The Rings Of Power To Succeed (But Not For The Reason You Think)

I’m eager to see The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power succeed, but that has nothing to do with the show itself. This Lord of the Rings adaptation has brought the events of Middle-earth’s Second Age to the screen, but its methods have been met with controversy. Several significant changes have been made to canon, and this has made audience reception rather complicated.

Overall, I have enjoyed Rings of Power. Though I understand why some changes would be divisive, I haven’t found anything in the Prime Video series to be as blasphemous to J.R.R. Tolkien as some would claim. Still, of all this author’s stories, Sauron’s creation of the titular Rings of Power isn’t what I’m most eager to see adapted. Regardless, I’m rooting for the series’ success.

Rings Of Power’s Long-Term Success Is The Best Way To Get More Lord Of The Rings TV Shows

TV Is The Best Format For Many Of Tolkien’s Lord Of The Rings Stories

The first two seasons of Rings of Power were well received by critics, but audience scores on Rotten Tomatoes reflect the dissonance among Lord of the Rings fans regarding this series. Those critical of the Second Age adaptation have held nothing back, and it’s difficult to say whether it can survive much more of this. Unfortuantely, if Rings of Power is canceled, there could be little chance of another series getting made.

Fantasy TV shows are notoriously costly. If Rings of Power fails to get through its five seasons, then it seems unlikely that any other Lord of the Rings TV shows would be brought to the screen any time soon. This would be a major disappointment, since TV is the perfect format for Tolkien’s works.

Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings movies are certainly beloved, but there simply wasn’t enough time to capture the full story in all its detail. I was thrilled to learn that Prime Video was making a TV show, and I hoped that Rings of Power would open the door to further stories. Beren & Luthien, The Fall of Gondolin, Ainulindalë, and several other Middle-earth tales demand this format, but I won’t get my dream if the current Lord of the Rings TV show fails.

Why Reports Of Rings Of Power’s Success Are So Mixed (& Could Other LOTR TV Shows Ever Survive)

It Will Be Hard To Please Everyone With Any Lord Of The Rings Adaptation

It’s difficult to say currently whether I have any real reason to be worried about Rings of Power. To hear Prime Video tell it, this TV show has been a massive success. However, contradictory reports suggest a decline in viewership from season 1 to season 2. Moreover, the numbers suggest that a smaller fraction of viewers actually finished the seasons after starting them.

THR famously claimed that Rings of Power season 1 had an abysmal completion rate of only 37%. However, it’s rarely mentioned how this compares to other series. For example, the massively successful Stranger Things season 1 had a completion rate of 43%. Clearly, public data can only take us so far. However, there seems to be an eagerness to see the worst in Rings of Power.

We can conclude that audiences are going to be critical of any modern Lord of the Rings adaptation. Tolkien is a legendary author who constructed a massively complex fantasy world, and people are naturally defensive of it. I fear that if Rings of Power continues to be controversial, any other Lord of the Rings series would be just as divisive.