Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, Amazon’s colossal venture into Middle Earth, may not be quite done airing season 1, but the streaming giant has already started filming season 2.
Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Powerhas enjoyed success on the platform. The studio has reported massive viewership numbers and the show has received critical praise. Though the series has had its detractors, it’s clearly found an audience (and much of Amazon’s filming budget has gone into it) andRings of Powersecured an early season 2renewal.
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According toThe Hollywood Reporter,The Rings of Powerhas now begun filming and production for season 2 in the UK. Little other information is available, but the fact that filming has begun before season 1 has even ended is slightly unusual in the days of streaming. Usually,streaming series such asThe Boyswait before their current season is done filming before moving on to filming the next chapter.
It seemsThe Rings of Poweris exceptional in more than one way, however. Amazon has a lot riding on the project (it cost an unprecedented $1 billion to produce) and probably wants to get out another season as soon as it can. The long time period between seasons is often a point of contention with streaming services, as flagship series can take two years to finally air new episodes, so it’s no surprise Amazon would want to keep the ball rolling and start filming as soon as possible.
The Rings of Powerhas consistently captured headlines even before its premiere. Some of the changes to the lore (Rings of Powerdepicts Middle Earthacross a different age that has not been seen on screen yet) were controversial, particularly among J.R.R. Tolkien fans, who are notoriously traditionalist and expect adaptations to hew closely to author Tolkien’s intent. Others have simply been upset that the series cast non-white actors in several roles.
Accusations of review bombing (a practice where a group of people take to review sites and mark a project with one star without having seen it) against the series have been common. On IMDB, for instance, the series has an extreme number of fans rating it either a 10 or a 1 on a 10-point scale, and the series is rated nearly in the middle, at a 6.9. Meanwhile, Rotten Tomatoes reports a 38% audience score. Whatever the case may be, it seems thatThe Rings of Poweris here to stayfor at least one more season.
The Rings of Powerairs new episodes every Friday on Amazon Prime Video.
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