Most viewers didn't finish Amazon's Lord of the Rings show, report says

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power
(Image credit: Ben Rothstein / Prime Video)

Precious few viewers made it all the way through the most expensive show of all time, a new report says.

Amazon's The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power had a domestic completion rate of only 37 percent, meaning that's how many viewers started the show's first season and watched the entire thing, The Hollywood Reporter has revealed. The number was reportedly slightly higher overseas at 45 percent.

The Rings of Power, a prequel to The Lord of the Rings, was Amazon Prime Video's biggest bet on original programming ever, and the first season alone was rumored to cost about $465 million. A second season of a planned five has been confirmed.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Amazon has released a limited amount of information about The Rings of Power's viewership, though in September, Prime Video said the first episode was watched by over 25 million viewers globally in its first day, marking the streamer's biggest debut ever. Amazon Studios head Vernon Sanders also told Collider last year the show "has been a tremendous success" and is "our most-watched show, first-season scripted series, by far."

Still, the Reporter writes that the show has fallen "short of being the breakout hit that Amazon had envisioned" and that according to insiders, a completion rate of 50 percent would have been considered "solid but not spectacular." The Rings of Power allegedly fell even below that.

But Amazon Studios chief Jennifer Salke defended the series, telling the Reporter, "This desire to paint the show as anything less than a success — it's not reflective of any conversation I'm having internally." Salke added that the second season is now in the works and that the first season "required a lot of setting up."

Explore More
Brendan Morrow

Brendan worked as a culture writer at The Week from 2018 to 2023, covering the entertainment industry, including film reviews, television recaps, awards season, the box office, major movie franchises and Hollywood gossip. He has written about film and television for outlets including Bloody Disgusting, Showbiz Cheat Sheet, Heavy and The Celebrity Cafe.