One of The Rings of Power‘s showrunners has insisted that season 2’s closer ties to its source material “is not any kind of response” to fan frustrations with the first season.
Speaking to TechRadar ahead of The Rings of Power season 2‘s release, Patrick McKay stressed that he and co-creator J.D. Payne didn’t decide to lean more heavily into J.R.R. Tolkien’s beloved works following criticism from sections of the author’s fanbase. Instead, McKay maintained that “it was always the plan” for The Rings of Power season 1 to be less faithful to The Lord of the Rings books, appendices, and legendarium before they fully committed to canonical events in later seasons.
McKay’s response comes almost two years after the hit Prime Video show’s first season launched. While the high-fantasy series was a runaway success for Amazon MGM Studios – it’s the most-streamed Prime Video TV Original of all time – the prequel project was slammed by legions of diehard Tolkienities. Indeed, The Rings of Power‘s sparkling success couldn’t save it from some baffling and horrific fan backlash that not only chastized McKay and Payne’s take on the source material, but also led to racially-aggravated verbal attacks towards its black cast members.
In the time between between its first two seasons, we learned that season 2 would forge closer ties to The Lord of the Rings‘ books and their supporting texts. Indeed, the arrival of The Rings of Power 2‘s first trailer suggested its creators had learned lessons from the first season, not least in their attempts to religiously adapt what Tolkien had written about Middle-earth’s Second Age.
Of course, as the first teaser and its follow-up trailers revealed, there would be plenty more original content that Payne, McKay, and the show’s other writers had devised. However, those at the helm of one of the best Prime Video shows were clearly ready to fully embrace events in Tolkien’s literary works, and bring them to life on the small screen as dutifully as possible.
What made McKay and Payne wait an entire season to deliver on that promise, though? Why didn’t they just dive headfirst into the written material and adapt it verbatim from the get-go? And did the fan ire force them to change tack from a storytelling approach?
Merry #TheRingsOfPower season 2 Eve! To celebrate, here are some more gold carpet moments from its world premiere – starting with @bearmccreary and the inspiration he took from Tolkien’s works for this season’s vocal-led songs: pic.twitter.com/dViTk8EbkgAugust 28, 2024
“We set upon this journey with a plan,” McKay told me. “That plan was for a multi-season arc that would start in a place that welcomes audiences back to Middle-earth and introduces all of these characters. Some are canonical characters in a much earlier phase of development where they might look different to what you’d expect, and some are new characters, hopefully created in Tolkienian fashion that use the hints in the text as a springboard. That first season would then lead you into the Second Age before kicking you into what are now seasons built around canonical tentpole moments.
“So, really, it’s not any kind of response [to the backlash], or us learning anything from last season. It was always the plan to have a big season one that invites everyone in and, now they’re immersed in our world, they’re in this universe of major historical, mythical, canon events that we aim to build whole worlds around.”
That blueprint, although divisive among The Lord of the Rings‘ fanbase, is certainly taking shape now. In my review of The Rings of Power season 2’s first three episodes, I called it a “darker and more dangerous installment that’s far more faithful to its literary inspiration”, and added that it continues to be a “well-oiled, character-driven slice of prestige TV”. Here’s hoping the rest of this season lives up to the lofty expectations I’ve set for myself and others.
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tom.power@futurenet.com (Tom Power)
