Amazon is looking to return to Middle-earth.
The company is on the verge of renewing its Prime Video fantasy epic The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power for a third season.
While showrunners JD Payne and Patrick McKay have been prepping the next season’s story for months, the lack of official greenlight has been a source of speculation and concern among some fans — especially since the second season was ordered years before the first season debuted. But the news will likely be announced this month.
The decision is following this week’s Prime Video UK Upfront presentation to advertisers in London, where Amazon MGM Studios touted Rings of Power content and brought out several members of the show’s cast (Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Charlie Vickers, and Sophia Nomvete) during its presentation to advertisers. At these events, studios typically only present shows to buyers if they firmly plan to continue them.
Studio head Jennifer Salke told buyers that season two has generated over 55 million viewers and the company expects the latest season to eventually catch up to the first season, which reached more than 150 million (Amazon declines to define what constitutes a viewer, but has said the show remains a top 5 series for the streamer). The Rings of Power also topped the Nielsens chart during its most recently reported second week, with over 1 billion minutes streamed. On the reception front, Rotten Tomatoes critic and audience scores were a bit stronger for the second round than the first.
Previously, The Hollywood Reporter reported that Amazon currently remains committed to its original 50-hour plan for the series.
Payne and McKay — who also have multi-year deals — have assembled their third season writers room. The writers on board include Justin Doble (executive producer), Ben Tagoe (consulting producer), Ava Wong Davies (consulting producer), Constance Cheng (consulting producer), Jonathan Wilson (consulting producer), Griff Jones (staff writer) and Sarah Anson (staff writer).
For more on The Rings of Power finale, see THR’s story interviewing Payne and McKay about the season two closer, where the duo broke down several of the major creative decisions they made and teased Sauron’s season three future.
Source: Hollywoodreporter
