The Hollywood Reporter has a new article about some of the issues being faced by the big fantasy TV shows of the moment, namely House of the Dragon on HBO and The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power on Amazon Prime Video. We already talked about the drama surrounding House of the Dragon, but what about The Rings of Power?
Well, the show returned for its second season last month, and viewership was quite a bit lower than it was for the first season, at least according to third party numbers from SambaTV. Amazon, hoping to put a rosy face on things, came out and said that the show had been watched by 40 million people since the season 2 premiere, which is impressive, if typically non-specific. What counts as a "view" for this metric? How does this compare to viewership for the first season over the same stretch of time? Amazon gives out as little or much as it wants to.
It seems likely that the second season of The Rings of Power is indeed being watched less than the first, but the numbers are still pretty good. THR's James Hibberd reports that after seeing the numbers, Amazon remains committed to the show's alleged five-season plan. That should hopefully put to rest alarmist reports about the show's imminent cancelation.
It's true that The Rings of Power has had an outsized community of haters since its inception, although there are plenty of fervant fans as well. J.D. Payne, who serves as showrunner alongside Patrick McKay, addressed the whole of the audience in a good-natured statement:
"The Fellowship had to look to each other, and those who support it, and remember what it’s fighting for. And when we see that millions of people are watching this and responding so positively to it — that’s who we’re fighting for. And those who watch every episode and [negatively] write about it on social media and make YouTube videos, we’re happy to have you guys, too. It wouldn’t be a journey through Middle-earth without some trolls along the way."
Before The Rings of Power began, I was hoping it would conjure up the beauty and grandeur of J.R.R. Tolkien's imagination and sweep me off my feet. That didn't happen, but I'm more or less enjoying the show as a fun action-adventure series. I think people like me — those who like the show but who aren't bowled over by it — are missing from Payne's statement. But whatever. I hope the show gets to go for a while longer in any case.
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