Rings Of Power's Biggest Problem Has Apparently Been Fixed In Season 2

"The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power" Season 1 got off to a rocky start for many fans. While the show had plenty of elements going for it — working from Tolkien's previously untapped Second Age material, filming in the gorgeous New Zealand landscape, and, thanks to the eyebrow-raising budget, building massive sets, using real props, and complementing practical effects with plenty of CGI — things like a lack of Tolkien-written dialogue, limited rights to the source text, and the pandemic proved to be significant issues. 

One problem stood out above everything else when Season 1 aired: the pacing was off. Getting a project this massive off the ground is a difficult task at best, and Season 1 struggled to find much momentum as it introduced a wide array of new characters, places, and storylines. Fortunately, the pacing issue is a problem that the behind-the-scenes team says will be addressed in Season 2.

Executive producer Lindsey Weber told Empire magazine that the show is revving up its storylines this season and quickening the show's pace. "Things have taken a very intense turn since Sauron is back and moving the chess pieces around the board," Weber said. "So we get to have a different kind of action and see Middle-earth in some more terrifying moments." She used words like "cataclysmic" to describe the show's upcoming events. Fans can expect the temperature of the entire series to rise along with its Dark Lord.

The battles are one area of Season 1 that felt particularly subpar. We got a few tussles and then one decent battle between some peasants, some Orcs, and a few hundred Númenórean cavalry. Season 2 is set to fix this underwhelming aspect in epic style.

Co-showrunner Patrick McKay explained to Empire that the "big" Season 1 battle was consciously created to be small-scale and "more of a skirmish," adding, "The plan with Season 2 would be to do something much bigger, on a much grander scale that would take place not just overnight, but over multiple days, weeks, months and episodes." Charlotte Brändström (who is directing half of Season 2) confirmed that this new clash will be on a scale 10 times bigger than the last one — a bit closer to a "The Return of the King" level of fighting.

At the Battle of the Pelennor Fields, for instance, thousands of human warriors square off against tens of thousands of the Dark Lord's soldiers. The Second Age of Tolkien (when "The Rings of Power is set) includes many battles on this scale and more. In the book "The Return of the King," one Gondorian captain even compares the 7,000 men that Aragorn attacks the Black Gate with to merely the vanguard of Gondor's armies during the Second Age. The creative team has perhaps realized that it's time to blow up the size of these battles.

It's difficult to truly understand how hard filming during the pandemic must have been. Co-showrunner J.D. Payne told Collider that the absence of quarantines and pandemic protocols while shooting Season 2 have sped things up, saying, "We also don't have COVID in the middle of this one, which accelerates from what we did in Season 1. There are places where things go faster." 

Looper went on record in 2023 saying that unhappy Tolkien fans should give "The Rings of Power" a second chance. But if the show wants to boost its abysmal Rotten Tomatoes audience score and win back more committed viewers, it may need to focus on fewer stories for longer periods of time. Bringing together characters, uniting storylines, and pushing the story forward faster is perhaps essential to Season 2's success.

Need proof? Amazon's other major fantasy series had a slow first season. However, "The Wheel of Time" redeemed itself in Season 2 by bringing together main characters, focusing on villain story arcs, and leaning heavily on the world and narratives it had already established to move things forward at a faster clip. If "The Rings of Power" can use its second season (out of five mapped-out seasons total) to set a faster pace, chances are it will be able to stake out a position as appointment viewing for diehard and fairweather fans alike.