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The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power executive producer Lindsey Weber revealed that the show's second season will include several moments originally written for Season 1.

In an interview with Deadline, Weber explained that "there are things that we saved that were going to be in the final bit of the season that we thought, oh, just it’s too big right now to do, to fit that in with everything else and let’s save it, and we’re actually doing some of those things now in Season 2." She added, "I think it’s really exciting to be exploring them and have the room to do it the way we really wanted to, so we weren’t giving anything short shrift."

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The Rings of Power co-showrunner Patrick McKay already teased an eventful second season, promising that it will be "bigger and better" on "every level... by an order of magnitude" than Season 1 of the Prime Video series. Season 2 began filming early in October at Bray Studios right outside f London, shifting from Season 1's New Zealand location. The new location will be much cheaper to film in than New Zealand, as Season 1 reportedly cost Amazon Studios almost $465 million USD to make, which makes the show Prime Video's most expensive series to date.

According to an industry insider, such a large financial investment made Amazon executives nervous for the show to fail, with one source calling The Rings of Power "too big to lose." "The show is exceptionally important to them," an Amazon partner said. "It’s a branding opportunity for Amazon to show that they can deliver something with a patina of quality in terms of audience, critical and cultural reception, which they have not yet had." Since its premiere, however, The Rings of Power garnered 25 million global viewers in its first 24 hours on Prime Video.

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Despite its high streaming numbers, The Rings of Power wasn't always popular with audiences. In fact, Amazon decided to halt reviews for 72 hours after the season premiere to ensure that all ratings were legitimate and not intentional review-bombing. Common audience criticisms noted not only the "slow pacing" but accused the show of straying too far from JRR Tolkien's Lord of the Rings book series.

Other criticisms of The Rings of Power were targeted against Morfydd Clark's Galadriel, with some viewers describing the role as "too masculine" for the character. Showrunner J.D. Payne fired back against these comments, pointing out "one of her nicknames is 'Nerwen,' which means 'man-maiden,'" and adding "she does not act masculine!"

Season 1 of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is available to stream in full on Prime Video.

Source: Deadline