Why Amazon should release its Lord of the Rings and Wheel of Time series weekly

When Amazon started premiering original television series on its platform, it pretty much followed Netflix’s lead and dropped all the episodes of a new season at once. For years now, there have been few exceptions to this binge release strategy. However, with new announcements from Disney+ and Apple TV+, it may be time for old customs to change.

Disney has let it be known that all of their new Disney+ shows will be released on a weekly basis, getting rid of the all-at-once “binge” format Netflix started. Likewise, Hulu has been releasing its originals this way for a while now. “We want to give viewers the opportunity to discover their favorite shows every week,” said Craig Erwich, Hulu’s head of content. “Like you, we value the shared experience and the joy of the water cooler that is television.”

Netflix has also been experimenting with weekly releases for its reality competition shows, although it’s still releasing new seasons of critically acclaimed dramas like Stranger Things all at once. Amazon Studios is still carving out its territory in the streaming wars, so if there’s ever been a time for it to try new things, it’s now.

Disney has had great success releasing new episodes of The Mandalorian at a rate of one per week; the Baby Yoda memes still dominate our timelines. Who knows if that would still be the case if Disney wasn’t giving the internet new GIF material on the regular? Social media plays an important role in generating hype, and that happens best when fans are continually fed new material.

No series turned their weekly episodes into events quite like Game of Thrones. For a span of months every year, the internet dedicated Sunday nights to this show, discussing and debating and building buzz. If shows are trying to fill the Game of Thrones void, and a lot of them are, weekly releases will help.

Amazon is working on two of the top contenders: an untitled Lord of the Rings prequel show and an adaptation of Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time novels. If the company wants these series to reach their full potential, weekly releases are the way to go. A gap between episodes gives viewers a chance to digest, recharge, and build anticipation. It also makes it harder for people to watch ahead and spoil the show ahead of time. Amazon wants people speculating about what happens next, not learning before they’re ready.

With a binge release, the discussion surrounding a show is over quickly and can diminish the growth of a fanbase. Game of Thrones owes its success in part to the legions of fans who got together after each new episode and came up with theories about what would happen next week. Fans may even watch the same episode multiple times, deepening their connection to the series. It’s one of the many things that turned Game of Thrones from a good show into a cultural phenomenon, and that may not have happened had HBO not let hype build over the course of a season.

HBO programming president Casey Bloys gave his two cents on this debate not long ago:

"I am a huge, huge proponent of week-to-week viewing. It’s funny—when Netflix came out, I think the whole industry said, ‘Oh my gosh, should we be doing this?’ But I’ve come out very firmly on the side of a weekly release pattern. … You have an entire industry of people writing about TV and criticizing TV and obsessing about TV. To feed that once a week and to have people comment on it, and hate on it and love it is a lot. … You want people talking about your shows. You want people debating your shows. You want people having an opinion of your shows."

Considering his comments, it seems likely that the upcoming streaming service HBO Max will also be releasing episodes weekly, joining Disney+ and Hulu. This would give Amazon even more reason to think carefully about how they will release their upcoming “big ticket” shows before making a decision.

Weekly releases may help a studio’s bottom line, as well. There are certain viewers who only purchase a subscription to a streaming service to binge their most anticipated shows and then cancel shortly thereafter. But if Amazon releases their big shows on a weekly basis, those viewers will have to keep their subscriptions longer, which may give them time to find some of the other content Amazon is offering, which may turn them into more permanent subscribers.

Based on a number of polls, it seems that members of the Wheel of Time fan community agree that a weekly release schedule is the right choice for Amazon’s adaptation:

Critics have been wondering if Game of Thrones was the last series a mass of fans watched collectively. Wheel of Time fans want that series to attain a level of cultural relevance to match Game of Thrones and The Lord of the Rings, and it’s easier to do that if we’re all experiencing the Amazon show together.

It will be interesting to watch how Netflix’s just-released Witcher fantasy series will perform over the coming weeks. It had high demand among fans after it came out, but can that be sustained after the entire season was dropped at once?

By the time the Lord of the Rings and Wheel of Time series are ready to air, who knows what will be Amazon’s preferred release schedule? But with top streaming services like Hulu and Disney+ steadily moving the industry away from releasing entire seasons at once, its options are open.

To stay up to date on everything fantasy, science fiction, and WiC, follow our all-encompassing Facebook page and sign up for our exclusive newsletter.

Watch Game of Thrones for FREE with a no-risk, 7-day free trial of Amazon Channels