Anyone who is a true fan of Tolkien shall cast any aspersions of this being anything but woke Orc faeces. I truly hope and expect this enterprise to crash and burn mightily. 

This is, I believe, the projected cast for the series

Barf.

This is, I believe, the projected cast for the series

It ruins the immersion IMO.

Wow very nice. 

If interested, someone uploaded all three of the old animated Hobbit and LOTR films to Bitchute. I found these after spending the $3 to rent the Hobbit on Prime this afternoon, which I and the kids enjoyed (I'd never seen it before).

The Hobbit (1977)
https://www.bitchute.com/video/IuNFZ2b48qNq/

The Lord of the Rings (1978)
https://www.bitchute.com/video/e7J1ToZgeoY5/

The Return of the King (1980)
https://www.bitchute.com/video/7WeywqgwyTJ4/

Yes, I saw these years ago, when I was in my late teens (which would have been shortly after they were made), and there are some great songs and memorable lines.

Where there is a whip, there is a way!!!!!

LOL ... that's exactly the line / song I had in mind when I made my comment above.

So I finished the Hobbit, the first time since I was 11 (2002), and now I'm onto the Fellowship and realizing that I may not have actually read this book way back when like I thought I had. And I can see why some, like Kaz, "loathe" the Jackson films as there is a LOT that was skipped over or transformed when adapted to film, which definitely tarnishes the films for me.
Also, the story is absolutely nowhere near as grim or melodramatic as Jackson's film portrays it, as the Hobbits appear to be quite nonchalant about their run-ins with the Ring Wraith early on. Not to mention Gandalf actually touches the Ring when filling in Frodo on its lore (something I was unaware of, leading me to think I didn't read the LOTR when I was a kid).

That said, the jolly spirit of these books is quite invigorating and definitely what I needed to escape from the horrible bleakness of current events.

I would counter this by saying that Tolkien wrote the books moreso like a history book, than a character-driven novel.  He didn't insert a lot of emotions/thoughts for his characters, even when a war was going on.  It was a very fact based account (such as it would be, if it had been written by Frodo later in life).  Had Tolkien fleshed out all his characters fully, the books might have been 3x longer.
The full story of LOTR, as told by Jackson, needed the drama, emotions and gravity which the books implied but didn't explain fully.  Not saying the movies are perfect but they told a more complete story.  Just my 2 cents...

Scratching my Thomistic head on this one. 

How can an object/subject - the movies-, which has shown itself to be deficient in itself, provide a greater completion of the tale than the tale itself?
Adding or removing anything from the original text diminishes the essence of the Writer's created work. The text of LOTR, and subsequently all other texts written by Tolkien, ARE in esse THE Tale in its fullness, to whit the movies cannot add to the essence/being of The Tale; only mar or obfuscate.

A copy of the Jackson films should be placed on an Index, for historical purposes. Burn the rest!!!!!!!!    
And for Jackson himself......   (hee hee)