Well, here’s a case of the sunk-cost fallacy in action: Amazon’s brought The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power back for a second season after what might have been the most underwhelming launch of an AAAA show in the history of streaming. Sure, 100 million people might have watched some of it. Still, we’re decently sure that this number isn’t what they’d hoped for when they realized they’d cut $450 million in checks to a production that really never caught on in the same way that something much smaller like Squid Game or more seemingly niche, like The Boys or Fallout, did.
Everybody loves Tolkien, after all, and to have this be greeted with the amount of shoulder-shrugging that seems endemic online at the moment is… kind of a disaster. We’re sure that some folks out there will love that they’ll get more of Galadriel and Friends, but it’s hard to imagine anyone caring too much if that new Peter Jackson-written and Andy Serkis-directed Gollum film happens to come out right around the time the third season of this drops. Anyhow, the trailer looks fine.
Peep it:
Here’s a synopsis, which you might need someone steeped in Tolkien lore to translate for you:
“In Season Two of ‘The Rings of Power,’ Sauron has returned. Cast out by Galadriel, without army or ally, the rising Dark Lord must now rely on his own cunning to rebuild his strength and oversee the creation of the Rings of Power, which will allow him to bind all the peoples of Middle-earth to his sinister will. Building on Season One’s epic scope and ambition, the new season plunges even its most beloved and vulnerable characters into a rising tide of darkness, challenging each to find their place in a world that is increasingly on the brink of calamity. Elves and dwarves, orcs and men, wizards and Harfoots… as friendships are strained and kingdoms begin to fracture, the forces of good will struggle ever more valiantly to hold on to what matters to them most of all… each other.”
Season 2 of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power will start streaming on Prime Video on August 29.