The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is about to reach the epic conclusion of its first season, and after building its world around the well-known parts of J.R.R Tolkien’s central story it is certain to leave its fans eagerly awaiting the next season. However, even though the filming of season 2 has already started in the UK, fans may have years to wait before they see the next chapter of the story play out on Amazon Prime according to showrunner Patrick McKay in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter.
When Peter Jackson brought The Lord of the Rings to the big screen twenty years ago, the three-part movie released over consecutive years, becoming a Christmas blockbuster event between 2001-2003. The news that The Rings of Power could take almost that length of time to see its second season drop will probably come as a surprise to many, but the difference here is that Jackson filmed all of his movies in the same mammoth shoot and subsequently spent a year perfecting each movie for release. The Rings of Power has to spend months on filming, and then has a lot of visual effects work to complete before it can premiere.
Of course, it took Amazon five years to bring the first season of The Rings of Power to screen, having secured the rights to Tolkien’s world back in 2017. The Covid pandemic was a big factor in delaying the arrival of the show’s first season, and at least that is now not as much of a factor, but even without a global pandemic to contend with, work on what is essentially a season as epic and visually demanding as Jackson’s entire theatrical trilogy.
The Rings of Power Has Not Had An Easy Ride
When dealing with something as beloved as Tolkien’s Middle Earth, there is always going to be a tightrope to walk to please as many people as possible. Amazon’s The Rings of Power has delivered something that is epic in scope and scale, but also doesn’t retread the story of The Lord of the Rings and instead creates a prequel that both ties to Tolkien’s lore and makes some changes based on which parts of Tolkien’s work Amazon do and do not have the rights to.
Although critics have been largely on board with everything the series has done, audience reviews have been much less positive thanks to a large amount of review-bombing. Whether it has been criticisms about the casting of Black actors in certain roles, some not taking to Morfydd Clark’s Galadriel and her warrior actions, or others deciding that the series writing is “bad”, the dialogue “stupid” and the visuals “cheap.” However, none of these reviews, which tend to be 1 star of less, ever go into more than a few words of detail about why they hate the series so much.
Despite all of that, Amazon have had little to worry about when it comes to viewing numbers and audience retention, as The Rings of Power has been a massive hit for the streamer, and they will be looking to continue that going into the season finale and beyond. The Rings of Power concludes on Amazon Prime Video on October 14.