The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power divided opinions of fans, but one person who found it “incredibly engaging” is the movie trilogy’s Gollum actor, Andy Serkis. Having been invested in the world of Tolkien for several years as part of Peter Jackson’s ensemble cast, and also worked on audiobooks of the author’s work, Serkis is probably as well-placed as anyone to give an opinion on the new take on the characters.

While there have been plenty of reviews that have called out issues with the series in relation to how it has bent and moulded Tolkien canon to craft its story, Serkis see it as being “loyal” to Jackson’s trilogy and definitely links to the appendices of The Lord of the Rings, on which the bones of the story are based. Serkis told Collider:

“Yeah, I absolutely watched it, and it really - once you get through understanding the rules of it, and actually how loyal to the trilogy and the feel of the trilogy music by Howard Shore for the opening sequence, et cetera - I found it incredibly engaging, and I really, really enjoyed watching it. And also, because I'd done an audiobook recording of The Lord of the Rings, and read the appendices, and had to read them out loud, I was quite clued up about where it was going to go, which was great, and it was really helpful because I'm going to be - don't tell anybody - reading The Silmarillion, as well. So you heard this first. Yeah, no, so I really enjoyed it very much so.”

Related: Rings of Power Showrunners Confirm That Season 1 Criticism Will Impact Future Episodes

Will The Rings of Power Will Be More Canonical in Season 2?

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Amazon Studios

According to The Rings of Power’s showrunners, there was a necessity for the first season to make certain changes to the origin of the Elven ring, and other aspects of the story in order to make something that both honors the text and creates something that is not all predictable. Patrick McKay previously said:

“We’re really excited. Season two has a canonical story. There may well be viewers who are like, ‘This is the story we were hoping to get in season one!’ In season two, we’re giving it to them.”

In addition to this, writer Gennifer Hutchinson addressed why the story required the Elven Rings to be created first in The Rings of Power, and not later as in the lore of Tolkien, to allow the first season come to a satisfying and climactic conclusion. She said:

"So much of the season was about the elves and their journey, and Galadriel's journey, and the fading [of Eregion]. So, we wanted to tie those rings into that story. It was about narrowing our focus down on them and having those rings cap off the season. Because we had to make rings. It felt like the climax of that arc, as opposed to trying to manage the timeline in a different way."

Season 1 of The Rings of Power is streaming in full on Prime Video now.