Rings Of Power Rumor Claims Amazon Studios Is Deliberately Leaking False Information

Amazon Prime's "The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power" is in completely new territory when it comes to Middle-earth adaptations. Along with being the first series to tell a story in the Second Age (thousands of years before "The Lord of the Rings"), it is also attempting to make a complete narrative out of exceptionally sparse source material. While working with a skeletal outline can be challenging, it has also opened up the doors for creative freedom as showrunners J. D. Payne and Patrick McKay have brought the story to life on the streaming screen.

During the long wait for the sophomore season (Season 1 ended way back in October 2022), there has been an endless stream of rumors circulating about what characters, events, and places Season 2 could introduce. On February 21, a new rumor was posted by fan site Fellowship of Fans that went in the opposite direction. The scoop claims that Fellowship of Fans, which has a relatively good history of accurate reporting, has discovered that Amazon Studios has been deliberately feeding false information to the rumor mill for months now.

"FoF has been made aware," the announcement began, "of a long term plan carried out over roughly the last 6 months by the production and team members of the Rings of Power to release and spread false rumours pertaining to season 2." After this, the site claimed it would not be releasing any more rumors until it had reviewed the accuracy, as far as possible, of its own posts in the past half year. It clarified in a follow-up post that this was a precautionary measure and that the site is confident in its track record of accurate reporting.

Waiting for multiple years between seasons is a surefire way to exacerbate the gossip circuit, and Amazon Studios' protracted time between "The Rings of Power" Seasons 1 and 2 hasn't helped keep the leaks from getting out. The delay is understandable, particularly with the writers' and actors' strikes disrupting the entire industry during that time.

Nevertheless, as Season 2 approaches, it appears that the studio is clamping down on the rumors once and for all. According to Fellowship of Fan's statement, "From what we understand this attempt was to catch out people who were leaking in the crew and to make sure in future that outlets would be leaking out wrong information."

Fellow of Fans adds that its internal review will result in a list of headlines and bigger scoops that it can confirm are still true — presumably as much so as anything ever is in the vague, uncertain world of third-party leaks and rumors. Many rumors are older than the six-month time span in the report, as well. However, in light of the information inaccuracies revealed in the report itself, there's no knowing if that time span is accurate or if it stretches even further back.

Of course, if this new scoop is true, the tactic of spreading false information itself is not. "Game of Thrones" went as far as filming entire fake scenes to throw off the paparazzi. The Russo Brothers kept fans guessing about how they were lying about "Avengers: Endgame" in promotional material. The question is: What "Rings of Power" rumors will hold up when Season 2 arrives ... and which ones were based on deliberate misinformation?

The rumors that have circulated since "The Rings of Power" Season 1 ended span the gamut. Some focus on plot details, such as a report from October 2023 claiming the Elvish shipwright Círdan will appear right away in Season 2. Others simply suggest unique characters could show up at some point along the way, such as a February 2024 scoop about another "wizard" helping the Stranger fight Sauron. 

Many rumors have percolated around how the show will handle Sauron, too. Season 1 used the Dark Lord as a mystery box, only revealing that he was the Man Halbrand (Charlie Vickers) in the final moments of the finale. Season 2 rumors have complicated this reveal by adding that the show is casting other iterations of Sauron, including an angelic version who will supposedly be played by Gavi Singh Chera.

Parsing through half a year or more of reporting scoops and leaks is going to be an intensive job, and there's no doubt that, if the misinformation rumor is true, Amazon Studios is successfully throwing doubt and confusion on its upcoming Season 2 plot. However, it's worth pointing out that while the show is clearing the way and, in effect, creating a clean slate on which to promote Season 2, as of this writing, we still don't know when that season is coming. If the studio wants to capitalize on a reveal like this, they should start building some marketing momentum soon.