Rings of Power Showrunners Would've Been Out of Job Already if Not for the Emmys
As we have explained a number of times before, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is almost certainly performing far short of the expectations imposed by its massive budget and hype.
While the Season 2 of the series is already in production, rumors regarding Amazon's ire aimed at the current The Rings of Power showrunners J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay are proliferating.
One such rumor originates from film critic and industry insider Chris Gore, who said that reception of the Season 2 was bad enough for Amazon to demand a course correction.
"I heard from someone who has a connect at Amazon that – if you wanna know – that effectively, they're going to be retooling," he explained (via). "And [Payne and McKay] are more than likely…they're not gonna be publicly fired, but their role will be reduced."
"Potentially just remaining in the writers room," Chris Gore clarified, "but my understanding is they're looking for more experienced showrunners."
So far, however, no official news appeared to substantiate such assertions. More rumors did pop up recently to explain why. The latest of them says that Amazon will keep Payne and McKay in their current seats for at least one more outing, rather than demoting them for Season 2, in order to boost the first season's chances of securing an Emmy.
Allegedly, Amazon wants to avoid overwhelmingly negative buzz, associated with such a decision, which will sink any hopes of The Rings of Power winning at least some award categories (via).
Of course, this rumor comes from an "anonymous insider source", and it is published by people who are openly vitriolic towards The Rings of Power, so it should not be taken as gospel truth. Assuming the series' performance is indeed perceived as bad enough to warrant a prompt change of showrunners, it is hard to tell how Amazon can even hope for it to become a serious contender for Emmies in the first place. And if the rumor is true, it is also unknown whether Payne and McKay would actually retain creative control over the series, or if their continued roles as showrunners would be in name only.
That said, given underwhelming reception and viewership numbers of The Rings of Power, such rumors sound quite believable.