One of The Rings of PowerThe showrunners emphasized that the second season’s closer adherence to the original was “not a reaction” to fans’ frustration with the first season.
In conversation with TechRadar before The Rings of Power Patrick McKay stressed before the release of Season 2 that he and co-creator JD Payne had not decided to lean more closely towards JRR Tolkien’s popular works after criticism from parts of the author’s fan base. Instead, McKay insisted that “it was always the plan,” The Rings of Power Season 1 to be less faithful The Lord of the Rings Books, appendices and legendarium before devoting themselves entirely to canonical events in later seasons.
McKay’s response comes nearly two years after the launch of the first season of the hit Prime Video series. While the fantasy series was a huge success for Amazon MGM Studios – it is the most streamed Prime Video TV Original of all time – the prequel project was panned by legions of diehard Tolkien fans. In fact, The Rings of PowerHowever, the series’ resounding success could not protect it from the horrific and puzzling reactions of its fans, who not only criticized McKay and Payne’s interpretation of the original, but also led to verbal attacks with racist motives on the black actors.
In the time between the first two seasons, we learned that season 2 would establish closer ties to The Lord of the Rings‘ Books and their accompanying texts. In fact, the arrival of The Rings of Power 2The first trailer suggested that the creators had learned from the first season, not least in their attempts to faithfully adapt Tolkien’s work about the Second Age of Middle Earth.
Of course, as the first teaser and follow-up trailers showed, there was plenty more original content that Payne, McKay and the show’s other writers had developed. However, the creators of one of the best Prime Video shows were clearly willing to fully embrace the events in Tolkien’s literary works and bring them to life on the small screen as faithfully as possible.
But why did McKay and Payne wait an entire season to make good on that promise? Why didn’t they dive headfirst into the written material and take it word for word from the start? And did fan anger force them to change their approach to storytelling?
Happy eve of season two of #TheRingsOfPower! To celebrate, here are a few golden carpet moments from the world premiere – starting with @bearmccreary and the inspiration he drew from Tolkien’s works for this season’s vocal-driven songs: pic.twitter.com/dViTk8Ebkg28 August 2024
“We started this journey with a plan,” McKay told me. “The plan was to have a multi-season story arc that would start in one place that would welcome the audience to Middle Earth and introduce all these characters. Some are canon characters at a much earlier stage of development where they might look different than expected, and some are new characters, hopefully created in the Tolkien style, using the clues in the text as a springboard. That first season would then take you into the Second Age before throwing you into the seasons that are now built around major canon moments.
“So it’s really not a reaction (to the backlash) or that we’re learning anything from last season. It was always the plan to have a big first season that invites everyone in, and now they’re immersed in our world, they’re in this universe of important historical, mythical, canonical events that we want to build entire worlds around.”
This plan, although divisive among The Lord of the Rings‘ fan base, is now certainly taking shape. In my review of The Rings of Power I called the first three episodes of Season 2 a “darker and more dangerous installment that stays much more true to its literary inspiration,” adding that it continues to be a “well-oiled, character-driven piece of prestige television.” I hope the rest of this season lives up to the high expectations I’ve set for myself and others.
