THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RINGS OF POWER Lost Huge Percentage Of Viewers By Season 1 Finale

THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RINGS OF POWER Lost Huge Percentage Of Viewers By Season 1 Finale

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power may have attracted a record number of viewers for its premiere, but a new report reveals that the majority of them jumped ship by the time the finale arrived...

News
By JoshWilding - Apr 05, 2023 06:04 AM EST
Filed Under: Lord of the Rings
Source: THR (via SFFGazette.com)

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power was meant to be Amazon Prime Video's Game of Thrones-beater, with the streamer spending enough for it to reportedly become the most expensive series ever made. 

The question is, was the investment worth it? 

When the prequel series debuted last September, it delivered Prime Video's biggest-ever debut in what Amazon Studios boss Jennifer Salke called "a very culturally defining moment" for the company. However, it appears The Rings of Power quickly lost a massive number of viewers as the season progressed.

According to The Hollywood Reporter (via SFFGazette.com), sources have told them that the show had only a 37% completion rate in the U.S. Overseas, only 45% of people finished the series, with 50% typically deemed an okay, but far from amazing, result. 

It's also noteworthy that The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power hasn't become a major awards contender, a stark contrast to HBO's House of the Dragon. 

Salke responds, "This desire to paint the show as anything less than a success — it’s not reflective of any conversation I’m having internally." The upcoming second season, currently in production, will have more dramatic story turns, she adds. "That’s a huge opportunity for us. The first season required a lot of setting up."

It seems all that "setting up" was a turn-off for many viewers, so whether they'll now be interested in returning for season 2 remains to be seen. 

Prime Video will also find itself with some unexpected competition in the form of Warner Bros. Last month, the studio announced plans to expand the franchise in theaters, suggesting we'll soon see two conflicting visions for Middle-earth on our screens. 

We're sure The Rings of Power is meant to be here for the long haul, but if season 2 doesn't perform well for the streamer, it could reach a premature end.

Stay tuned to SFFGazette.com for updates. 

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Mugens
Mugens - 4/5/2023, 6:24 AM
Personally I thought it was the last two or three episodes where the show actually became what everyone hoped it would be at the start. Definitely a slow slog through a majority of the series, but those final episodes were indeed good, at least to me.
mastakilla39
mastakilla39 - 4/5/2023, 11:26 AM
@Mugens - Problem with me was just the Har-foots (hobbit like people), their story was terribly slow paced and stupid. They talk about not leaving anybody behind but any kind of trouble they run into or any family they dislike they leave them behind lol. I'm still giving it the benefit of the doubt, but if it doesn't get better in S2 then I'm probably going to drop it too. Lore is a mess and they are no longer trying to connect to the films as they previously advertised.
ossie85
ossie85 - 4/5/2023, 6:26 AM

The show is hard work.

That work hasn't paid off yet.

I hope it does....
Shivermetimbers
Shivermetimbers - 4/5/2023, 9:03 AM
@ossie85 - That's a good way to put it. It reminds me, I dont think I ever finished the first season. I really dont think it was cast very well (or maybe it was the writing), I didnt feel a connection to any of the characters and totally forgot about the show after a few episodes.
tb86
tb86 - 4/5/2023, 6:27 AM
I stopped watching before the finale. I recall liking this when I was watching it but at some point I have lost interest. Don’t know if I wanna finish it.
narrow290
narrow290 - 4/5/2023, 10:34 AM
@tb86 - You should, the 1st season had its issues but i really enjoyed the last few episodes and I'm pretty excited to see season 2
Lokiwasright
Lokiwasright - 4/5/2023, 6:27 AM
I didn't watch one episode.
Fogs
Fogs - 4/5/2023, 7:31 AM
@Lokiwasright - I watched the first and read about the rest. Beautiful, specially for a series.

But that's pretty much the only good aspect, specially as a Tolkien fan.

