By
Angel Shaw
Published 22 minutes ago
Angel Shaw is a Lead Writer and Peer Mentor on ScreenRant's New TV team, covering new-release TV shows across all major streaming platforms. She has been a writer with ScreenRant since 2022 and specializes in Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings, and fantasy.
Angel holds a bachelor's degree in language interpreting and is passionate about all things culture and communication—especially in how it relates to popular media throughout history (from Shakespeare to Friends to Game of Thrones).
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Prime Video's The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power has three more chances to put an end to a 22-year-long fantasy problem. Rings of Power is, famously, Amazon's most expensive TV show, with an estimated $1 billion spent on the series so far. Despite this investment, the Lord of the Rings prequel series has been rather divisive.
Though Prime Video has maintained that Rings of Power is a success, critics and general audiences have remained divided about the show's quality. Rotten Tomatoes reflects a critic score of 84% and a significantly lower audience score of 38% for season 1. The show's next installment repeated the same critical score, with 84% of reviews positive, and the audience score increased somewhat to 59%. There are three more seasons planned for Rings of Power, and, considering some bad luck in the Lord of the Rings franchise, Prime Video will need them to turn things around.
Every Lord Of The Rings Adaptation Since Return Of The King Has Been Divisive
Frodo holding the One Ring in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
When we think of the on-screen The Lord of the Rings, we think of Peter Jackson's film trilogy. These movies were a rather definitive win. Sure, there were a few loud critics when each of the three movies hit theaters, but, for the most part, Lord of the Rings fans were in love. Jackson masterfully brought Tolkien's world of Middle-earth to the screen, and the exceptional cast breathed life into the beloved character. The Lord of the Rings movies were perfect.
Unfortunately, the Lord of the Rings franchise hasn't achieved the same level of universal acclaim since Return of the King was released 22 years ago. Jackson followed up his trilogy with three Hobbit movies, none of which could get critics and audiences on the same page. The imagery and cast were still great, but Tolkien's rather short story was dragged across three films for essentially no good reason.
Since the Hobbit trilogy came to a close, Jackson took a new approach with the animated The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim. While 81% of general audiences left favorable reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, critics were far less pleased, resulting in a disappointing 49% score. War of the Rohirrim was, again, a divisive installment in the Lord of the Rings franchise.
Now, we have The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, which has failed to deliver a universally loved story like Jackson's original trilogy. If seasons three, four, or five manage to be hits, then this trend would be broken. Otherwise, we'll have to wait for new Lord of the Rings projects.
If Rings Of Power Can't Turn Things Around, Other Lord Of The Rings Projects Can
Rings of Power's audience score is still pretty bad in season 2, but it has, at least, gone up since the show's premiere season. It's certainly possible that season 3 will bring that number a bit closer to critics' 84% score, finally establishing an undivisive Lord of the Rings installment. However, given how controversial Amazon's most expensive series has become, this is beginning to look unlikely.
Thankfully, more Lord of the Rings projects are on the way. Jackson will be producing the upcoming Hunt for Gollum, directed by and starring Andy Serkis. Then, a handful more New Line Cinema Lord of the Rings movies are expected to begin development shortly after, though details on these projects are currently unknown. It remains to be seen whether these movies could turn things around for this fantasy trend, or, like Rings of Power's first two seasons, keep it going.
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The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power
10 stars 9 stars 8 stars 7 stars 6 stars 5 stars 4 stars 3 stars 2 stars 1 star Like Follow Followed Adventure Fantasy Action Drama Release Date September 1, 2022 Network Amazon Prime Video Showrunner John D. Payne, Patrick McKay, Louise Hooper, Charlotte Brändström, Wayne Yip Directors J.A. Bayona, Sanaa Hamri Writers Patrick McKay, John D. Payne, J.R.R. Tolkien, Justin Doble, Jason Cahill, Gennifer Hutchison, Stephany Folsom, Nicholas AdamsCast
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The Rings of Power Podcast
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The Lord of the Rings
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