A new deal announced between New Line Cinema and Warner Bros. for future Lord of the Rings movies might have just doomed Amazon’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. The prequel TV series ended season 1 on October 14, 2022, to mixed reviews from audiences. The series was set in a different timeline, thousands of years before the events of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy films. For lovers of the previously released movies, The Rings of Power was projected to be a perfect prequel to help fill the gaps in what became one of the world’s greatest film series.
The Rings of Power season 1 left unanswered questions and bits of confusion regarding the trajectory of the storyline. Audiences were left waiting until 2024 for the The Rings of Power season 2 to be released. However, with Warner Bros. announcing its deal with New Line Cinema to produce a new LOTR film series, things might not look so good for The Rings of Power‘s upcoming seasons.
Why The New Lord Of The Rings Deal Is Bad For Rings Of Power
Lovers of J.R.R. Tolkien’s fantasy works can be excited for an opportunity to revisit Middle-earth, but this time there’s a familiar Age and the promise of more known characters. Amazon’s Rings of Power, set in the Second Age, significantly strayed from its original source material. With a lack of other live-action Tolkien works, viewers struggled to reconnect the dots from The Rings of Power to The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings film series.
With Amazon staying committed to its five-season run, it’s almost inevitable that one of season of The Rings of Power will coincide with the release of the new Lord of the Rings movie. With the level of changes already made to the source material, The Rings of Power may struggle to maintain its viewership. The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, set in the Third Age, were commercially successful for their reception and closeness to their source material.
With record-breaking earnings, LOTR‘s Third Age is the timeline viewers are more familiar with and interested in. A new LOTR movie may expose the audience to the seemingly obvious disparity in known plots between its supposed prequel and new films. There’s the tendency of viewers to abandon the series franchise altogether if its showrunners are unable to make a connection.
How Rings Of Power Might Actually Benefit From A New LOTR Movie
However, it’s not all grim for Rings of Power, as there are still opportunities to benefit from a new LOTR movie. Despite its season 1 mixed viewer reviews, Amazon claims the show was a success. In 2017, Amazon outbid Netflix to win the rights to the Tolkien Estate. However, the deal showed that Amazon could only use Tolkien’s Second Age works and the book’s appendices.
That in itself is a win for the streaming giant. It gives them creative liberty and the right to explore and create plots outside the confines of Tolkien’s works. Although there are some similarities between the Rings of Power and LOTR, Rings of Power can easily continue to ride and thrive on the Warner Bros. announcement of a new Lord of the Rings movie.
As a prequel, viewers want to cover as much of its story as possible to fill any gaps in the upcoming movies. Amazon would only have to unofficially coordinate release dates with Warner Bros. to ensure the new movies are not released at the same time as a new The Rings of Power season.
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