Jeff Bezos thanks Lord of the Rings showrunners for ignoring his notes

One does not simply ignore Jeff Bezos' notes when making a $1 billion Lord of the Rings show. Well, actually, maybe you do.

Amazon on Tuesday held the U.K. premiere for its highly anticipated new show The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, which debuts on Prime Video this week. Bezos spoke before the episodes screened — and he thanked the showrunners for knowing when to ignore his advice.

"Every showrunner's dream — and I mean every showrunner — their dream is to get notes on scripts and early cuts from the founder and executive chairman," Bezos joked, Variety reports. "They loved that. I need to thank you both for listening whenever it helped but mostly I need to thank you for ignoring me at exactly the right times."

Subscribe to The Week

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

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

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

Bezos also revealed that when Amazon got involved in The Rings of Power, his son, a massive Tolkien fan, told him, "Dad, please don't eff this up,'" per Variety.

The Rings of Power takes place thousands of years before The Lord of the Rings, and it's based primarily on Tolkien's appendices. In 2018, Amazon secured the rights from the Tolkien estate for a reported $250 million after Bezos directed Prime Video to bring him the next Game of Thrones, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Of course, Amazon is now competing against Game of Thrones itself, which recently debuted the prequel series House of the Dragon to huge numbers. After already jumping back into Westeros, we'll soon see whether viewers find The Rings of Power as precious as Bezos does.