Prime Video's the Wheel Of Time Should've Been A Cautionary Tale For The Rings Of Power

Published Mar 21, 2026, 7:30 PM EDT

Angel Shaw is a Lead Writer and Critic on ScreenRant's TV team, covering new-release and classic TV shows across all major streaming platforms. She has been a writer with ScreenRant since 2022 and specializes in Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings, and fantasy. 

Angel holds a bachelor's degree in language interpreting and is passionate about all things culture and communication—especially in how it relates to popular media throughout history (from Shakespeare to Friends to Game of Thrones).

Third-party reports indicated that Rings of Power's viewership is declining and that the majority of those who start a season don't finish it. This is difficult to prove definitively, but viewer reception of this Prime Video series is right there for everyone to see. While about 84% of critics have provided positive reviews for Rings of Power across both its seasons, only about 48% of general audiences on Rotten Tomatoes have done the same. Criticisms of the series call out everything from production values to the writing. Still, the most prominent backlash stems from changes to canon.

Prime Video had to do a lot of acrobatics to bring Tolkien's Second Age of Middle-earth to the screen. This is a fictional timeline that spans more than three thousand years, yet Rings of Power has packed centuries of events into only a few weeks. This naturally means the story looks pretty different. It should have been extremely clear that such an adjustment would earn Rings of Power waves upon waves of complaints. Prime Video should have been fully aware that its Lord of the Rings show would struggle to gain popularity. After all, The Wheel of Time dealt with the same issues.

Prime Video Could Have Predicted Rings Of Power's Fate After Wheel Of Time

Image Credit: Jan Thijs /©Amazon / Courtesy Everett

Prime Video's The Wheel of Time was another fantasy TV show based on a beloved book series. The popularity of Robert Jordan's novels (which were finished by Brandon Sanderson) meant that Prime's adaptation was very highly anticipated. However, when that first season arrived in 2021, it was met by the obligatory wave of backlash. The Wheel of Time show was a condensed, simplified version of Jordan's fantasy masterpiece, which left many disappointed.

The Wheel of Time wasn't quite as divisive as Rings of Power. The first season holds a 62% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, but by season 3, that number climbed to 85%. This came down to an increase in production quality on Prime Video's end, but this adjustment wasn't enough to drastically improve viewership. The Wheel of Time had become more expensive, but fewer people were watching. This resulted in Amazon cancelling the series in May 2025, just a month after season 3 came to a close.

By the time The Wheel of Time premiered its first season, Rings of Power was well on its way to putting out episodes as well. So, it's not as if Prime Video could have changed course when the former series hit those snags. Still, those struggles right out the gate should have at least foreshadowed what was to come. Those massive changes to canon would prove to be detrimental, and Rings of Power's absolutely massive budget wouldn't be enough to keep audiences on board.

Why Prime Video Is Less Likely To Cancel Rings Of Power (Despite Canceling The Wheel Of Time)

Just as The Wheel of Time's struggles should have foreshadowed The Rings of Power's, the former series' cancellation should serve as the writing on the wall for the latter. After all, Prime Video cancelled The Wheel of Time because it was just too costly a show for its low viewership, and Rings of Power is famously one of the most expensive fantasy TV shows of all time. With lower viewer reception and a reportedly declining viewership, it would seem that news of Rings of Power's cancellation would come any day now. However, that's very unlikely this time around.

Prime Video had to pay the Tolkien estate over $250 million to acquire the rights to make The Rings of Power. This was in addition to the estimated production costs of about $60 million per episode. Clearly, a great deal of money has already been invested in this project. While tossing in the towel could allow Prime to avoid further losses, it's hard to say whether it would even be worth it at this point. Add in the fact that Amazon would be obligated to pay the Tolkien estate $20 million for every planned season that goes unmade, and Rings of Power is better off just getting finished.

More than likely, The Wheel of Time's cancellation allowed Prime Video to shift its resources into Rings of Power, which was already the biggest investment and, therefore, the biggest loss if it fails. Of course, only time will tell how things shake out. At the very least, Prime Video should better understand what is at stake with its next fantasy adaptation.