Amazon’s ambitious and expensive venture into J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth with The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power has certainly generated plenty of buzz: both positive and negative. However, with the dust settling on the first season, it’s time to ask the crucial question: Is Amazon’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power a flop? For the ardent fans of The Rings of Power, they would answer that it isn’t as clear-cut as Tolkien fans would claim. Despite the fact that there are signs that the journey to Middle-earth may not be as successful as Amazon hoped.
From the start of Amazon’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power’s premier, the ecommerce giant immediately started boasting about viewership numbers, breaking its penchant for keeping quiet on viewership numbers. For The Rings of Power, Amazon broke its routine and went on the offensive announcing that episodes 1 and 2 were watched by 25 million global viewers during the first 24 hours. However, quickly after, Amazon then went back to being silent on viewership numbers. Causing quite the debate over whether or not the show was a success.
If you listen to fans of The Rings of Power (Faulkiens), they would say it was a success. Or, even worse, “we don’t care about stats or numbers,” facts, common sense, or logic. Obviously, there’s a bit of an exaggeration, but there does appear to be a disconnect between Rings of Power fans and fans from shows such as Firefly and Star Trek: The Original Series who were aware of the viewership numbers and would run campaigns to save their shows.
Faulkiens, on the other hand, appear to live in their own bubble and think everything will be perfect. That the Rings of Power will get the full five seasons and that the show is awesome, which is a great example regarding the differences between grassroots fandoms and corporate grown ones.
However, could the Faulkiens be right that The Rings of Power is a success? It is possible.
But is it probable?
Most likely not for a number of reasons.
When it comes to the lifespan of a show, one of the key metrics to consider is viewership. Which is crucial to the success of any show. So asking the question, “is anyone watching Rings of Power” is a relevant one. Reports indicate that only 37% of the domestic audience watched the entire first season of The Rings of Power. Which is an alarming number to see for a new show and which raises an important question: how many of these viewers actually enjoyed the show? After all, viewership doesn’t necessarily equate to satisfaction, and it’s crucial to understand whether or not the series resonated with its audience.
On a global scale, the numbers aren’t much more reassuring. While half of the global audience tuned in, once again we’re left in the dark about how many of them genuinely liked what they saw. Most of the time, successful shows often inspire a passionate fanbase, drive merchandise sales, and leave a lasting cultural impact. According to Amazon Studios Head of Global TV Vernon Sanders, The Rings of Power had 100 million viewers for a total of 24 billion streaming minutes which averages out to 240 minutes per viewer for a show that runs for a total of 9 hours and 17 minutes. Proof that not many viewers bothered to watch the entire first season.
This is where The Rings of Power begins to falter.
Merchandise, or rather the lack thereof, is a significant concern. The absence of a robust merchandise line, similar to what we’ve seen with other beloved franchises like Nu Trek (Star Trek), raises questions about the series’ potential to become a cultural phenomenon. A successful show usually results in a flurry of merchandise, from action figures to clothing, but The Rings of Power has failed to ignite such fervor among fans. Unlike Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy which had a plethora of merchandise.
To be fair, there are likely other factors as to why there was no merchandise for The Rings of Power. Perhaps Amazon didn’t want to pay more for merchandising rights after shelling so much out just for The Lord of the Rings trilogy and its Appendices. Maybe Amazon was waiting to see how well The Rings of Power performed. Whatever the case is, all we know is that a year after season one of The Rings of Power has ended, there remains a lack of merchandise.
