The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power has had a whirlwind arrival on Prime Video this year. Fans of Tolkien’s stories of Middle Earth have taken issue with the creative license used in the series, some social media users took offence at the casting of Black actors in certain roles, and thousands of reviewers on Rotten Tomatoes slammed the series with 1 star reviews. Despite all of this, Amazon Studios had no hesitation in renewing the second season of the epic fantasy series, and it looks like they are almost ready to do the same for season three before the current season has even completed filming.
Amazon Studios always appeared to be fully invested in delivering The Rings of Power to its full conclusion, regardless of how it was received by fans. While there has been a lot of backlash against the series, viewer numbers for the opening episodes of the show were undeniably huge, and when all is said and done, this is what essentially gets the job done. Now Amazon Studios head Vernon Sanders has hinted how close season three’s renewal actually is. He told Deadline:
“We are absolutely committed, we have every reason to be excited. They’ve done a tremendous job. It’s a great question about Season 3, we’re probably two to three months in on Season 3, but I think there could be news certainly in the new year. There’s so much planning and prep that’s necessary for us to get this mounted that the only reason we probably haven’t gotten there quite yet is we’ve just been so heads down in Season 2, but I would expect there to be news in the new year.”
Why Has The Rings of Power Been So Divisive?
It seems that no one can agree on exactly how good or bad The Rings of Power is, and that includes stars of Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy of movies. While taking on any franchise with a dedicated fan base is going to lead to complaints about how the source material is handled, The Rings of Power’s backlash has frequently been extreme.
Being based primarily on only the basic details of the Second Age available in Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings and its appendices, The Rings of Power had a lot of gaps that it could fill in with details that suited the story it wanted to tell. However, this, along with some diverse casting choices, led to the biggest divisions among those who were among the millions who tuned into the series.
In addition to this, Lord of the Rings stars have also shared their opinions on the series which have been just as contrasting. Gollum actor Andy Serkis, who has been heavily involved in the recording of audiobooks of Tolkien’s works, was happy to praise the series, commenting that once you “understand the rules” of the world the series is using, then the show is “highly respectful” of both Tolkien and the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy. However, fellow actor Bernard Hill, who played Theoden in the movies, was not so complimentary. The actor recently stated that he had no interest in watching the Prime Video series as it was nothing but a “cash grab” by Amazon Studios.
With the second season of The Rings of Power not expected to arrive until 2024, it is likely that the strong opinions on the franchise will be revived again when the new episodes finally arrive. However, it seems that will not be enough to deter Amazon Studios from progressing their full five season plan for the series to its conclusion.