"Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power" Oh dear! The most expensive flop of all time enters its second season
The legendary character Galadriel - played by Cate Blanchett in the films - is portrayed by Welsh actress Morfydd Clark in the Amazon series.
Image: Amazon Studios
Of course, the threat to Middle-earth is still scary and disfigured: The Orcs.
Image: Amazon Studios
The series looks incredibly good, no one doubts that. But the substance is missing.
Image: Amazon Studios
"Rings of Power" tells the story of the infamous rings forged by the Elves - under the malign influence of Sauron.
Image: Amazon Studios
In the series, Robert Aramayo plays Elrond, a gifted healer and bearer of one of the original three rings.
Image: Amazon Studios
Charlie Vickers will be the focus of the second season, and his character is probably the most important: he is Sauron.
Image: Amazon Studios
The legendary character Galadriel - played by Cate Blanchett in the films - is portrayed by Welsh actress Morfydd Clark in the Amazon series.
Image: Amazon Studios
Of course, the threat to Middle-earth is still scary and disfigured: The Orcs.
Image: Amazon Studios
The series looks incredibly good, no one doubts that. But the substance is missing.
Image: Amazon Studios
"Rings of Power" tells the story of the infamous rings forged by the Elves - under the malign influence of Sauron.
Image: Amazon Studios
In the series, Robert Aramayo plays Elrond, a gifted healer and bearer of one of the original three rings.
Image: Amazon Studios
Charlie Vickers will be the focus of the second season, and his character is probably the most important: he is Sauron.
Image: Amazon Studios
At the end of August, we return to Middle-earth and follow the journey of Galadriel and the rise of Sauron. Can the most expensive series of all time escape the bad reviews?
No time? blue News summarizes for you
- The second season of "Rings of Power" focuses on Sauron's rise and his deception as an Elf while menacing creatures infest the land.
- A teaser hints at the introduction of an Istari wizard, possibly Gandalf, leaving fans to speculate.
- Despite high production costs and criticism of the first season, particularly the script, the future of the series remains uncertain with a total of five seasons planned.
The second season of the Middle-earth series "Rings of Power" revolves around the rise of the notorious, powerful villain Sauron (Charlie Vickers), who is currently still hiding as an Elf. He helps the elvish blacksmith Celebrimbor (Charles Edwards) to create the Rings of Power.
Naturally, menacing creatures will continue to wreak havoc, with the orcs in particular being thrust into the limelight. They infest the land.
A teaser showing the "Stranger" with a wooden staff is also making waves among fans. He belongs to the Istari, the wizards who populate Middle-earth. Although there is no confirmation from the makers as yet, the fan community is naturally speculating that it could be Gandalf.
In terms of the setting, Mount Doom or Barad-dûr, Sauron's fortress, await.
Enormous costs for a "bad script"
Whether Amazon Studios will find a sympathetic audience for the second season remains to be seen. Various reports wrote of a massive flop of the first season - but Jeff Bezos' company can't stop. Why? The obvious reason is money. Amazon paid 250 million dollars to the Tolkien legacy for the rights alone. The series itself cost an additional 465 million in its first season - by the way, it is set to run for a total of five seasons.
For comparison: "Game of Thrones" cost around 100 million per season, so the amounts for "Rings of Power" are exorbitant.
The computer-generated landscape, the cities and all the backdrops were the main reason for the huge costs. And they look incredibly good, no question about it. But that's not enough. Peter Jackson spent around 280 million on "Lord of the Rings" from 1999 to 2003, today that would be a little more than half a billion - but he also filmed the landscape of New Zealand and was certainly able to save a lot of money there.
And why are many media talking about a flop? Because the statistics for the first season have been published by Amazon.
Only 37 percent of the audience who started watching the series actually saw it through to the end. So most viewers gave up - and criticized the script as the main reason. Even "Forbes" ran the headline: "Rings of Power has an inexplicably bad script".
Whether "Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power" will really survive five seasons remains to be seen. In any case, the second season starts globally on August 29 - let's see where Galadriel's journey takes her.