen on.

And even though Netflix actually offered "hundreds of millions more" than Amazon, they got the nod. The reason was Netflix's gigantic pitch, where they wanted to take on Midgard with several new television projects. Among other things, "a TV series about Gandalf and a drama about Aragorn" are mentioned.

"They wanted to do like Marvel and it scared the crap out of Tolkien's family," says a source.

Amazon were the ones who ultimately came up with the winning idea, but still had to shell out well over $200 million for the rights.

Since this summer, the Swedish game group Embracer has been managing the rights, and they have already talked about the availability of several new films, series and games. Who knows, maybe Netflix will get the opportunity to dive into Middle-earth after all?