Amazon executives were reportedly terrified that the success of HBO's House of the Dragon would hurt Prime Video's The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.
The series are two of television's biggest rivals at the moment, both being high-budget fantasy prequels airing at roughly the same time on different platforms. While some, including HotD co-creator George R.R. Martin, insist that the two shows can co-exist, this hasn't stopped higher-ups at Amazon from watching the Game of Thrones prequel's success very closely. "It was never about the critics, it's all about consumers," an insider familiar with Amazon's internal politics told The Hollywood Reporter. "All Jeff [Bezos] cares about is consumer obsession. If you look at the history of Amazon, every division lived and died based on that."
The insider pointed to House of the Dragon as Amazon's frame of reference for The Rings of Power's potential popularity. "[House of the] Dragon matters because all of a sudden there is a benchmark. It is their closest comp to success," they said. "When [Amazon] saw Dragon grew in its second episode and brought in 20 million viewers, they were sh--ting their pants." The second episode of House of the Dragon saw a rare 2% increase from the series premiere.
The Rings of Power, No Stranger to Criticism
Adding fuel to the fire is the near-constant criticisms directed at The Rings of Power over a perceived "woke agenda" and supposed disrespect of author J.R.R. Tolkien's source material. One of the reasons for these complaints stems from the series' decision to cast actors of color in roles traditionally depicted as being white in the Lord of the Rings novel canon -- something House of the Dragon also endured with its casting of Lord Corlys Velaryon. The Prime Video series has also received vitriol over its depiction of Galadriel, which Bezos' longtime rival Elon Musk claimed would make Tolkien "turn in his grave."
Despite the factors working against it, The Rings of Power has managed to perform just as well, if not better, than House of the Dragon. Nielsen ratings released on Sept. 29 show that the Tolkien adaptation has already racked up 1.25 billion minutes watched by Prime Video subscribers. These ratings don't take into account the two show's international numbers, as Nielsen only reports U.S. viewership, but Amazon Studios head Jennifer Salke assured fans the series is popular across the world. "The show is performing unbelievably internationally," she told THR. "So we've been feeling pretty great. To see the U.S. slice come out is just icing on the cake."
New episodes of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power premiere every Thursday on Prime Video, while new episodes of House of the Dragon drop Sundays on HBO and HBO Max.
Source: THR