Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power co-showrunners J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay explained how Season 2 will respond to the criticism the Prime Video series received during Season 1.
"In terms of how it’s impacted season two, we wrote most of season two before season one came out," Payne said in an interview with Vanity Fair. "We’re refining the last bits of it now as we’re starting to shoot. But really, the cake was kind of baked before the audience response came in. Certainly, you look at audience response, and you see what characters people love, and what kinds of storytelling moves them. I wouldn’t say we're over-correcting for any of it, but we’re certainly listening to people’s responses."
McKay added that "the bar couldn’t possibly be higher for what [they] want to achieve" with Rings of Power. "So I think in some ways the audience response, we’re a year ahead of that because we saw it a year ago, and we were like, 'Here it’s really seeming to work, and here it’s maybe not working as well as we might have hoped or thought it would,'" he said. "So to the extent there’s a course correction, it’s just us building on the strengths of the show and on the strengths of our actors and our designers."
Rings of Power Responds to Criticism
Shortly after the two-episode premiere of Rings of Power in September, Amazon suspended ratings for the series in an effort to combat review-bombing. Generally, fans initially appeared divided on the series, particularly in regards to storyline and character, though a large portion of its audience has praised the show's cinematography and its "stunning" imagery and visual effects. Rings of Power received a wealth of criticism from audiences, with some critiques aimed at Morfydd Clark's Galadriel, with others targeting the show's costume choices.
Based on the characters and world built by JRR Tolkein, The Rings of Power was always intended to be a 50-hour, five-season series focused on the creatures of the Second Age of Middle-earth. During San Diego Comic-Con in July, Payne and McKay explained that the series will center around a centuries-long conflict with the Dark Lord Sauron. "It's the rise and the fall of Sauron," Payne said. "That story struck us as one that could match up to the grandeur we can give it."
The showrunners recently shed some light on their five-season plan for the series, saying that they have both long-term and short-term ideas for the story. "There is a long-term plan with tent pole moments along the way and a very specific and clear endpoint," McKay said. "And that goes not just for sort of big narrative plot lore things, but also for character arcs." Executive producer Lindsey Weber has already teased that Season 2 will be much "grittier, more intense, maybe a little scarier" than the first.
Season 1 of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is now available to stream in full on Prime Video.
Source: Vanity Fair