Despite concerns from fans about staying true to the original, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2 has recently risen to the top five most-watched television seasons on Prime Video, only trailing behind Fallout and Reacher Season 2. The second season sees the return of Sauron (Charlie Vickers), who has been cast out by Galadriel (Morfydd Clark) and is now forced to manipulate his way through Middle-earth to make the Rings of Power. The scale of the second season’s success is not restricted to United States audiences, but it has also received widespread international acclaim.
According to Variety, Amazon Studios Chief Jennifer Salke sent a memo to staff regarding the viewership of The Rings of Power Season 2, as well as numerous other top-performing Prime Video shows. The first four episodes of The Rings of Power Season 2 reportedly drew 40 million viewers globally. The memo states the following:
It takes an endless amount of dedication and drive to deliver all the titles we’ve launched globally on Prime Video over the last 12 months. Our world-class teams have delivered record-breaking hit after record-breaking hit to our customers, including 4 of our top 5 TV titles of all time.
On August 29, we launched the second season of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. Through the second weekend of launch, according to our key measures, the series is showing that we have another huge hit season on our hands as 40 million viewers have already watched S2.
We’ve also observed that tens of millions of viewers have watched S1 since early August. We’ve seen an impressive amount of our Rings of Power customers coming from outside of the U.S., which is a testament to the show’s resonance with global audiences and the remarkable growth of Prime Video customers worldwide.
While it’s true that the first season debuted to 25 million viewers worldwide on its first day, making the second season’s achievement less impressive, The Rings of Power nevertheless establishes itself as both a critical and commercial success for Prime Video. Perhaps the anticipation of a series from The Lord of the Rings franchise drove numerous viewers to watch the first season on premiere day. So, 40 million is still a respectable figure for The Rings of Power Season 2 in its first 11 days.
The Rings of Power Continues Its Success Streak Despite Ongoing Issues
Even though The Rings of Power is currently the top-five most streamed series on Prime Video, it still receives a lot of criticism, partly due to the changes it makes to Tolkien’s lore. Recently, a surge of questions from some viewers have surfaced, including Celeborn’s existence and the most recent controversy surrounding the Orc family.
These things usually bring down any series, lowering its viewership, but this does not seem to be the case with The Rings of Power. Despite garnering mixed reactions from fans following the conclusion of the first season, the show continues to captivate millions of viewers to the story of the Second Age. With the ongoing episodes further expanding on the lore of Middle-earth, the second season is expected to outperform The Rings of Power‘s first season, especially since characters like Celeborn have yet to make an appearance. Hopefully, the show will continue to engage people and deliver on its promises for all five planned seasons.
The Rings of Power Season 2 is now available on Prime Video.