I don't mind adaptations, and I don't mind people doing different things with adaptations. People can say "we made this adaptation the way we liked with our own ideas". They can say "the source material didn't work as a series so we changed a lot". They can even say "the source material was outdated in our eyes, so we took it only for inspiration but then did our own thing".
However, be honest about it.
If you create a series only inspired by some of Tolkien's writings, but ignore essential parts of it, you shouldn't claim that you stay as close to Tolkien's writing as possible or promote it that way.
At SDCC the showrunners Payne said:
“So, one, always back to Tolkien. And two, when Tolkien was silent, we tried to invent as Tolkienian a way as possible."
Yet they even ignore those parts where Tolkien wasn't silent. If you always go back to Tolkien like you pretend you do, then
why is the Second Age reduced from more than 3000 years to about 1500?
why is Sauron's reign in Middle-earth reduced from more than 1500 years to the span of one short Númenórean life?
why are Hobbits playing a part in the Second Age when Tolkien explicitly said they only became relevant towards the end of the Third Age? And Harfoots are a variety of Hobbits, Tolkien explicitly wrote that.
why is the Elf Adar leading Orcs? There was never a cooperation between these two peoples out of free will, even in the case of Maeglin it was because of Morgoth's influence over Maeglin after his capture, and neither Sauron nor Morgoth can do that now.
why do two Durins exist at the same time when according to Tolkien's writings Dwarves believe that they are reincarnations of each other?
why do the Dwarf-women don't have beards when Tolkien explicitly wrote that they have beards?
why do many of your Elves have short hair even though every Elf where the hair length was described by Tolkien had long hair?
why is Galadriel portrayed as "brash" and "angry" and "full of piss and vinegar", as running around wielding a sword, when at this time she is thousands of years old, has been Melian's student, has mostly avoided the conflicts in the First Age, and it's in general unlike what her character has been described as? Female characters can be strong characters even when they don't act like their male counterparts.
why does Celebrimbor look like an old human with pointy ears when Elves are supposed to be ageless and more beautiful than the average human?
why does Elrond look more like a teenage leprechaun with light-brown hair than an Elf who is thousand years old and has dark hair? At the time of the creation of the Rings of Power Elrond was already leading Gil-galad's armies into battle.
why is Gil-galad wearing so much gold, when in Tolkien's writings he is associated with silver? The casting also shows too much age for an Elf who is certainly younger than Galadriel.
why is there a large Númenórean cavalry with heavy armour when Tolkien wrote that the Númenoreans used horses in war only for couriers and light-armed archers?
why is Galadriel riding with the Númenorean cavalry? While Galadriel had contact with Aldarion, she was not involved in the military afairs of Númenor and there was no longer contact with Númenor during Pharazôn's and Míriel's time.
why is Míriel ruling as Queen, when Pharazôn took the throne directly after Tar-Palantir's death?
why does Pharazôn have a son with the Quenya name "Kemen", which is even a part of a Vala name, when Elvish was completely avoided by those in Númenór who hated the Valar and the Elves?
...and these are only a few things I could spot in trailers and interviews, and it's only the things that Tolkien wrote about – I'm not even going into the things that they think are Tolkienian but that Tolkien was silent about. These aren't things that had to be changed for a series adaptation, because they can all be done as Tolkien wrote it if you wanted to.
You can change things in your adaptation, but be fucking honest about it.
