If you haven’t finished The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, you’re not alone. It turns out that fewer than 50 percent of viewers finished watching the Amazon series. This is not ideal when prior to the show’s release, it was revealed that the future of Amazon Studios relies on the show’s success.
The Hollywood Reporter revealed that only 37 percent of domestic viewers managed to finish the series. Meanwhile, in the overseas market, the numbers were slightly higher, but not high enough. Only 45 percent of international viewers managed to finish the high-fantasy series.
According to Nielsen Data, The Rings of Power only sat in 15th place for the most watched Amazon Original in 2022. Unfortunately, when compared to other shows that were released on streaming platforms that same year, nothing from Amazon made it into the top 15 spots.
The show’s poor performance is also reflected in the lack of awards this series received. The only major awards that The Rings of Power won were from the Art Directors’ Guild Awards for Excellence in Production Design for a One-Hour Period or Fantasy Single-Camera Series and Excellence in Production Design for a Commercial. The show also received an award during the International Film Music Critics Association Awards for Best Original Score for Television.
The Rings of Power is currently the most expensive series ever to be produced by a single studio. Around $1 billion was invested by Amazon Studios to make this show a success. Prior to the show’s release, anonymous Amazon insiders told the press that Amazon Studio’s future is determined by this Lord of the Rings series’ reception.
Despite its poor domestic completion rate, a second season of The Rings of Power is currently in production. However, Amazon Studios was called out by PETA after a horse suffered cardiac arrest, with the group calling for the use of CGI animals.
It’s currently unknown when season two will be released. For now, all episodes for The Rings of Power season one are available to stream on Amazon Prime Video.