Amazon Prime Video is throwing all the money it’s got with The Rings of Power, but just like with Star Wars and House of the Dragon, the show has a chunk of fans who seem to just exist online to complain about every little thing.
Though there are some that have been reporting abysmal ratings and all kinds of hate messaging, Amazon has just revealed a new statistic that could mean that the show is definitely growing strong.
1 Billion Minutes Viewed in the First Week
According to the Nielsen ratings—which is a metric used for the number of viewers for a series—The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power has managed to gather 1 billion minutes viewed in the first week of the premiere. Here’s the official post:
Though the US viewership number is a huge factor in the metrics, the post also confirms that the series is showing strong numbers for the international market. Hopefully, this means that the showrunners can push forward with the planned five seasons without fearing any cancellation, but it would probably be too early to tell.
An Improvement From the First Season
When it comes to the second season of Rings of Power, a lot of fans have said that there’s definitely been a huge improvement. With the first season concerned with setting everything up from Galadriel’s search for Sauron to the Harfoots meeting the Stranger, the second season is able to push forward easily, with the characters all being familiar and the world starting to look more like the Middle-earth of the Third Age.
Admittedly, some episodes have to drop out progress with some stories like the events of Numenor and the Stranger’s journey, but the series definitely makes up for it with some great character moments and some truly epic battle scenes like the most recent Siege of Eregion.
It also goes without saying that a lot of the lost hype for the first season comes from it competing with the first season of House of the Dragon—which was an adult fantasy show based on a more recently released popular IP, Game of Thrones. It was wise for Amazon to delay Rings of Power to start after the second season of HOTD, and it looks like its run is going to end just as HBO’s The Penguin is starting to pick up steam.
Where will the 2nd Season End?
The season has only one episode left, and it seems that the main conflict with Celebrimbor and Sauron is going to come to a close, with the destruction of Eregion. A Balrog attack on Khazad-Dum has also been teased since Season One, so it’s possible the series is finally going to push through on that promise.
As for the Stranger, a lot of fans have been speculating—and a lot of clues have also been dropped—that he’s Gandalf. Some just hope they finally give him his name because they’ve been hinting at it all season, and nobody wants to spend another two years just calling him ‘Stranger’.
Catch the finale episode of Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power when it comes out next week Thursday on Amazon Prime Video.