When Amazon’s $1 billion Lord of the Rings series was announced, we also kind of just assumed that it would be a remake of sorts – another shot at adapting Tolkein’s trilogy in a more long-form format.

But the actual idea, which is being reported by notoriously reliable Rings source TheOneRing.net, is to follow a younger version of Aragorn in the years pre-Fellowship. As a series pitch, this conjures up two feelings.

The first is that an Aragorn series has the potential to be very entertaining, with a rich backstory to explore and an angle on the story that hasn’t been told on-screen before. It has a whiff of John Snow to it, also, which we’re sure Amazon has noted.

But then, prequels are kind of boring by design. It takes an incredibly deft hand to make a prequel interesting in its own right, given that we know where everyone will end up, which romances are doomed and exactly how the king will eventually return.

Let us know what you think in the comments below.