‘Wheel of Time’ Should Have You Worried About Amazon’s ‘Lord Of The Rings’

Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power is the second major fantasy adaptation from Amazon. Wheel of Time‘s mistakes have people worried.

In the past few weeks, Amazon released a much-anticipated adaptation of The Wheel of Time. Many people had issues with it.

Now with the official title and release date of the new Lord of the Rings show coming people are worried. Does one bad show mean the other will also be bad? Let’s take a look.

The Wheel Of Time Wasn’t Very Good

via Amazon

While the Wheel of Time brought in viewers, initially at least, it had a lot of issues. Many people, including die-hard fans of the show were upset.

We’ve talked about some of the issues plaguing the show once or twice. At best the show had a mixed reaction. Towards the end of the first season, many people turned against it.

If you’re in the camp that thinks Amazon botched the Wheel of Time, then it’s natural to worry. Will The Rings Of Power be bad, too?

But These Are Different Shows

via Amazon

On the other hand, these are different shows. They have different casts, budgets, and showrunners. Networks, or streaming services, make bad shows all the time, and then turn around and deliver great ones. One mistake doesn’t mean the show is doomed.

After all, Amazon also produced the final seasons of The Expanse, which is often considered one of the best Sci-Fi adaptations around. Though they didn’t produce that show from the start it’s kind of a grey area.

It’s Not Really An Adaptation

Another major thing to keep in mind about Lord of The Rings: The Rings Of Power is that it’s not really an adaptation.

The Wheel of Time is adapting 14 large novels, and it’s a fully fleshed-out world and story. Every change is looked at and weighed.

The Rings of Power on the other hand is “adapting” a handful of pages sketching out some events. Most characters and events get a name or something and that’s about it.

via Amazon

This gives the creators a ton of leeway. Aside from a few major overarching events, there isn’t much they can change.

It’s a story they’re mostly creating from scratch. Now it can still be poorly written, it can still be bad. But it’s going to be pretty hard for it to be a bad adaptation.

The Real Reason To Be worried 

To me, there are still reasons to be worried about the Lord of The Rings.  It’s not any minutiae from WoT that has me worried.

It’s more the high-level issues. WoT suffered from not getting enough episodes to fully develop– it was rushed.  There were clearly issues with WoT, in part stemming from COVID delays and losing cast members. These lead to a horrible finale.

via Amazon

This is much less the fault of the showrunners, and more the studio forcing them to release on time. It’s this kind of thing that has me worried for The Rings of Power.

Rushing a show can kill it. We already know that season of Amazon’s LOTR:TROP (TM?) has moved filming from New Zealand to London due to Covid issues. Rather than risk a delay to the second season they compromised how it will look.

In the end I hope Amazon Presents JRR Tolkien’s The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power (?) is amazing. With the success of Jackson’s films, it’s got a high bar to meet. At least it can’t be any worse than the Wheel of Time… right?

via New Line

Let us know if you are worried about there being one streaming service to rule them all, down in the comments! 

Author: Abe Apfel

Abe is that rare thing, an Austin local born and raised here. Though he keeps on moving around, DC, Japan, ETC., he always seems to find his way back eventually. Abe has decades of experience with a wide range of tabletop and RPG games, from historicals, to Star Wars to D&D and 40K. He has been contributing to BOLS since almost the start, back when he worked at and then owned a local gaming store. He used to be big into the competitive Warhammer tournament scene but age has mellowed him and he now appreciates a good casual match. He currently covers 40K tactics and lore, as well as all things Star Wars, with occasional dabbling in other topics. Abe remains in mourning over the loss of WFB to this day.