Amazon Prime’s “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” was finally renewed for a third season last week, months after the second season ended.
The renewal might come as a surprise to those following the show, since Amazon has reported unclear viewership numbers for “The Rings of Power” Season 2. Other sources have indicated that viewership dropped from Season 1 to Season 2.
Additionally, “The Rings of Power” Season 2 received lukewarm reviews — and the show continues to be vilified by die-hard J.R.R. Tolkien fans on Reddit.
So why is “The Rings of Power” returning?
First, some context
Before we dive into viewership numbers for “The Rings of Power,” it’s worth going over how much the show has cost Amazon.
In 2017, the Tolkien estate held an auction for the rights of the appendices for “The Lord of the Rings” — a chronology of the Second and Third Ages of Middle-earth, spanning thousands of years — as Vanity Fair reported in 2022.
The starting price was $200 million, and Amazon won the rights for $250 million over other bidders, including HBO and Netflix.
Shortly after the auction, the show went into production. By the time “The Rings of Power” Season 1 was finished, it was estimated that the first season alone cost Amazon $462 million. All five seasons are projected to cost well over $1 billion.
“The Rings of Power” — which will have five seasons, all already planned out by showrunners J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay, as previously reported by the Deseret News — will likely be one of the most expensive TV shows ever made.
For context, HBO’s “Game of Thrones” cost the network $100 million each season for eight seasons, according to CBC.
‘The Rings of Power’ viewership
How many viewers did “The Rings of Power” get? Well, if you ask Amazon, you may not like the answer you get.
According to Variety, “Amazon declines to define what it counts as a view.” Because of this, as Variety notes, it’s hard to understand the “full context” of the viewership stats that Amazon provides.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Amazon said that “170 million viewers worldwide have checked out (‘The Rings of Power’) and it’s been one of the strongest drivers for new Prime membership signups.”
But did 170 million viewers watch the entirety of “The Rings of Power”? Does that number include viewers who only watched a few episodes, one episode or even just a part of an episode?
As Variety reported in 2024, “The Rings of Power” Season 2 racked up 55 million views 34 days after its premiere, but “it is unclear how much of the season the 55 million reported viewers watched.”
Variety also noted that it was “an increase of only 15 million viewers since the total of 40 million that the company reported 11 days after launch.”
The Hollywood Reporter noted that, in 2023, “The Rings of Power” Season 1 only saw a 37% “domestic completion rate” — meaning that only 37% of viewers finished watching Season 1 at the time.
Despite the confusing data, it does seem like Season 2 was somewhat of a win for Amazon. According to The Hollywood Reporter, “The Rings of Power” Season 2 is “the streamer’s most watched returning season by number of hours watched.”
But a 2024 streaming report from Luminate Data said that, “The second season of Prime Video’s ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power’ saw a 60% decrease in total minutes watched from the show’s first season.”
The report listed 2024’s top 10 TV originals by minutes watched. Prime Video’s “Fallout” made the list, but “The Rings of Power” did not.
“‘Fallout’ is Prime Video’s hit of the year, which is a bit of a surprise, as ‘The Rings of Power’ would have been expected to make a year-end top 10,” Luminate Data reported. “But viewership for the ‘Lord of the Rings’ prequel didn’t live up to the expectations set by the first season.”
Confusion at Amazon Studios
Both budget-wise and culturally, “The Rings of Power” was a big swing for Amazon.
As Amazon Studios chief Jennifer Salke told The Hollywood Reporter in 2023, the show was “a very culturally defining moment” for Amazon Studios.
But both seasons of “The Rings of Power” were received not with a bang, but a whimper. Reviews were nowhere close to glowing.
So why did the show get renewed for Season 3?
One could point to confusion inside Amazon Studios as an answer. As a showrunner who’s worked with Amazon Studios told The Hollywood Reporter, “There’s no vision for what an Amazon Prime show is.”
Another showrunner who’s worked with Amazon Studios told The Hollywood Reporter that they find it “baffling that the streamer hasn’t had more success.”
The studio has “more money than God,” they said. “If they wanted to produce unbelievable television, they certainly have the resources to do it.”