Yet, what about a lasting cultural impact? When it came to shows such as Star Trek The original series or even Firefly, we saw what a passionate fanbase was able to do in keeping their shows culturally relevant which is the most crucial element for a show, especially in an era of social media platform. The Rings of Power is not a water cooler topic when it comes to the general audience nor has it generated a lot of buzz after the show released. It only gains some traction on social media as the Tolkien community and Faulkiens go back and forth over The Rings of Power and where it stands with regards to Tolkien and his work
Then there are the audience scores on platforms like Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic which adds another dimension to this cloudy picture that is being painted. On Rotten Tomatoes, The Rings of Power’s audience score is around 3.8 while Metacritic’s audience score is even lower at 2.8. However, in regards to Rotten Tomatoes, which is owned by Amazon, we know that the company curated the audience score and suspended audience reviews for the first 72 hours of the show’s premiere. The allegations of Amazon manipulating the audience score when the show first released further erodes trust in the metrics when it comes to Rotten Tomatoes and casts doubt on the authenticity of any positive ratings, making it difficult to gauge the true sentiment of viewers.
However, Amazon muddied those waters before the show was even released.
From the start, Amazon went on the offensive with a campaign blitz to try and convince the Tolkien community that The Rings of Power was going to be great. It was going to be epic. Unfortunately the trailers, the “reactions,” and ads just didn’t convince Tolkien fans who began to criticize what they were being shown and what they were learning about the show. Trailer videos were ratio’d, Cringe promo videos hidden, hides “superfan” reaction videos that were mocked, and the Tolkien community soured from the constant barrage of vitriol and demonization as ROP showrunners talked about their show and talked down to the fanbase as if they were idiots, racists, and sexists.
Yet, while Amazon tries to spin the bad audience reviews as racists and trolls who are “patently evil” attempting to sabotage The Rings of Power, that is not the case. The show’s bad writing is the major contributing factor for its poor reception and why Tolkien fans are upset about The Rings of Power. Bad writing is what led to the show’s slow pacing, unwillingness and inability to adhere to canon, changing established characters to unrecognizable abominations, and more which resulted in the low audience scores.
So we have a low percentage (37%) of people who watched the entire season and a low audience score that could be used to draw a conclusion. That only a minority of a minority of viewers actually enjoyed the show.
Does that make sense?
Perhaps the most concerning aspect is Amazon’s claim that “The Rings of Power” is a success due to increased Prime memberships and that the show reached a global audience of 100 million. Given Amazon’s established pattern of exaggeration and manipulation when it comes to the show’s performance, it’s hard to take their word at face value. Let’s not forget that, in 2022, Amazon also purchased MGM which has a huge library of entertainment that would be an enticing reason for consumers to get a Prime membership.
So are these new memberships truly a result of the series’ popularity, or is it a strategy to protect their substantial investment? The latter, rather than the former, is the most likely explanation when it comes to new memberships.
Another telling indicator is the response from industry peers and awards shows. While fan opinions can be divisive, critical acclaim and recognition from the industry often indicate a show’s overall quality. So far, The Rings of Power has failed to impress even its peers, only being nominated for Main Title Design, Original Main Title Theme Music, Sound Editing, Prosthetics, Special Visual Effects, and Costumes – raising concerns about its long-term prospects.
How unsurprising.
No nominations for writing or acting despite Faulkiens saying that the show is awesome.
With all these factors taken into account, is Amazon worried about The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power? It certainly seems so and while some will think labeling The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power a flop may be premature, there are undeniable signs of trouble on the horizon. From questionable viewership statistics to the lack of merchandise and skepticism around audience scores with the company quickly confirming that there would be a season 2, the series has a long way to go to prove its worth. Amazon’s credibility, already marred by allegations of manipulation, only adds to the uncertainty surrounding the show’s success. As Tolkien fans and Faulkiens alike await the second season, the fate of this ambitious project remains uncertain.
But given how much Amazon has invested in The Rings of Power. The company might just stick it out no matter how much of a flop it is and how much worse it can get for the show. So yes, The Rings of Power is a flop, but it is a flop that might get its full five season run.
Update: Since this editorial was written, Amazon has further delayed Season 2 of The Rings of Power with no release date in sight, Rings of Power Season 3 will have a reduced budget, and that Amazon was testing the waters with fans over the alleged casting of Gavi Singh Chera as Sauron.
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