Every trailer for The Rings of Power season 2 has way more dislikes than likes

Amazon is prepping the second season of The Rings of Power, its Lord of the Rings prequel show set during the Second Age of Middle-earth, thousands of years before Frodo or Aragorn or most of those folks were born. (Immortal elves like Galadriel and Elrond are still around.)

Amazon is ramping up press for the show ahead of its August premiere date. Executive producer Lindsey Weber promised Den of Geek that, “Season two was always going to be a grander scale than season one,” and it sounds like the show will make good. According to IGN, season 2 will have a whopping 120 physical sets, and we've heard talk of a massive, two-episode battle scene. We'll spend a lot more time with the villain Sauron this season, the creator of the Rings of Power, but showrunner Patrick McKay and JD Payne promise light at the end of the tunnel. “We’re talking a lot about darkness and horribleness and misery and that’s all a part of it, [The Lord of the Rings author J.R.R. Tolkien] takes you there. But the other thing that we really love about Tolkien and this material is that there’s hope everywhere too.”

The Rings of Power will have a big presence at this year's San Diego Comic-Con, which goes down at the end of this month. But the producers may have a problem: looking at the official trailer for season 2, I can't help but notice that it has a lot more dislikes than likes. That holds true whether it's posted on the official Amazon account (103k likes to 571k dislikes), the Prime Video channel for Australia and New Zealand (1.4k likes to 15k dislikes), or the IGN mirror of the trailer (5.4k likes to 32k dislikes). A behind-the-scenes video about the second season has 8.8k likes to 39k likes.

The comments on the videos aren't too hateful or vitriolic, although a huge portion of them are mostly concerned with mocking the idea that Sauron (Charlie Vickers) can fool the people he betrayed in season 1 into trusting him in season 2 by putting on an elf wig. It all raises the question: is this season going to be a disaster?

The first season of The Rings of Power came in for a lot of criticism, some of it from Tolkien fans concerned about far afield of the source material it strayed, some from reactionaries mad that there were Black elves, and some from people who just didn't think it was particularly exciting or interesting. Whatever the case, it seems like the internet, at any rate, is ready to hate the second season before the premiere has even aired.

The fact that a lot of people disliked The Rings of Power trailers on the internet doesn't necessarily mean that it won't find an audience, or bring back the one it had. The internet and real life are different things, thank goodness. Still, Amazon may have set itself for failure with this show; the first season alone cost a record-shattering $465 million to produce, which would be hard for any show to make back, let alone one that seems to be most entertaining for people because it provides them an opportunity to make fun of the wigs.

If The Rings of Power ends up delivering a great season of TV, this narrative could change completely, but I have a feeling we may be in for a bumpy ride ahead. The Rings of Power season 2 premieres on Amazon Prime Video on August 29.

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