I know people who aren't into Tolkien who enjoyed it.
Godzilla2000Zer
Godzilla2000Zer - 4/5/2023, 6:32 AM
Found out about it while watching Robert Meyer Burnett's channel and can't say Im shocked I begrudgingly manage to watch the entire season but I was so let down by the third week that I had buy HBO Max and binge on House of The Dragon instead. No Regrets.
Cleander
Cleander - 4/5/2023, 6:32 AM
I wonder if the same is happening with Disney+ The Mandalorian? They are hellbent in pushing the dislikable boring story of the new republic this season
mountainman
mountainman - 4/5/2023, 7:35 AM
@Cleander - Yeah season 3 is a huge step down in quality.
Shivermetimbers
Shivermetimbers - 4/5/2023, 9:05 AM
@mountainman - Think so? I think the quality is actually way up in terms of production values. It hasn't been as good of a story thus far tho, if thats what you mean.
mountainman
mountainman - 4/5/2023, 9:06 AM
@Shivermetimbers - I meant story, but I’d actually agree that the production values on the show have improved each season.
Shivermetimbers
Shivermetimbers - 4/5/2023, 9:18 AM
@mountainman - There has been lot of setup this season, so I am hoping it all comes together and pays off by the end. I really liked the pirate episode last week a lot and it felt like there was some momentum in the story.
mountainman
mountainman - 4/5/2023, 9:48 AM
@Shivermetimbers - I hope it comes together too. Maybe it will. This has definitely been my least favorite season yet, but maybe the last few episodes can close it out well enough to make the whole thing worth it.
Shivermetimbers
Shivermetimbers - 4/5/2023, 4:16 PM
@mountainman - man I just finished todays episode and I am sad to say it was pretty awful. There goes that momentum I mentioned.
mountainman
mountainman - 4/5/2023, 4:21 PM
@Shivermetimbers - Ugh. I won’t see it until this weekend and I’ve heard some bad stuff about the oddly placed celebrity cameos and the abrupt ending.
Shivermetimbers
Shivermetimbers - 4/5/2023, 4:24 PM
@mountainman - set your expectations low and then expect lower. Stunt casting Lizzo was a poor choice. I didn’t know who she was other than a terrible actress until I saw the credits.
mountainman
mountainman - 4/5/2023, 4:34 PM
@Shivermetimbers - Some of here songs are fine enough for pop music, but I’m sure she feels as out of place as Ed Sheeran did in Game of Thrones.
Scarilian
Scarilian - 4/5/2023, 6:35 AM
Don't know anyone who watched it, seemed really boring and disrespectful to its audience, source material and legacy so burned a lot of bridges. Apparently the writing was garbage so a lot of people who did watch it simply quit, some of it is meme worthy.
bkmeijer1
bkmeijer1 - 4/5/2023, 6:39 AM
@Scarilian - I don't mind how it handled the source material. Think it helped they're condensing the timeline and inserting some new characters to tie it together.

The overall writing was pretty bad though. It took a lot of turns. One minute were told ''Sauron's army grows ever stronger'' and literally the next minute Galadriel is told ''maybe Sauron is gone''. And it really gave a lot of mixed info like that
FireandBlood
FireandBlood - 4/5/2023, 7:30 AM
@Scarilian - You don’t know anybody that watched it, but you’re speaking from a second hand perspective. Let me guess, you’re basing everything you ‘heard’ on a few very select comments you saw on the internet?
mastakilla39
mastakilla39 - 4/5/2023, 11:54 AM
@PlusUltra - Yeah seems to be a lot of unnecessary bashing of this show and comparisons to House of the Dragons from people who never watched it. A lot of people watched TROP and it is 1 of the most streamed tv shows of last year. Seems like there's an agenda out there to get the show cancelled. If a few vocal minority don't like it, that's cool but you don't have to trash the show or people who did like it.
Cleander
Cleander - 4/5/2023, 2:08 PM
@Scarilian - selling point for the show was the visuals, the story was weak.
vectorsigma
vectorsigma - 4/5/2023, 6:36 AM
Horrible show. The showrunners are a joke. The only saving grace are the same teams that worked on the lotr films. But without someone like a Peter Jackson, it was doomed to fail
bkmeijer1
bkmeijer1 - 4/5/2023, 6:37 AM
The problem for me was that it took so damn long to the things I knew were coming.

