What LotR's Andy Serkis Really Thinks About Rings of Power

Summary

• The Rings of Power received an extremely cold response from viewers after its first season.
• Does this mean that the second chapter, which premieres in August, is not even worth mentioning?
• Andy Serkis certainly doesn't think so.

Despite its record budget, Amazon's The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power has failed to impress the majority of viewers. After its premiere season, the show's IMDb rating is a dismal 6.9/20 and its Rotten Tomatoes audience score is extremely discouraging - only 38%.

Critics gave The Rings of Power a much better score of 83%, but the major awards committees completely overlooked the series last year. More importantly, over 60% of domestic viewers and 55% of global viewers reportedly didn't even finish the first season.

Does that mean The Rings of Power is not worth your time? And that Season 2, which premieres on August 29th of this year, should be ignored? Andy Serkis doesn't think so. In fact, he has a recipe that might help you enjoy the series.

The Gollum Actor Weighs In

If we had to pick one real-life person closely associated with The Lord of the Rings, both J.R.R. Tolkien's immortal book series and Peter Jackson's legendary film trilogy, we would name Andy Serkis.

The actor not only gave us the iconic portrayal of Smeagol aka Gollum, which became a pop culture classic, but also narrated most of the books set in Middle-earth, including The Silmarillion, one of the source materials for The Rings of Power.

The actor is sure that knowledge of Middle-earth's written history can help viewers enjoy the Amazon series. For example, he had a great time watching the first season of The Rings of Power because he had read the books, participated in the classic adaptation, and knew how the world worked and where things were going.

'I absolutely watched it, and it really - once you get through understanding the rules of it, and actually how loyal to the trilogy and the feel of the trilogy music by Howard Shore for the opening sequence, et cetera - I found it incredibly engaging, and I really, really enjoyed watching it,' Serkis told Collider back in 2022.

Not Just Andy Serkis

If you think that Serkis is only praising the Amazon show because he is a nice person, you are not completely right. There is quite a large group of viewers who actually like the show and are eagerly awaiting the new season.

Fans speak highly of the show's aesthetics and visuals, well-developed characters, even pacing, and respect for the canon. Of course, everyone notes that The Rings of Power is not as good as Jackson's films. But then again, what is?

So, as always, our (and Andy Serkis') advice is to not listen to popular opinion and make up your own mind when it comes to consuming content.

Sources: Hollywood Reporter, Collider.