According to recent reports, Amazon’s “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” is experiencing a significant decline in viewership. Approximately one billion dollars has been invested into the show, but the lackluster reception from audiences indicates that it may not be paying off. Critics have blasted the recent installment in the Lord of the Rings franchise as being woke.
According to a report from Forbes, the second season has seen a “sharp decline” in viewership compared to the interest surrounding the first season. Amazon indicated that Season 2 had attained 40 million viewers after 11 days of streaming. While this may seem like a steady stream of viewership, the first season earned 25 million viewers in the first day.
Furthermore, Deadline reported, “According to data from Samba TV, 902,000 U.S. households tuned in for the premiere episode within four days of its debut, which is down quite significantly from the first season.” Reportedly, 1.8 million people tuned in for the first episode of Season 1, illustrating the substantial decline in viewership.
Demonstrating signs of disinterest from viewers in the first season, reports suggest that Season 1 experienced a massive 63 percent decline over the course of its eight episodes. This seemingly indicates that viewers were turned off by the first season and may have no interest in even considering watching the second season.
Substantiating this, Season 1 received a poor audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes of 38%, a far cry from the critic rating of 83%. However, Season 2 has a slightly better, but still not great, audience score of 58% and a critic score of 85%. Amazon is obligated to produce three more seasons of the show after agreeing to running five seasons with at least 40 episodes, investing over a billion dollars in the overall project.
The American Tribune has reported on a similar predicament that Disney found itself in with the latest show in the Star Wars franchise, “The Acolyte,” which was canceled after just one season. The show, which has been criticized as a woke departure from the great works of George Lucas over the past few decades, received a shocking low audience score of 18%, making it one of the lowest-rated pieces of Star Wars content ever.
Subsequently, disgruntled fans have led a petition to “de-canonize” it from the Star Wars universe to separate it from the great films that have made the franchise one of the most beloved series in the history of entertainment.
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The petition reads, “Like so many fans of Star Wars, I found the show the acolyte absolutely frustrating. For some it might’ve been the abysmal writing, the ever-changing character motivations, or the awkward cinematography and strange jump cuts. The show was completely misdirected. For others could be the multiple ways the show breaks canon, jangles keys of established characters damaging them in the future or the way the show makes the prophecy of the chosen one completely insignificant. Help me show Disney that we want to reset the prequel era back to George’s original vision that I know so many of us love.”
Watch Megyn Kelly sound off on woke entertainment below:
Watch a trailer for The Rings of Power below: