Amazon Hopes You’re Still Watching ‘Rings of Power’ as It Renews It for a Third Season

I was cautiously optimistic when I watched the first season of Amazon’s Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. I had no expectations that it would be on the same level as Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy or even his Hobbit trilogy (I quite enjoyed the latter two of those films). Since Amazon had limited rights to the source material, I knew they would have to forge new ground and find a way to separate themselves from the massively popular films they were following. They did! Elements of the show feel familiar, but in a comforting way and not an annoying way, so I have slowly but surely been making my way through the show.

For those who have not read my work here before, I have almost four-year-old twins. My wife and my TV habits took a considerable hit after their birth. It didn’t happen right away, but we’ve found less and less time for TV as the years have gone on. To wit, we just watched the fifth episode of the second season of Rings of Power, which aired in September. Coincidentally enough, it was my least favorite episode of the show so far! Several moments in the show teased the “future” in ways that felt hacky and like a big old dose of member berries. This season has also relied on violence in a gratuitous way that feels unbecoming of the world.

But there’s no turning back now! There are threads I am excited to see tied up, and I am a big fan of the acting on the show and the grandiosity of it is always a marvel to behold. I’ve never seen a show give so many establishing shots, and I always find myself happy to soak in these big, loving looks at a Middle Earth of days gone by. Still, aside from former site writer Roxana Hadadi (who’s currently crushing it at Vulture), I don’t know many other people who are watching it. However, Amazon must know some people are, because they just renewed it for a third season.

Amazon made the announcement today through The Hollywood Reporter. In it, they revealed that things will be moving forward for the residents of Middle Earth as the show will have a time jump. THR was also provided with a logline that reads, “Jumping forward several years from the events of season 2, season 3 takes place at the height of the War of the Elves and Sauron, as the Dark Lord seeks to craft the One Ring that will give him the edge he needs to win the war and conquer all Middle-earth at last.” What’s nice is that I am not even close to caught up (given our schedule, my wife and I will probably finish in a month or so) but none of this is really a spoiler.

I don’t think there would have been a world where I didn’t finish season two of the show. I’m enjoying it, and because it gets so little coverage, I’m not nervous about anything getting spoiled before I get to the end. But the lack of coverage also made me think there was a chance this show could end prematurely. I should have known better! You don’t sink copious amounts of money into a show you swore you were going to nail and then cut and run. You stick to your guns and finish what you started, making the dozens of people who are still paying attention all the happier when the episodes drop in two to three years!