Knew right away who Halbrand and the Stranger were supposed to be and it had to end with the forging of the rings. They just kept dancing around it for too long. They even went ''we need small circular objects''. Yeah I fuсking know, it's the name of the show!

Anyway, I hope the second season gives some concrete direction from the start where it's heading. War of Sauron and Elves would be a good overarching narrative I think.
DrReedRichards
DrReedRichards - 4/5/2023, 6:38 AM
Galadriel was the wrong character to focus on as the protagonist. Elrond and Durin had greater chemistry and their relationship was tangibly more pivotal to the plot, both as friends and as individuals with conflicting interests for their respective races.
bkmeijer1
bkmeijer1 - 4/5/2023, 6:41 AM
@DrReedRichards - true. The whole Galadriel hunt Sauron is interesting, but it didn't feel that important.

The Elrond stuff had a certain timebomb element. We knew what would happen if he didn't secure the Mithril (tree dies, bye bye elves). With Sauron though, we weren't really given info what would happen if he returned, so there was no urgency
Moriakum
Moriakum - 4/5/2023, 6:45 AM
Mediocre, boring show.
GetsugaTensho22
GetsugaTensho22 - 4/5/2023, 7:18 AM
Yeah, because it was stupidly boring.
The travesty was that the production quality was excellent, but the restricted access to certain rights & the poor design choices really held the show back.

I can’t even say it was genuinely bad, because I understand why it couldn’t go full 100%, but it was so flat and boring.
MaxPaint
MaxPaint - 4/5/2023, 7:27 AM
"this desire to paint the show as anything less than a success — it’s not reflective of any conversation I’m having internally."

So much for that "culturally defining moment" with a 37% completion rate (which by the way is not a desire) it proves your show lacks quality, not good enough to retain an audience. They don't feel related to its characters or the narrative. It doesn't matter if you are not having a "conversation internally"...as of right now. But I'm sure some higher ups saw the numbers and aren't pleased with the results considering the ammount of money that has been invested.
FireandBlood
FireandBlood - 4/5/2023, 7:32 AM
I enjoyed it for the most part, but it was very slow, I didn’t find myself anticipating the last few episodes.
mountainman
mountainman - 4/5/2023, 7:37 AM
Other than being pretty, there was really nothing else good. The writing, dialog, and acting were all bad. And everything was so obvious from the beginning. The mysteries they thought they were setting up didn’t surprise anyone.
Fogs
Fogs - 4/5/2023, 7:40 AM
It can be tolerable if treated as a fanfic. Really couldn't enjoy it, and I tried.
Jacory
Jacory - 4/5/2023, 7:50 AM
Didn't check it out because I'm not a fan of prequels. Not saying that they're bad. I just prefer a story to move forward. If there was a show for continuing the story after the movies, then maybe it would be more interesting.
Chappers
Chappers - 4/5/2023, 8:00 AM
The show was great, luckily they don't listen to the majority of nonsense you only see on Twitter
mountainman
mountainman - 4/5/2023, 8:12 AM
@JakeyChappers - Sounds like from viewership, viewer reviews, and lack of any external recognition and awards, there are a whole lot of people outside of Twitter that were not impressed.
Chappers
Chappers - 4/5/2023, 8:37 AM
@mountainman - Critic reviews are all high, we all know why viewer reviews are low lets not act stupid

The drama around this show is only present online, I've never spoken to anyone personally who has anything close to the OTT reactions you see on the internet
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