Rings of Power Season 2 Might Redeem the Show, But Will Anyone Notice?
Rings of Power may have begun to a rocky start, but with another planned four seasons to go, the series still has the opportunity to redeem itself.
After receiving some tough criticism from its viewers, the Tolkien-based original series has the chance to correct its failings for its renewed second season.
However, under such heavy scrutiny with some very real competition, not to mention it cost a record-breaking amount of money to produce, will the show manage to find its feet in time?
To begin with, the criticisms from fans concerning the show have highlighted some significant issues with the series currently.
According to the opinions of various Reddit threads and social media, RoP lacks the consistency of meaningful dialogue, feeble character development, and poor pacing throughout the episodes. On top of these remarks, there is also disapproval from some Tolkien fans who reject the series for its lack of accuracy concerning the lore.
Fortunately for the show, most of these problems are very fixable for future seasons. There are many examples of shows that started at not their best but were significantly better after their first season. This includes shows such as Black Sails, Agents of Shield, The Office, and Supernatural.
If RoP takes the opportunity to listen to its audience's input, it could produce an even more successful second season. Maybe they can win back the die-hard Tolkien fans as well.
The reason for some of the show's major criticisms so far may also highlight one of the series' biggest limitations. Amazon was originally pitched the concept for the series by Ron Ames and Chris Newman. Who are now producers for RoP.
What started as an original concept has now become a 50-hour story which will continue over multiple seasons. The benefit of this is the show already knows exactly where it is heading conceptually and can prepare ahead. However, RoP being written as a five-season saga may work to the series' benefit in the future, but that hasn't helped capture the audience's interest from the start.
As for any series, ideally, it wants to grab the audience's attention as soon as possible to keep them watching more. RoP may have relied too heavily on Tolkien's brand for support, assuming it would keep the viewer's attention.
If the show wants to keep its viewership into a second season and beyond, it will have to learn to focus as much on the plot in the episode as it does on developing the plot for later in the series.
The final hurdle RoP has to face is not a threat of its own making, but from competing fantasy shows that also attract new audiences. The new immediately successful 'House of the Dragon ' is a prequel to Game of Thrones. Which ironically may have been the inspiration for Amazon to produce their own fantasy show.
Apart from them both being released suspiciously close to each other, RoP has drawn a lot of criticism from viewers simply because it is being compared to the also successful HotD. It may be that if the two had not existed simultaneously, Amazon's series would not have faced such harsh judgement.
Either way, if RoP does not continue to improve and provide reasons for fans to stay with the show, it could lose its viewers to another show altogether.
For now, season two for RoP has been confirmed as happening, as production has already begun. Even if the series did not get the reaction from fans it initially wanted for season one, it's not like Amazon can't afford the cost of another. However, the series has some serious revisions to make if it wants to redeem the show's reputation among its audience. As well as improving on fans' criticisms of their last season, the show will need to proactively try to keep its viewers engaged in the series. While possibly appeasing the die-hard Tolkien fans while they're at it. If they fail to recapture the interest of their audience, even Amazon won't be able to promise the future of the series.