Entertainment
Prime Video’s $715M Fantasy Gamble Is Still TV’s Most Expensive Show Even After the Backlash
When dealing with arguably the most influential, recognizable, and iconic source material in modern fantasy, it makes sense that a show like The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power would be one of the most expensive television projects ever put to the screen. After all, not only is J.R.R. Tolkien‘s original fantasy epic still considered the “gold standard” of fantasy literature, but Peter Jackson‘s The Lord of the Rings trilogy is also counted as one of the greatest film trilogies ever made. So, it’s no wonder that Amazon hoped to capitalize on Tolkien’s material by green-lighting a prequel series on Prime Video. However, unreasonable production costs and a general lack of enthusiasm surrounding The Rings of Power have led viewers to question if the endeavor was even worth it.
‘The Rings of Power’ Has Been a Significant Investment for Amazon
It cannot be understated how much of an investment that Amazon has put into bringing The Rings of Power to the screen. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the rights to Tolkien’s work alone — which only include The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King, as well as the appendix — cost the corporation a hefty $250 million to secure. But that initial down payment only made it possible for Prime Video to make their own Lord of the Rings content apart from the Jackson-helmed franchise owned by Warner Bros. From there, it was still a few years before Amazon cracked their take on Middle-earth, deciding to helm a prequel series set during the Second Age (for reference, Lord of the Rings is set thousands of years later during the end of the Third Age). While the Second Age is rife with high-fantasy material, Amazon had not secured the rights to Tolkien works like The Silmarillion or Unfinished Tales, meaning there would be a lot of embellishing needed to make the story work.
That alone was already a hard sell for some, but when THR later reported that an additional $465 million was shelled out to bring the first season to life, many hoped that Amazon was taking the undertaking seriously. That’s over $700 million just to get Rings of Power off the ground. Unfortunately, the results led some to wonder how exactly Prime Video was allocating those funds. While some of the visuals were spectacular (the series’ opening moments promise something epic), the show is nowhere near as visually appealing as the film trilogy — not to mention the production costs for Season 2, which required another $458 million to produce, according to financial statements obtained by the Daily Mail.
As a Lord of the Rings Fan, These Are the 10 Best ‘Rings of Power’ Episodes
“Sometimes to find the light, we must first touch the darkness.”
To say that Prime Video was gambling something fierce with this high-fantasy attempt at the next Game of Thrones would be an understatement, especially since The Rings of Power was largely dismissed by hardcore Tolkien fans and even casual viewers alike. Critics have also been split on the two-season series, though Rotten Tomatoes reports that the series is considered “fresh” — which, considering how critical many have been about the show’s overall characterization and pacing (something our Season 2 review noted), seems a bit surprising. As far as audience scores go, they’re abysmal — and that comes as no surprise when you consider how the viewership between Seasons 1 and 2 drastically decreased. In October 2024, THR reported that 50 million viewers had tuned into the sophomore season compared to the 150 million who watched the first.
‘The Lord of the Rings’ May Be Popular, but ‘The Rings of Power’ Is Struggling
It’s a shame, because Season 2 is a legitimate improvement on the first, leaning into some of the show’s stronger arcs and pulling back on others. Of course, it’s not perfect, nor is it exactly the high-quality fantasy epic that Amazon promised. Indeed, what makes The Rings of Power so notorious (aside from that hefty price tag) is that the show is a pretty vast departure from Tolkien’s original work — and especially previous on-screen adaptations of Middle-earth. Sure, it has its exciting moments and characters — namely Elendil (Lloyd Owen), Sauron (Charlie Vickers), and occasionally Galadriel (Morfydd Clark) — and certain elements are quite interesting, but are they really worth that massive price tag? While The Lord of the Rings proves to be a popular tale with audiences (as many continue to praise the original trilogy), this prequel series has largely been tossed aside.
Aside from the upfront costs, the show’s decision to deviate from the source material has no doubt alienated a portion of the audience — and if those who love Tolkien have deeply mixed feelings about it, then why would anyone else be interested? With more Lord of the Rings material underway from Warner Bros. — who are preying on audience nostalgia by revisiting stories from the original trilogy — Rings of Power doesn’t appear to stand a chance. Hopefully, the series will continue to improve with time, but even if Season 3 is an epic masterpiece we’ve all been waiting for, will streaming’s most expensive series be able to justify the funds sunk into making it?
- Release Date
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September 1, 2022
- Network
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Amazon Prime Video
- Showrunner
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John D. Payne, Patrick McKay, Louise Hooper, Charlotte Brändström, Wayne Yip
- Writers
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Patrick McKay, John D. Payne, J.R.R. Tolkien, Justin Doble, Jason Cahill, Gennifer Hutchison, Stephany Folsom, Nicholas Adams
- Franchise(s)
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The Lord of the Rings
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