Lord of the Rings Director Peter Jackson Ghosted By Prime Video

Watching the Middle-earth happenings is a new experience for Jackson, who shared that the least enjoyable part of making Lord of the Rings was watching the movies, because he couldn’t remove himself from the filmmaking process. “It was such a loss for me,” he said, “to not to be able to experience it as everyone else was.”

Still, Jackson’s work paid off, with the third installment in the trilogy, Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, taking home 11 awards—including Best Picture and Director—at the 76th Academy Awards. The film is even tied with 1959’s Ben-Hur and 1997’s Titanic for the most Academy Award wins.

Prime Video acknowledged these accolades in a statement, while also noting that their decision to leave Jackson out was purely business. “In pursuing the rights for our show, we were obligated to keep the series distinct and separate from the films,” the studio told THR. “We have the utmost respect for Peter Jackson and The Lord of The Rings films and are thrilled that he is looking forward to watching The Rings of Power.“