The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power showrunners Patrick McKay and J.D. Payne doubled down on the claim that they are adhering to Professor J.R.R. Tolkien’s work in the second season of the Amazon MGM Studios production.
Robert Aramayo as Elrond in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (2024), Amazon MGM Studios
McKay and Payne repeatedly made this claim while promoting the first season of the show back in 2022. However, while they would make this claim they would also admit they were radically altering Tolkien’s works for their adaptation.
Back in February 2022, McKay informed Vanity Fair that the driving question behind the show was, “Can we come up with the novel Tolkien never wrote and do it as the mega-event series that could only happen now?”
Payne would also inform the outlet, “We talked with the Tolkien estate. “If you are true to the exact letter of the law, you are going to be telling a story in which your human characters are dying off every season because you’re jumping 200 years in time, and then you’re not meeting really big, important canon characters until season four. Look, there might be some fans who want us to do a documentary of Middle-earth, but we’re going to tell one story that unites all these things.”
He added, “We think the work will eventually speak for itself. Before an orchestra starts, audiences will talk to each other, but then as soon as the music begins, you’re in and you’re listening to that music.”
Damrod the Hill-Troll; and Sam Hazeldine as Adar in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (2024), Amazon MGM Studios
While they initially claimed that they were making wholesale changes to Tolkien’s work they would claim they were always going back to Tolkien’s work while promoting the show at San Diego Comic-Con in 2022.
When asked to justify including characters that were not canonical to Tolkien. Payne answered in part, “So, one, always back to Tolkien. And two, when Tolkien was silent, we tried to invent as Tolkienian a way as possible.”
McKay would add, “Go back to the book. Go back to the book. Go back to the book.”
Now, while speaking with Collider about the show’s upcoming second season, Payne stated, “It empowers you to see what people respond to, and it’s always obvious: people respond to Tolkien. That’s why Tolkien is what, next to the Bible and the Quran, reaches readers around the world with a number of copies sold. So, let’s double down on Tolkien and go back to those things that draw people in.”
McKay added, “We had a plan, and we’re sticking with it. We have to do what we believe in.”
Morfydd Clark as Galadriel and a Barrow-Wight in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (2024), Amazon MGM Studios
READ: ‘The Lord Of The Rings’ Experts Roast Prime Video’s ‘The Rings Of Power’ Season 2 Trailer
Not only did they double down on this lie that they were respecting Tolkien and returning to his work, but they also heavily contradicted themselves while discussing how they are sticking to their 5-year plan.
McKay said, “We took this insane, ambitious project on because we had a story we wanted to tell, and we felt needed to be told. We were willing to give our lives for a long time to tell it. The plan hasn’t changed.”
He would contradict this a little bit later, “Season 2 was largely written before Season 1 came out, but Season 2 has been produced after Season 1 came out. Part of the learning process for us on this is really seeing what people seem to respond to in the show.”
Payne added, “We also take in everything. We read everything. We read the reviews, we read what you all have written, we read what your colleagues have written, and we read what the fans are saying.”
Maxim Baldry as Isildur and Nia Towle as Estrid in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (2024), Amazon MGM Studios
An official description for Season 2 states, “Sauron has returned. Cast out by Galadriel, without army or ally, the rising Dark Lord must now rely on his own cunning to rebuild his strength and oversee the creation of the Rings of Power, which will allow him to bind all the peoples of Middle-earth to his sinister will.”
It concludes, “Building on Season 1’s epic scope and ambition, Season 2 of Amazon’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power plunges even its most beloved and vulnerable characters into a rising tide of darkness, challenging each to find their place in a world that is increasingly on the brink of calamity. Elves and dwarves, orcs and men, wizards and Harfoots… as friendships are strained and kingdoms begin to fracture, the forces of good will struggle ever more valiantly to hold on to what matters to them most of all… each other.”
Morfydd Clark as Galadriel in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (2024), Amazon MGM Studios
What do you make of McKay and Payne doubling down on their claim that they are being true to Tolkien despite this being an utter lie based on the first season of the show?
