Game of Thrones (2011)TV series

In J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, the wizard Saruman turns to the dark side. He tells his old pal, Gandalf, that the evil lord Sauron is just too powerful to fight. “We must join with him, Gandalf,” he says in Director Peter Jackson’s 2001 film, The Fellowship of the Ring. “We must join with Sauron. It would be wise, my friend.”

“Tell me, old friend,” Gandalf retorts. “When did Saruman the Wise abandon reason for madness?”

I had the same thought when I heard that Amazon, for its wildly expensive Lord of the Rings series (scheduled for a 2021 release), had hired an “intimacy coordinator” and tossed out a casting call saying that actors “must be comfortable with nudity”.

My first thought:...