‘The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power’ Review: Prime Video’s Stunningly Epic Series Is Awe-Inspiring

“While we’re still waiting for official Nielsen ratings, our measurement shows that the audience numbers exceeded all of our expectations for viewership,” Prime Video’s top sports exec Jay Marine said today in a note to staff on the “resounding success” of the streamer’s official Thursday Night Football kickoff on September 15.

Adam B. Vary Senior Entertainment Writer SPOILER ALERT: This story includes plot points in Episode 4 of “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power,” currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video, as well as one major story development written by author J.R.R. Tolkien in the appendices of “The Lord of the Rings.” Like so many of her castmates of “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power,” Cynthia Addai-Robinson didn’t know exactly who she was playing until she arrived in New Zealand to shoot the Amazon Prime Video series. Unlike several of her castmates, however, Addai-Robinson was not an obsessive fan of the expansive world of Middle-earth created by author J.R.R. Tolkien. But once she was cast as Míriel, the Queen Regent of the resplendently prosperous island nation of Númenor, the veteran actor (“Power,” “Shooter,” “Arrow,” “Spartacus”) dove in head first into the rich history of Númenor and Middle-earth.

EXCLUSIVE: Tony Award-nominee Tovah Feldshuh (Funny Girl, The Walking Dead) has joined the cast of Amazon’s , Deadline has learned. She will portray the character of Bat Lady who is described as a wraith-like recluse who gives Mickey (Jaden Michael) an ominous disturbing piece of news.

EXCLUSIVE: Coming off a main role in Outer Range, Shaun Sipos has joined another Prime Video series. He has been tapped as a major lead opposite Alan Ritchson in the upcoming second season of Reacher.

posted a photo of themselves wearing a fan-made shirt with human, hobbit and elf ears with different skin tones.Also included on the shirt is the mantra “You are all welcome here,” written in Elvish.Astin, who was not in the photo, shared a Twitter pic of himself wearing a hat with the same legend.“You Are All Welcome Here,” Wood, 41, captioned his photo.The “Lord of the Rings” show also released a statement regarding the racist attacks.You Are All Welcome Here @LOTRonPrime @DonMarshall72 #RingsOfPower https://t.co/8txOhlHa2f pic.twitter.com/nWytILT0zG“We, the cast of Rings of Power, stand together in absolute solidarity and against the relentless racism, threats, harassment and abuse some of our cast mates of color are being subjected to on a daily basis,” the statement reads.“We refuse to ignore it or tolerate it.”The statement goes on to say that “Rings” author J.R.R. Tolkien created a world where people from different races and cultures existed, along with the hashtag #youarewelcomehere.“From Middle-earth to a galaxy far, far away… #YouAreAllWelcomeHere,” the official “Star Wars” account responded on Twitter.“Rings of Power” isn’t the only show to receive racist backlash over cast diversity.In June, “Obi-Wan Kenobi” actress Moses Ingram was also subject to racist trolls over her role as Reva.

Since the mid-1980s, William Gibson has set a precedent for heady SF novels, with “Neuromancer” and its “Sprawl” trilogy being the ur-texts of cyberpunk. So, how have William Gibson‘s novels never crossed over to movies and TV? Maybe because Gibson’s speculative fiction is too hard to translate to a broad appeal.

Qurate Retail Group, the John Malone-backed owner of video screen shopping mainstays QVC and HSN, has installed former Amazon exec Soumya Sriraman as president of streaming.

record with 10 million viewers in its premiere last month and boosted its viewership by 2% for its second episode. “The Rings of Power” is led by showrunners and executive producers Payne and Patrick McKay.

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is the biggest thing Amazon Prime Video has ever done, and it looks like the TV series based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s writing has delivered big time.

Prime Video has made the decision to suspend ratings for The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.

Amazon Prime Video quietly introduced a new 72-hour delay for all user reviews posted to Prime Video, a representative for the streamer confirmed to Variety. Each critique is then evaluated to determine whether it’s genuine or a forgery created by a bot, troll or other breed of digital goblin. The practice caught notice after the premiere of the first two episodes of “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power,” Prime Video’s monumentally scaled fantasy series based on the works of J.R.R. Tolkien. The series appears to have been review bombed — when trolls flood intentionally negative reviews for a show or film — on other sites like Rotten Tomatoes, where it has an 84% rating from professional critics but a 37% from user-submitted reviews. “The Rings of Power” has been fending off trolls for months, especially ones who take issue with the decision to cast actors of color as elves, dwarves, harfoots and other folk of Tolkien’s fictional Middle-earth.

SPOILER ALERT: This podcast contains details of the first two episodes of Prime Video’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, which debuted Thursday night. For more on the epic series, watch Deadline’s Inside The Ring: The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power after-show that launches Saturday. 

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” had a laugh on Twitter when a goofy promotional video for the new series was confused for the series’ opening sequence.“Apparently this is the intro for the new LOTR show… this is what $750 million buys you,” a Twitter user wrote alongside the clip on Wednesday, mocking the series’ enormous price tag.That video — which now has 4.1 million views, more than 20,700 likes and 10,000 quote tweets — features the “Rings” cast gazing into the camera as well as making bizarre, comical movements. “Half of the actors look like someone snuck up on them in between takes while they were having a conversation or eating a sandwich,” one Twitter user said. However, in a sea of jokes about the video, many users pointed out that Entertainment Weekly’s watermark is in the corner of the video, meaning it’s obviously not the series’ opening credits.

Today (September 1) sees the launch in the US of Amazon Prime Video ’s highly anticipated series, The Rings of Power. This epic drama, set thousands of years before the events of Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, is thought to be the most expensive TV series ever made.

EXCLUSIVE: Emma Roberts (Madame Web) will exec produce and star in Space Cadet, a new rom-com from Stampede Ventures, which enters production this month. Also now aboard the film from writer-director Liz W. Garcia (The Lifeguard) is Prime Video, which will distribute it internationally.

notoriously hefty$715 million they reportedly spent on the first season budget and rights to the “Lord of the Rings” franchise.The money certainly shows onscreen: “The Rings of Power” is a dazzling, gorgeous, thrilling trip to Middle Earth.[Warning: Some minor spoilers ahead.]Premiering Sept. 1 at 9 p.m.

global premiere last night — and thanked the showrunners for ignoring his notes on the series.The Amazon founder traveled to London’s Leicester Square for the premiere of the big-budget TV show in a move to establish its importance to the company.Bezos, 58, honored showrunners Patrick McKay and John D. Payne while introducing the first two episodes of the series.“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,” the Amazon boss joked. “They loved that.

dropping weekly, the premiere of a highly anticipated prequel series, plus plenty of movies and TV shows, new and old alike, arriving this month.Amazon's $465 million fantasy series,, takes fans thousands of years into Middle Earth's past. kicks off September 15 and will stream exclusively on Prime Video for the 2022 NFL season.Access to Prime Video is a perk included in an Amazon Prime membership, available for $15 monthly or $140 for the year. If you aren't already subscribed or just want access to the Prime Video library, a membership to Prime Video is available for $9 monthly.

EXCLUSIVE: Epix is expanding its series regular cast for the upcoming second season of its contemporary horror sci-fi series From. Scott McCord, who recurred as Victor in Season 1, has been promoted to series regular for Season 2. Additionally, Nathan D. Simmons (Diggstown), Kaelen Ohm (Hit & Run), Angela Moore (The Stand), AJ Simmons (Reacher) and Deborah Grover (Anne With An E) join lead Harold Perrineau as series regulars in the series from John Griffin and Lost alums Jack Bender and Jeff Pinkner.