But there is no indication of whether it will also take place before The Hobbit or between The Hobbit and LOTR.
Either way, the war to destroy the One Ring as chronicled in director Peter Jackson's Oscar-winning trilogy of films will not be told in the TV version, according to EW.
Amazon's deal includes a potential spin-off series as well.
'We are delighted that Amazon, with its longstanding commitment to literature, is the home of the first-ever multi-season television series for The Lord Of The Rings,' said Matt Galsor, a representative for the Tolkien Estate And Trust and publisher HarperCollins.
'The team at Amazon Studios have exceptional ideas to bring to the screen previously unexplored stories based on J.R.R. Tolkien's original writings.'
Weta Feature by Andrew Bonallack, Hobbit feet in the mini-museum at the Weta Cave in Miramar. Photo / Supplied
The Lord Of The Rings film series, released in three episodes from 2001 to 2003, is the highest-grossing film trilogy worldwide of all time, raking in $2.9 billion.
The final part, Lord Of The Rings: The King Returns picked up 11 Oscars, winning in all the categories it was nominated for including Best Picture.
That ties it with Ben-Hur and Titanic for the total number of Academy Awards won for a single film.
The Hobbit trilogy, released between 2012 and 2014, also took in a stunning $2.9 billion. Tolkien died in 1973 at the age of 81.
